Small car leaves room for global RWD program

Ford Australia's announcement that it will build the new generation Focus from 2011 does not affect any rear-wheel drive programs the company may be considering. That's the assurance Blue Oval boss, Tom Gorman gave following the small car announcement this week.

Commenting on US speculation Ford Australia was in the box seat to undertake development of a global rear-wheel-drive platform for the beleaguered US car giant (more here), Gorman told the Carsales Network that the local operation had both the capability and capacity to undertake such a program.

Asked whether the engineering needs of the new front-wheel drive small car production would handicap the local carmaker in its ability to respond to a 'call up' from the USA, Gorman was categoric.

"We have enormous capacity and capability," he told the Carsales Network.

"If you look at the ebb and flow of our business, more than half of our engineers are working on non-Ford Australia specific activity -- they're working on the T6 [global LCV Ranger replacement] program or the B car [Fiesta] for India...

"And that's a good thing. It's like a surgeon or a pilot -- you need to practice your craft often. So if you're not working on the Falcon program but you can be utilised on the truck program... That's great. That'll peak and as that work comes down then you'll want to grow the Falcon [rear-wheel drive] business," he opined.

"It really is about fully utilizing what we often refer to as the 'product development factory.' How you fully utilise that factory..." Gorman said.

But the Ford boss also confirmed there was still nothing to report.

"There's nothing to report because all that stuff is still several, several years down the road," Gorman said.

"We would like that [global RWD platform] to happen but there's nothing new to report to you. What I can tell you is that with Alan Mulally coming onboard, and Derrick Kuzak as the global head of product development that's a very good thing. Derrick knows our capability here. He knows the extreme technical capability Trevor [Worthington] and his team have built up here over the last several years and that's a good thing for us.

Gorman continued: "We have an amazing amount of engineering capability when it comes to rear-wheel drive and the more we can integrate with Ford globally, the better it is for us.

"A lot of people unfortunately interpret it [integration] as a negative -- I see it as a positive. Further integration of [Ford] Australia into Ford Motor Company is a good thing -- the only reason you wouldn't want to be integrated is if you felt you weren't capable," Gorman opined.

"We're more than capable and therefore we can contribute to the Ford Motor Company globally and Ford Australia will benefit directly," he said.

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