No facelift for Territory

Ford has ruled out a facelift for the Territory until after the new Falcon is launched next year. The news came this morning as part of the Ford Australia boss Tom Gorman's regular monthly media conference.

Responding to CarPoint/Carsales' questioning whether Ford would freshen the now three-year-old medium SUV, Gorman ruled out a facelift before the new Falcon is launched some time in the first half of 2008.

"All of our efforts are going into launching Falcon," Gorman told CarPoint/Carsales.

"We're not going to change the face of Territory this year. We're working all out to get on the [new Falcon] sedan and ute."

Ford updated the mechanicals of the AWD/RWD Territory in late 2005 when it introduced the much-vaunted six-speed ZF automatic gearbox to selected models (for more click here). However, it has been widely discussed in both retail and industry arenas that the 2004 Wheels Car of the Year winner is now in need of a cosmetic makeover.

While Gorman's comment did not talk to the subject of further mechanical updates before the new Falcon arrives, it now seems unlikely any will take place.

The long-awaited turbodiesel powertrain could conceivably appear in the existing Territory but with Ford also due to launch Mondeo later this year, the financial and human resources required to debut two such important models concurrently, just months before the new Falcon, would definitely stretch the Ford Australia operation.

Gorman would not, however, concede that the delay in updating Territory would see the maker facing a similar extended and strategically challenging run-out period through 2008 for the SUV, a la Falcon circa 2007.

"If your question is when new competitors come in does that create a challenge, the answer is yes. There are three new competitors in that [medium SUV] segment and if you look at the compact SUV segment you'd also have to say that they are competitors [to Territory] as well.

"But if you look at only one segment I think you're missing the [overall] picture [for Ford] because of what we are doing across the rest of our line up -- new Ranger; Transit; freshened Focus with diesel and cabriolet; an all new vehicle in a new segment for us in Mondeo, and a little bit of excitement when it comes to Fiesta…

"From the product front we're anything but sitting still. You're just not seeing a lot of that domestically for the moment because for us to do sedan and ute is a big effort and that's where our energies lie at the moment," Gorman said.

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