Ford Australia has launched its redesigned eighth-generation Falcon in what a local publication said was a “pitch for the nation’s motoring dollar in an industry facing steep fuel prices, decreased tariff protection and plant closures”.
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The paper was referring to the high petrol prices which have prompted local buyers to desert large-engine cars produced locally by Ford and its arch-rivals Toyota and General Motors.
Mitsubishi has now given up the fight, and will close its Adelaide car plant next month, ending local production of its 380 (essentially a RHD version of the US Galant). A number of Australian auto parts companies have also gone bankrupt recently.
Ford Australia spent hundreds of million of dollars in development costs over several years on the FG Falcon sedan, ‘ute’ (pickup truck) and performance vehicle range, the first new Falcon model line for a decade, the automaker’s new president Bill Osborne told local media.
But he would not reveal the development costs or selling prices ahead of the start of sales in May.
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By GlobalDataHe said the new Falcon would position itself at the forefront of the Australian market in areas of economy, performance and safety.
Osborne reportedly claimed the new Falcon was one of the great sedans in the world and “perfectly capable” of increasing Ford’s market share, but he would not confirm whether it could double the Australian unit’s [falling] sales.
Due partly to a decision made by Ford’s Asia-Pacific unit in the late 1960s, Ford Australia has never developed left-hand drive Falcon models, unlike rivals GM (which exports Holden Commodore derivatives to the US and the Middle East) and Toyota, which ships LHD Camrys to the Middle East. Mitsubishi, too, once shipped LHD cars to the Middle East, US and Europe.
Consequently, the Australian Ford unit has had to rely on a shrinking domestic market for its large right-hand-drive-only Falcon line – and its Territory SUV spin-off – plus low-volume exports to neighbouring Pacific markets, primarily New Zealand.
It recently decided to stop local engine assembly, replacing Melbourne-made I6 motors with imported US-made V6s from 2010, and, from 2011, plans to manufacture the European-designed Laser ‘down under’, with exports also in mind. In recent years it has offset falling Falcon sales with imports of complete Ford Europe-designed cars – the Focus (now sourced from South Africa) and the Mondeo from Europe.
“We don’t express our sales targets, but I’m quite sure we’ll grow our sales,” Osbourne was quoted as saying.
He also said Ford would study export potential for the FG Falcon, but would not say when or which markets.
According to Australian reports, under the current proposed tariff reduction schedule, ‘protection’ for locally-made cars would fall from 10% to 5% in 2010, although government industry minister Kim Carr has said this would be subject to review.
Osborne, formerly the president and CEO of Ford Canada, reportedly put a distinctly positive spin on his company’s future in Australia and the FG Falcon’s part in that future.
When asked what would bring Australian families back to larger cars, he gestured to the FG Falcons on display and said: “this vehicle”.
The reports added that the FG Falcon was believed to carry the biggest development overhead since the AU model launched in 1998 which had cost several hundred million dollars.
Osborne also said he looked forward to working with the government on establishing an appropriate level of tariff protection from imported cars.
“We want to work co-operatively with the federal government, we have certainly seen a great deal of co-operation in the past and we look forward to the review. It is very important for Australia to maintain a healthy domestic industry – it’s good for the economy, it’s good for Australians, it’s good for the industry. I can’t tell you what we will be calling for – we need to caucus as an industry and agree on a strategic position.”
He also said Ford was studying the possibility of a future diesel option for the Falcon.
Sales of diesel cars are rising in Australia and the local head of BMW was quoted recently as saying that he expected diesel-powered models to dominate in some of his company’s model lines within just a few years. BMW already sells several diesel models in the country and plans to add the luxury 7-series when the next generation is launched ‘down under’.
