Ford Falcon to shrink?

It's rare for any vehicle to become more compact in a new generation, yet there's now a precedent in the Ford world.

The new EcoSport revealed in India last week replaces a Brazilian-market car of the same name, but the new Fiesta-based model is externally smaller. Should that be cause for Brazilian sales staff to worry? It needn't be...

If the B-segment EcoSport just announced is too small for some Brazilian consumers, Ford can always offer the C-segment (C520) Kuga/Escape due for launch at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit later this week — assuming the larger SUV makes it to Brazil.

Ford's 'shell game' with the EcoSport contains lessons for how to handle the locally-built Falcon sedan and/or its successor.

When Aussie journalists attending the EcoSport unveiling in India spoke with Ford's head of global design, J Mays, the question of large car design direction naturally arose. The Falcon is considered a 'C/D-segment' car and the larger, US-market Taurus is considered a full-size D-segment car. Mays freely admitted that popularity is waning for D-segment cars such as the Taurus (and Holden's Caprice, currently sold in the US as a police interceptor).

"Don't get me wrong; I like big 'D' cars, I like them," he said. "But the market doesn't like them. It's not a decision we're making, it's a decision the customer is making — that they're just not going into that segment any more. It's not a function of Australia, it's a function of all over the world. That segment is shrinking, so the new large car — in a big way — is sort of the C/D car. Beyond C/D car you get a very, very small piece of the market."

That implies that the Falcon is at the upper limit of what Ford deems a C/D-sized car and its successor post-2015 might need to be closer to the Mondeo in size — even in Australia. Even adopting a retro, sixties muscle-car look won't forestall the gradual sales slide, despite Dodge enjoying some success with the four-door Charger in North America, featuring styling cues of that kind.

"We've had some success with the Taurus in the US, as well..." responds Mays. "There's always somewhere in the world that will buy one — but trying to sustain that out over the next 10 years? It's going to be really tough I think."

That explains why Ford is reputedly planning to reduce the size of the Taurus in the next generation, and mount it on the same platform to be shared with C/D-sized Fusion and Mondeo models. As the first model to be developed on the new C/D platform, the new Fusion makes its debut in Detroit later this week. It could be the start of something big, although not physically so. Assuming the next-gen Mondeo will be markedly different from the Fusion, it will have to have its own distinct top hat.

"I can only tell you that [in Detroit]... we'll have the launch of the Fusion," said Mays in India. "That's no secret... we previewed it to a few of the American press just before Christmas. We're delighted with the way that car looks, it's a great looking vehicle. So we want to get that launched… and then we can talk about potential top hats on the same platform.

"When Alan came in and said we're going to do 'One Ford', you can see what we've done. We've done it on B cars, C cars — and logic will tell you there's got to be some possibility for different top hats on every type of platform..."

Mays, who describes the new Fusion as "a really strong product we're bringing to the market", says too that the design studio in Broadmeadows had "great input" in the design of the new model. 

"Those guys do great work... very consistent," he said of the Aussie team. What's the bet they're already sketching out dimensions and proportions for a Falcon top hat based on the new C/D platform?

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