Ford to stick with cab chassis Falcon?

With Holden committed to building VE Ute and Commodore variants on the one line and without interruption, they can't really afford the backwards step of a part Commodore/Ute monocoque, part chassis-mounted vehicle, as was the case with the VZ Crewman and One Tonner.

That means faster, leaner production with the ability to build more cars through overtime, rather than employing a third shift -- although the latter remains a possibility (more here).

Where would that extra production capacity go? The US, of course.

The downside for Aussie consumers is that the Holden passenger car-derived commercials are less diverse than they once were. Does that help Ford? It most certainly does, in the view of Ford president Tom Gorman.

"We think it creates a real opportunity for us, to be blunt," he confirmed.

"It creates an opportunity in a couple of ways. One with cab chassis... one with our dedicated LPG product.

"We're going to give a very exciting and very dynamic product to the market, when we launch all-new Falcon and Ute next year.

"You're going to get a combination of a true work truck -- which we think is important in this segment -- as well as us still staying (with) 'dual use' customers... that really do like the car-derived pick-up.

"We think we're in a better position strategically, frankly, in that we haven't walked away from the work truck market place."

So there's confirmation there, of sorts. Even with buyers lining up for more HiLux, Navara -- and Ranger -- one-tonne pick-ups, the next Falcon Ute will likely offer the same or similar monocoque/cab chassis construction and dedicated LPG systems.

We're betting that Ford will also find ways of sweetening the deal further for buyers of the Project Orion utility when it goes on sale in the second quarter of next year.