2008 Ford Falcon Orion Ute Interior Spied!
July 4, 2007 by Paul Maric
After an arduous day at the office, our spy photographer has snapped the first shots of Ford’s rehashed centre console, along with the new speedometer/tachometer cluster.
The seemingly base model Ford ‘Orion’ Utility spotted in traffic is not dissimilar to the one spotted earlier by our photographer, except without the funky looking alloy wheels.
1.
The following shots of the interior confirm several things. Firstly, a telephone button on the steering wheel (on what appears to be a base model) suggests that Ford’s new Falcon will mimic Holden’s Bluetooth availability across the entire range, allowing the driver to connect their phone to play through the car’s speakers.
2.
Next up, Ford’s new dashboard layout has been revealed. The first – and most noticeable – feature is the display at the top of the dashboard. This, presumably, being a base model indicates that the screen may simply be an analogue unit, similar to the one featured in Holden’s Commodore Omega, displaying vital information such as radio and CD controls.
The other noticeable feature of the dashboard unit is that the air vents have been shifted from the top of the dash to the middle. The vehicle pictures is also fitted with a column shift unit, negating the need for a floor shifting unit.
A new steering wheel has also made it to the new Falcon. The steering wheel design seems to have been somewhat reverted back to EF/EL style. It’s hard to tell if the Utility is fitted with a different steering wheel to the Futura model photographed some time ago by our spy photographer.
The next most noticeable feature of the photos is the speedometer and tachometer cluster which are visible from one of the photos.
Ford has adopted a similar LCD readout to Holden’s Commodore, probably to be used for fuel consumption and other trip computer features. Also noticeable is a “Menu” button (circled) which our spy photographer has suggested is used to navigate the screen.
Holden use steering wheel menu controls to navigate the screen, relinquishing the need for reaching through/around the steering wheel to access the menu. Also witnessed by the spy photographer is a new speedometer cluster which features a new font, different to that used in the BF Falcon.
From another angle, the bottom of the centre cluster can be seen.
3.
Although not totally uncovered, the headlight angle and design is clearly evident from the embossing of the lights through the car bra.
One other thing that took the spy photographer by surprise are the “Good Year” branded tyres, deviating from the “Dunlop” norm. This isn’t conclusive though, as it’s a prototype vehicle, any wheels could have been fitted for a number of reasons.
4.
A few more photos from the interior reveal some truths that were covered up from previous photos. Firstly, you may recall the previous photos our spy photographer took of the Ute which detailed the covering behind the driver and passenger door (as shown above).
The following interior shots reveals that there is a new design employed for the Orion Falcon Ute.
(Courtesy of AutoNews)
Click for larger version
5.
And lastly, speculation about the rear suspension in the new Utility has been ripe. Thanks to our spy photographer, it can be confirmed that the Orion Utility – the base model at least – will use leaves.
Remember, if you have any spy photos of Ford’s new Falcon – or any other vehicle for that matter – contact CarAdvice, if the photos are decent, we’re willing to pay cash (more than the major magazines). High-resolution copies of the images attached are available. Please contact CarAdvice to request copies.
Print it: 
0 
0 
Hmm, I’m glad these shots aren’t that clear…. IF the person who took them is a Ford employee, (and I’m really not sure) I hope they get FIRED. :)
I think we are going to know everything about the new Falcon before it is released, well done photographer.
Well it would be hard to imagine they can get so close to the car if they didnt work for Ford!
HAHAHA,Alborz your sounding a little grumpy today.Something we all said?
Hahah, you failed to see my sense of sarcasm :D
Plus I’ve been trying hard to to write this Kia Rio Road Test
^Lol I can see why your’e trying hard to write something about the Kia Rio.
Definition of sarcasm.
“A savage bitter form of humor usually intended to hurt or wound ”
WOW Alborz thats much worse than being grumpy !LOL
Ground Hog Day !
I went through this with VE. Ford has woken up to a new form marketing.
Its cheap too Holden Man, we do the work, they get the hype!
holden man,
no ford did it in 2002 with the Ba falcon remember??
they even had links on the ford home page to slowly leak their secrets.
I’m sure Holden/Ford weren’t the first to employ viral marketing.
At least the head lights look pretty good.
I don’t think the interior is looking so up market/ european nor solid looking like the VE interiors… looking a touch Korean perhaps?
The inner door handle at least looks like some thought has gone into it…
I’m a bit dissapointed, I have to say…. looks like business as ususal from Ford, rather than a step up that really is going to be needed to even stay in step with the rest of the market.
are you for real? Commodore?? solid ??? have you sat in one? the interior looks like its made from recycled lego and buttons from a cheap chinese ipod knockoff! FFS !!
The interior light looks identical to the one in my old ED Falcon (’94). Other than that, I think the interior looks pretty good. I’m also curious to see what the headlights will look like without the bra on….
Ohhh!!WOOOOWWW!!!Hope you get hit by one soon.How about get a life instead of getting your jollies out of seeing a car that everyone will eventually see anyway!!Does it make you feel better than all of us???
George,
yes ford were probably not the first to employ those kind of marketing techniques, but what i was doing was correcting the statement from Mr Holden who said that ford learnt it from holden, when in fact ford had done it 5 years ago.
one things for sure the headlights wont look like the old Ba falcon, they sold their design to the guys at holden remember?
can anyone make out the tyre size on the wall of the tyre? is it still 16? it sorta looks like it says 18 but i doubt it is.
@ Tristan July 4 2007 @ 5:53 pm
The interior light is nothing like an ED Falcon has mate. I have an ED and it is NOT the same!
The ED one is a sligtly bigger unit and with more opaque plastic that the one shown here It’s a different shape also.
I highly doubt that was a ford employee. They would have got better photos than that…
I’m just so happy as a holden man to see the Falcon finally looks like they got a cluster trip computer finally that will rival holdens, It’s been along time coming, Us holden owners have had years of fun with them dash trips, Now finally Ford has gave the Ford owners something to play around with and maybe give them a digital speedo which is very helpful for not getting booked.
The Falcon already has a trip computer which displays instantaneous fuel usage, average fuel usage, average speed, trip time elapsed, and distance to empty.
You can also get your cluster flashed so that it displays speed electronically too – but that is not how the vehicle comes from factory.
What else does the Commodore have on the trip computer?
Is it just me or does it have a little bit of Honda Accord Euro in the interior
Andrew M
The tyre sise is 16 inch
Holden man
ford had this form of trickle publicity with BA, well before VE
:)
Oh wow it seems the falcon will have 100s of buttons, on a standard too.
Give me the BA cluster any day. More buttons just make things too ugly.
I think you’ll find if you look at the photos carefully that they were taken whilst the car was in a traffic lane. He was probably stopped at the lights long enough for a prepared photographer to click off that number of shots. It wouldn’t of taken more than a 30-40 seconds to get all those photos.
Dood – yeah, have sat in one – I was given a new Statesman to drive for a week not long after it was launched. Holden has lifted it’s game considerably from where they were at previously. I have to say I was impressed and I’m not a Holden man at all. The reversing sensors make a awful noise/ sound, but everything else worked well and looked great. The 5 speed auto was pretty crappy though – not smooth or quiet enough. Oh… and the engine sounds like a blender with a drawer full of cutlery emptied into it as well… but inside is good…
This new Falcon dashboard reminds me of a Toyota where all the radio and all the buttons are up on top of the dash, as apposed to layed out nicely in an Audi fashion. It’s not looking classy – in fact, it is looking like lots of blank plastic under all the controls. They started heading in the right direction with the BA – now this looks like a retrograde step.
Lets now start talking about the day trip you will need to take to get from the nose of the car just to the front wheel. It surely must be all of about a 10 minute walk from one to the other?
:-)
Christiaaaaan – wanker alert! go back to your holden forum you troll. Such stupid comments.
Ford is on a winner, that’s for certain. It’s all covered up, fake panels, and half the interior is covered, and it still looks a lot classier than any VE commodore which suffers from a nose job that only MJ can claim victory to a worse job…NOT!
Remember this is the dash of the UTE – a work horse.
It’s not going to have all the frills the up-spec models will have.
New dash design has always been an evolution rather than revolution anyway.
Stacked Air con, screen and CD I don’t think there will be any suprises.
Higher quality build and finish will be something I’d expect though.
How staged do they look!
i think the dash is going to look like that in the xt modle
I got a feeling its Ford that is supplying some of these photos to create interest in said new Orion, the Falcon is currently taking a bath in sales, prices have been slashed, goodbye any sort of resale
GREAT to see a bench seat is back, would not want a single cab ute without one [are u listing Holden?]
Sad to see leaf spring rear end, would have expected at least coils [Holden has superior IRS]
Dual fuel LPG would be nice too, sick of that single fuel LPG rubbish that Ford are dishing out [unless its a direct injected LPG system then bring it on!]
Still rather a Holden, has much stronger resale and more car like
Lets wait and see
O/A
OttoAu.
We can assure you that these photos have not been ‘leaked’ by Ford. We have a network of readers and photographers out there actively seeking spy photographs.
Paul M.
Good to see your network of spys are doing such a good job with OrionGate/Falcongate, keep it up!
……………………
I have had 3 Falcon Utes, what needs to be addressed before i ever buy one again -
RUST RUST RUST
Rear mail oil leak
Cracked cyl head
Sloppy build quality fit & finish
Warped front disks
Vibration for a IL6
Rubbish paint job
Easy mark/scratch interior plastics
Position of oil filter
Each latter model has a worse and worse centre seat
Did i mention RUST?
O/A
O/A you say rust, i have had falcons my whole life my whole life and i have not had any rust. before you come and start tell lies start to look after your cars.
OttoAU… man… noone really wants to read a troll’s postings… so how about you just go and disappear like a good little boy now hey?
TROLL!!
Yay! Column shift and 3 seats across the front!
Now how about that on the wagon, too?
Column + Bench + Vinyl seats + Rubber floor mats =
Surf Beast, you can drive home in wettie after surf
Work Beast, can be cleaned with a blower!
And by the way we have had Falcons without rust, too. Did Otto buy new or secondhand?
Ottoau,
man u gotta stop driving your vehicles under the sea. that salt water aint good for them u know?
as for sales/resales, gees i wish i could get an XR6 for the price they are throwing the equivalent commodore ute out at at the moment. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR CLASSIFIEDS FOR NEW AND USED VEHICLES PRICES!!!
why would you want IRS? its a ute remember. you can not put the same loads on it. and ford have proven that they can produce a better handling ute on springs than holden can on coil-overs.
as for LPG yes it would be nice if ford did direct injected gas as a dedicated fuel and id say it is a certaintly with the new model. they tried to put it on a couple of years ago now but they were facing legal/copyright hurdles. and as for holdens LPG system well do they do one?? what i mean is the one the sprook as their own is actually an after market system that has to be fitted on the vehicle once it is purchaced. you can get the same system on any vehicle.
the fact is the falcon ute is far more a work vehicle than the holden. the holden is more of a “show pony” and always be as holden is so focused on their image more than anything else. (not to say the XR’s arent a nice/tough looking ute though)
Jack said
July 5 2007 @ 5:13 pm
And by the way we have had Falcons without rust, too. Did Otto buy new or secondhand?
Must say you are a fickle bunch!
WHEN will a Aussie car, ie FALCODORE be listed as #1 in quality by any magazine, or testing auth.?Anwser NEVER!
Purchased a brand new XH in 98′, traded in a XF [had rust even in the ashtray!]the XH which i sold last year was rusting its head off too.
FYI i NEVER ever drove ANY of my vehicles on dirt roads, not ONCE.
Face it, they are overpriced underdone junk, is it no wonder the Corolla has overtaken the Comm. as #1 seller, and the Falcon is sinking like a lead ballon.
The days of big cars in Oz are over, Fairlane/LTD dead, this is just the beginning of it.
The BIG 2 might be making the last of the big sedans in Oz
Cheers
O/A
OTTOAU,
are you some kind of idiot from holdens payroll set out to defame the falcon ute?
I dead set have owned an XF ute and also an XH ute aswell. I can honestly say not one spot of rust any where.
you must be some kind of hobo that picks up wet cigarette butts off the beach and puts them in your ashtray if you say you had it full of rust even in there.
as for big sedan sales in OZ it is the trends of the public that would rather buy sports models over luxury. just look at those sales figures such as XR6 and SV6 etc
the reason the corolla is rising to the top in sales is that the average sperm count in males is decreasing and they now feel the urge to drive more feminine cars and save like 15% on their fuel bill.
oh yeah and no response to my last comments yet either? wow you want to start it and the fact you dont acknowledge feedback from others shows you have no interest in the topic other than to stir s**t
HAHAHAHA.
OTTOAU , why did you buy 3 falcon utes if they were rubbish then ?
How can all those Holden fanatics be happy with the VE C’dore?
Every single Holden supporter I’ve spoken to has said to me that all Fords are ugly (which isn’t true). Well all Fords include the BA Falcon… Hmm… Correct me if I’m wrong, but the VE C’dore looks very similar (with the exception of the hideous wheel arches) to the BA Falcon.
Holden morons of the planet, the best C’dore to ever come out was the VZ. At least it actually looked like a Holden, and not an aging Falcon from 5 years ago. But hey, Ford won heaps of Large car awards with the BA Falcon when it first came out, so why can’t Holden win the same category with a nearly identical looking car 5 years later?
and to add further to azza’s point the Ba platform was still winning awards when it was 4 years old. does any one think the commodore will be doing the same when it is 4 years old? nope! as long as ford puts a steering wheel in as standard equipment when they release the new model id say its back to the top of the tree for ford AGAIN. (cause they dont need to do much)
notice how in one of the pictures of the headlights you can see a white lancer in the reflection? the photographer smartly noticed this and blurred his number plate out of it.
Also notice the driver inside the car??? this bloke has to be a ford worker!! otherwise the driver would go away if he saw a camera. Asif joe blow is going to have enough time to kneel under the car and take pics of the suspension whilst a driver is inside the car!!
Nice pics
Looks to cheap ford do it again
OttoAu, A car that is full of rust says more about its owner than the manufacturer. All cars are the same, they are all made of steel. Moisture and dirt are the main causes causing anode cathode reaction. To stop a car from corroding keep it clean and dont leave it outside and dont allow moisture to form ie) morning dew. Just put it in a shed. As for your list, what are you a whinger? Complaining about the plastic scratching? what do you think the plastic they use in a commodore ute is going to be much different?…. ITS PLASTIC. Complaining about a oil filter, you must be short because you cant reach and fat because you cant fit underneath. Maybe if you took care of them you would have saved some money and not buy 3 new falcons.The problems you have are mostly from owner neglect, besides Head (which can be caused by overheating) and Warped discs. you will have problems with any car you own, dont blame ford.
(ottoau)
you are oficially the world number one wanker and are noob (newbe) in cars so why dont you just rack of you short,fat and ugly hobo.
ps.youre sprem level must have drpped by 99%.
LOOKS LIKE SHIT!!
And now dont answer back to my comment, because im right……….by the way if u got MSN add me on tyre__fryer@hotmail.com ( by the way, its double underscore )