Mondeo is Ford's big car

Ford fans fantasising the Blue Oval will import the Taurus or Lincoln MKS to replace the locally-built Falcon are deluding themselves...

The message is unequivocal from Ford Australia – the Mondeo is the largest traditional passenger vehicle the company will sell here after the demise of Falcon, scheduled for no later than October 2016.

"We don't plan to replace Falcon and that is quite clear," motoring.com.au was told by David Wilkinson, the vehicle line director for Falcon and its locally-built SUV compatriot, the Territory.

"The sales volumes for us, for Holden and for Toyota are clearly much smaller than they used to be. The graphs that show the volumes for the last 10 years are a fairly straight line apart from a few little bumps.

"It just doesn't make sense to have a large car designed and made for Australia. It just doesn't work," Wilkinson said.

Ford sold 65,384 Falcon sedans in 2004 and 10,610 in 2014. Holden, which builds the Commodore, and Toyota, which builds the Camry and Aurion large cars, both cease Australian manufacture no later than the end of 2017. Ford will also kill off the Territory SUV by October 2016.

Wilkinson was speaking during the launch drive of the farewell FG X Falcon and SZ II Territory yesterday. motoring.com.au will publish first drive impressions of both ranges at 12.01 AM Friday.

There has been much debate about just what car will top Ford's passenger vehicle lineup in Australia after Falcon departs.

The US developed front-wheel drive Taurus large car, sold here in the 1990s, had been tipped to return to Australia. But the dramatic decline of the large car segment has meant that business case has shrivelled.

Like the Taurus, the new MKS is being developed on the latest Ford C/D platform. It has been seen recently in heavily disguised form in the vicinity of Ford's You Yangs proving ground being tested by Ford engineers.

Instead of introducing traditional large cars, Ford will focus on the new generation Mondeo as its largest passenger car presence. Marginally larger than its predecessor, the high-tech hatch and wagon range is expected to launch in February 2015.

"The new Mondeo is clearly a new generation car and it is a good sized car. It won't replace Falcon [directly] but it will be our medium to large car entry," Wilkinson said.

Wilkinson said he was unsure if the new Mondeo had been tailored to suit Australia needs. But he seeemed confident it would work in Australia.

"Nowadays the knowledge about what different markets need is known globally, so it should be incorporated when the car is being designed.

"I don't think the local engineers have tweaked anything, I think it has all been done at source," the Falcon line chief stated.

Reviews

Ford Falcon XR8 2014 review

Ford Falcon XR6 2014 review

Ford Falcon G6E 2014 review

Ford Falcon 2014 review

Ford Territory TS Diesel AWD 2014 review

News

Ford undercalls XR8 demand

No 351 for XR8

Ford FG X Falcon facts

Ford committed to October 2016

Ford V8 Supercar future in discussions

Edge to take Ford into new Territory

Ford Australia thriving

Videos

Ford Falcon 2014 video review

Ford Falcon XR8 2014 video review

Ford Falcon G6E 2014 video review