Ford boss hints at FWD Falcon
April 15, 2009 by David Twomey
The current Ford Falcon FG is almost certain to be the last of its line with Ford Australia giving increasing hints that the next Falcon will be a ‘world car’ and could be either front-wheel-drive or even all-wheel-drive.
In fact the next Ford Falcon could well be largely based on this FWD Ford Taurus platform from the United States, or something very similar.
In perhaps one of the broadest hints so far about the future of the Ford Australia icon, the President and CEO of Ford Australia, Marin Burela, has told a briefing of motoring media in Melbourne that the next Falcon would have to compete in a ‘world’ marketplace and could not be an isolated Australia-only product if it was to have any real chance of survival.
Mr Burela said he was in a somewhat more fortunate position than his rivals, something of a hint that GM Holden had already locked away the next update of its rear-wheel-drive Commodore before the current economic crisis hit, saying that he did not have to make a decision about the future of the Falcon until late next year or into 2011.
Ford has given the FG Falcon a life through to as far as 2015 with the decision to retain the in-line, six-cylinder engine produced at its Geelong plant, outside Melbourne, but making it Euro Four emissions compliant.
It would be possible for the car to be replaced by a future development of a global platform used for the likes of the front-wheel-drive Ford Taurus, currently powered by a range of V6 engines, including a 3.5-litre twin-charged engine that is reputed to produce V8-like performance.
At the same time he gave a few hints at what could be expected from a new Falcon, saying that Ford’s business was in meeting the needs of consumers.
“Increasingly those consumers are making lifestyle driven decisions and in relation to cars those decisions are showing a definite shift towards all-wheel-drive cars.”
Mr Burela said that Derrick Kuzak, Group Vice President, Global Product Development, had made it Ford’s policy was to develop cars on global platforms.
Using his own previous position in leading the first such program, the latest Ford Fiesta, Mr Burela said this meant understanding the global customer and it also had shown that Ford could deliver tailored products to different markets using global platforms.
“If the market clearly says to us there is no significant difference between a rear-wheel drive or a front-wheel drive in terms of consumer preferences, we will respond accordingly,” Mr Burela has said.
He said he believed there was still a reasonable market in Australia for the large car, predicting a market of about 90-110,000 cars a year would still exist in 2020.
Mr Burela said that what the future held for the Falcon nameplate and product was very much in the works at the moment as far as Ford was concerned.
He said many questions were being assessed about the future of the car including just how Australian consumers felt about the question of rear-wheel-drive versus front-wheel-drive.
He added that in his opinion all-wheel-drive was becoming much more the norm in Australia and maybe this also needed to be considered.
He said the prospect of an all-new Falcon and just what it had to provide to consumers were currently open questions.
Mr Burela conceded that an Australia-only product would be a “very risky strategy for us to adopt.”
“Such a move would limit the car to the Australian market only, whereas to survive now products need a global reach and they need to access the support of global suppliers.”
Mr Burela said that Ford Australia needed to meet the needs of the market in a credible way.
However, he added that at the same time Ford in this country was a source of excellence within the global company that understood large cars.
Mr Burela said that Mr Kuzak, who was his boss on the Fiesta program, had been delighted with the work he had seen undertaken in Australia.
He added that ‘one Ford’ was all about using global resources to the best advantage.
“If we are to stand alone then we will have a very small outlook with a limited potential market.”
Mr Burela said that utilising the group resources could allow for different regional interests while better utilising those resources.
He added that the world was changing rapidly and Ford was changing with it.
Print it: 
100kw electric motors in each wheel, a carbon fibre/plastic body weighing in at 900kg, fuel cell technology for energy with basically zero emisions, yeah that could be a good platform for FPV.
Lukaas the part where going global and AWD would become economical is the volume. If we are sharing the same drivelines as the rest of the world then we will be Euro 1,117 compliance before the Australian Government aproves Euro7. (after all we are generally 5 years behind) The manufacturer say haldax would give a better price on 1 million units tha say 750,000 and the engineering cost would be spread further and not carried by Ford Aus alone (see Toyota as an example). TRD Aurion was considered to expensive because of volume, Subaru is cheap becaus eof volume.
Im with XR6T God with my reasoning pointing to that they will still need a RWD platform somewhere, and with OZ being the best at it, they should clearly get the gong
The 2010 Ford Taurus is a lovely looking car. I’d love one of those in Australia. It looks like what a car should look like in my opinion.
i get tired of this “we got to make FWD to get better fuel economy.” i say b.s. seeing that BMW doesn’t seem to have this problem with their RWD cars.
I havent driven extensive numbers of cars, but my experience with AWD (the turbo Volvos) has been that they tend to lose a bit of grunt, and feel heavier in the front end than FWD or RWD, so they are not as “nice” to drive. Is that typical of AWD? I know the WRX drivers will say not, but I’m interested in other marques.
jason the american,
totally agree that the FWD route to get better economy is BS.
look at the much heavier RWD falcon which gets the exact same economy as a 4cyl FWD camry.
enough said,
MYTH BUSTED
Car Advice, how about a poll on the AWD v FWD, should these be the only options available beyond 2015 for the Falcon…which is the preferred?
Trust ford Australia to f**k things up again. Mr Buela, if you read this (or word gets around to you about this) get the message. DO NOT FOLLOW THE AMERICAN EXAMPLE!!! Leave the falcon as Rear wheel drive and leave the I6 where it is. The product is already world class, no need to change for the world!!! If anything, the Americans wish they had what we have… A front wheel drive V6 Falcon is an invite to shut Ford Australia’s doors. DONT FU*K IT UP!!
Cool, when the AWD XR8 COMES OUT WE CAN TOW A EMIRATES B777-300ER OUT ONTO THE TARMAC FROM THE HANGER IN RESPONCE TO THE VOLKWAGEN TOUREG
Those corporate fellas need to watch Mad Max 1 in dolby digital surround sound. Maybe it will encourage them to plan cars that matter!
leave our rear drive aussies rear drive !
if a front drive falcon arrives tens of thousands of customers will depart the brand .
this will spell the end for ford australia and many many jobs with it .
if it aint broke dont fix it