FPV boss says future is secure

Ford Performance Vehicles will continue on beyond 2016 whether the Falcon exists or not.

That’s the commitment from the company’s managing director Bryan Mears, made at today’s launch of the new FPV GT RSPEC.

But he also declared there was no prospect of a higher-powered supercharged V8, rumoured to be codenamed Tempest appearing at the Sydney motor show in October.

He also downplayed any prospect of a return of the iconic GTHO, refused to even discuss the possible return of the XR8 badge and ruled out the development of an FPV-badged Falcon Ecoboost or any small cars including the Focus.

Instead it seems that FPV is locked into a roll-out of moderate upgrades. For instance, it seems certain that the RSPEC chassis upgrades will eventually sit under all Miami supercharged V8s, most likely when the 2013 model year arrives.

That in turn sets FPV up for an engine performance upgrade down the track. But don’t expect to see it at the Sydney show.

“That’s definitely not going to happen,” Mears said when asked about Tempest. “I would love to see it, but if it happens I will drop my dacks and walk backwards up Collins Street in winter.”

On GTHO he said: “The GTHO is a long way down the track ... from reaching fruition.

“The GT RSPEC is our GTHO, the only thing missing from it is the GTHO badge and a $100,000 price tag.”

Mears, who recently oversaw a restructure of FPV that culled senior staff including general manager Rod Barrett, has now assumed day-to-day running of the business, in addition to his role as Prodrive Asia-Pacific managing director.

The questioning of FPV’s future spins logically from the doubts over the fate of Falcon and local manufacturing by the blue oval.

At the moment guarantees of Falcon survival extend only as far as the scheduled end of production of the current FG range in 2016.

FPV currently builds only turbo-six and supercharged V8 versions of the rear-wheel drive Falcon sedan and utility. If they go out of production, what replaces them?

Would an all-wheel drive version of the Taurus, which is mooted to replace Falcon, fit with the brand philosophically?

“We have a huge amount of money invested in FPV and that symbol (FPV badge) on the back of that car,” Mears said. “Not many people would go to the extent of tearing that value up and throwing it away based on a philosophical position.

“Are all of our cars in the future going to be imported? I don’t know that. I don’t know what they (Ford) are doing, but I guarantee you, if you have got millions tied up in that brand you’ve got to ask that question, do you tear it up?

“Of course you don’t.”

But Mears would not be drawn on just where FPV might sit in what is shaping up as a radically altered automotive landscape.

“I can’t talk for Ford, what they are doing and contemplating is a matter for themselves. What I am doing and contemplating is protecting that brand (FPV).”

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