The changing complexion of Falcon buyers

In the here and now, the Falcon's market acceptance is growing, according to Ford. The manufacturer is officially pleased that the Falcon is attracting more private buyers, but that's not getting in the way of chasing the fleets for more business

"Interestingly, over the last few months, our share in the private segment has been growing, month over month over month," Ford President Marin Burela told the journalists attending the ceremony.

That's been the story for Holden too, based on that company's sales analysis since the release of the VE Commodore (more here). What's the inference to be drawn from that? Private buyers represent a larger share of large-car sales because fleets are deserting that segment?

Even if private share is only 'growing' because the fleet buyers are shrinking in number, Burela has a tactic to address that. With recent changes to the specification of the entry-level Falcon XT fitted with the optional ZF six-speed automatic transmission, the large car is now a more appealing prospect for fleet sales, says Burela.

"We have been locked out of certain business markets in Australia because we didn't have a vehicle that was meeting a sub-240g/km CO2 level -- and I will now be knocking on the door of those government authorities and fleets that previously did not consider us," he said.

That particular variant of Falcon now uses 9.9L/100km of fuel in combined-cycle testing, placing it on an equal footing with some four-cylinder cars -- and within striking range of the new 2.5-litre Maxima V6 (more here). Emitting 236g/km of CO2, the Falcon XT with ZF box is now rated at 5.5 stars on a scale of 10, versus other XT variants that have scored just five stars in the federal government's Green Vehicles Guide.

In support of his assertion that the more efficient XT opens doors previously closed to Ford's sales people, Burela mentions that Ford has already struck a deal with one rental-car company for the Falcon -- with a second such company also engaged in talks with Ford for supply of the Falcon. Neither company has been a Ford customer in the past.

If Ford faces a further obstacle in reintroducing the Falcon XT to fleets, it lies in asking said fleets to stump up the extra $2000 for the ZF box, just so the Ford can be added to the shopping list -- assuming the purchasing criteria are so stringent as to require a car that uses no more than 10.0L/100km of fuel and is a better than five-star rated vehicle according to the Green Vehicle Guide. That's not going to be as easy as the glass-half-full Burela suggests.

"What we'll be doing; we'll be talking to all of those fleets and those government decision-makers on what exactly they need and how they want us to package it," Burela responds to that point.

It's not just the see-sawing composition of fleets and private buyers among Falcon owners that Burela finds interesting. It's also what types of Falcons are being purchased.

"Most cars tend to be sold at the entry level. What we've actually managed to do at Ford is change that phenomenon.

"Falcon right now, at the entry level, sells 30 per cent of its volume. In the sport derivative area, which is the mid sort of series, we're currently running at around 34, 35 per cent and in the upper segment -- the G6E, the G6E Turbo -- we're currently running around the 32, 33 per cent [mark] as well.

"We've completely started to shift the way the industry is responding to entry, mid and high. When you go back and compare that to our competitors, we are now starting to dominate the mid-series and high-series of those segments -- in the private buyer area in particular."

If there's one problem with progressively relying more on private buyers than fleet buyers for your sales, it means that your 'loyal' customer base is increasingly vocal about what it expects of the product. Where a fleet buyer will base purchase decisions on purely objective reasons (for the most part), the private buyer is likely to have more emotional investment in the purchase.

And how will those emotional buyers feel if Ford decides in a few years to drop the rear-wheel drive Falcon in favour of a front-wheel drive Taurus -- even if it is badged as a Falcon?

Ford is yet to make a decision on the Falcon's future, but Burela says that the local arm doesn't have to make any decision until late next year (more here).

While the parent company is still unsure of the future for rear-wheel drive, Ford Australia is unable to say definitively that the rear-wheel drive Falcon will expand into a global role, retract into an Australian-market-only fixture -- or vanish altogether.

The suspense is killing us, but it can only harden the determination of Falcon enthusiasts to support the car-line.

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