Slow and falling sales have forced Ford Australia to axe the twin luxury Fairlane and LTD sedan models, derived from its locally-designed Falcon line.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
According to website drive.com.au, company president Tom Gorman made the announcement ahead of a monthly media briefing.
“A significant decline in sales of vehicles in the upper large segment over the past few years has meant that local production of long wheelbase variants, primarily for domestic sale only, is currently no longer sustainable,” Gorman was reported to have said.
“The emotion of this decision has been very difficult. Sometimes the hard decision and the right decision are the same one.”
The last Fairlane/LTD will be built either late in 2007 or early 2008, ahead of the arrival of the heavily-revised Falcon – codenamed Orion – around March 2008, the website added.
Drive.com.au revealed that Ford was weighing up the future of the Fairlane and LTD as far back as April 2006.
Gorman said at the time: “We have to seriously consider whether replacing the Fairlane and LTD is an appropriate place to invest funds going forward”.
The $A51,490 Fairmont Ghia V8, “effectively a tarted-up Falcon” according to the website, will become the flagship Ford ‘down under’.
Drive.com.au said the decision to axe the Fairlane comes exactly 40 years after the first model emerged from Ford’s Broadmeadows factory on the northern outskirts of Melbourne.
That car was a stretched and lightly restyled derivative of the current XR Falcon, itself very similar to the US version available at the time – Ford Australia did not style its own cars fully in-house until the 1972 XA series.
The Fairlane nameplate had first appeared in Australia on imported Fords in 1959.
“The Fairlane nameplate has been a key part of the Ford line-up since 1967,” drive.com.au quoted Gorman as saying, “when the ZA Fairlane … created a whole new market segment in the process.”
Ford Australia annually assembled a small number of US-designed LTDs with right-hand drive for several years before developing its own (a more luxurious Fairlane spin-off) in 1973.
Ford’s departure apparently leaves Australia’s prime minister – a Fairlane fan – searching for a new make of car and only arch-rival General Motors Holden offering locally produced models in this market segment; the Statesman and Caprice.
Ironically, the ’67 launch of the Fairlane prompted Holden to stretch its ’68 HK Kingswood/Premier line into the original Brougham (later renamed Statesman), also replacing imported US designs, in this case Canadian-made Chevrolet Impalas which, like Ford, it had assembled locally with right-hand-drive. The more luxurious Caprice came later.
The big difference between the two rival models in recent years was left-hand-drive. Holden’s decision to engineer later versions with ‘left hook’ allowed it more export opportunity and, especially, its luxury twins go to the Middle East badged as Chevrolets. This, with some incremental Asian sales, adds just enough volume to keep the current line – now derived from the Commodore, which also goes to the Middle East, Asia, South America, South Africa, and soon as the Pontiac G8, the US – viable.
Drive.com.au said the demise of Ford’s long-wheelbase twins has been a subject of intense speculation in recent years as sales have dwindled from a 10-year high of 4,807 in 1999 to just 1,155 in 2006.
Ford faced increased competition from the rejuvenated Holden Statesman and Caprice, which posted a record 6,370 sales in 2000 but they, too, have been unable to maintain sales against increasing competition from imported models such as the Chrysler 300C.
The last time Ford’s luxury duo outsold its Holden rivals was back in 1997, the report said.
In 2004 Holden responded to softening demand for long-wheelbase models by repositioning the Caprice as a sports luxury car. Ford, which had already dallied with the unconvincing Fairlane G220 sports model, chose not to follow suit, according to drive.com.au.
Holden also pursued those export opportunities for its long-wheelbase cars in the Middle East and Asia, something out of reach to Ford Australia due to the availability of the US-designed Ford Crown Victoria.
Ford’s Gorman told drive.com.au no decision had been made on whether the Fairlane/LTD will return in the future.
“It is discontinued, it may work its way back at some time in the future,” he said. “The incremental investment is in the range of $A150 to $A200m to build a competitive car in that segment.”
He reportedly hinted that the upcoming 2008 model Falcon could feature a more upmarket variant in the mix.
