2008 Ford Falcon Orion spy photos
November 10, 2007 by Paul Maric
After spending time away on other projects, our spy photographer is back into the swing of things, bringing you the latest developments from Ford’s ‘Orion’ project.
Despite what it may look like, thisXR8 prototype is not driving around with training wheels on…
The small wheel attached to the rear is used to check the accuracy of the on-board trip computer under varying loads and driving conditions. In this instance, the rear of the vehicle appears to have been filled with heavy material, increasing weight and making acceleration a slightly harder task.
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One of the latest developments in the Falcon hunt – and one that has already been picked by our vehicle stylist – is the redesign of the rear passenger doors. As you can see below, the uneasy entry/exit trait common to all Falcons from the AU, to BF may have been alleviated with a straight cut door line, and an extension of the roof line, allowing easier entry and exit.
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The rear end has been somewhat of a mystery during the course of the vehicle’s development. These photos shed some light on the angle and shape of the rear lights, suggesting more of a smooth and flowing design.
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A reader has also sent in some photos of a base model sedan and tubbed utility testing in country Victoria. Certainly not discreet, the awkward colours and shapes were a dead give away to our keen-eyed reader who had a camera on hand to snap the pair testing.
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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: 
I see it, Astroboy.
Yeah I joined the air force, so I had to move to canberra. Its been good though, living on the mainland, being able to drive to melbourne or sydney instead of flying is nice. And skiing is great, tassie has just really bad ski fields so I never got into it growing up.
ImportJap I agree, most cars have them now its the ‘in’ thing for some reason, and its not that they are any easier to open either. change for changes sake
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Ah Tom, you would probably have heard of my brother who has spent years up in Canberra with RAAF. He is not there anymore but he is a officer at another base now. He is a sqnldr but up for another Prom in the next couple of months.
Frugal One, things are about to get interesting in Ford showrooms. It’s going to become a stage for the survival of the fittest. Does the punter want this traditional Falcon here? Or would Sir and Madame prefer this European Mondeo that is a mere 86mm shorter (and roughly 35mm bigger in every other key dimension!) with a choice of 4 or 5 cylinder petrol engines or 4 cylinder turbo diesel?
What needs to be remembered about the new Ford “Orion” is that it is a heavier car and has a lot more torque than the Mondeo. That means it will handle the trailer with a ton of sand, or the caravan or the long trip up to say Queensland with 2 kids mum and dad without much trouble.
The Mondeo is for a different market. It’s more the car for the self funded retiries, maybe the more conservative group in our society. But the Ford Orion is the work horse.
From what I can see on these pictures the new Orion is following the design lines (family) of the Focus and Mondeo. Its major strength will be its durability, remembering that its “nuts and bolts” have been perfected throught the AU design to the BF2 evolution.
I do believe that the new Orion could quite possibly be the “cat among the pideons” when it is released, that is I believe it could eat heavily into the VE, 380 and Aurion market base.
If anyone says the Falcon needs to be FWD, they don’t realise what the Mondeo is.
The Falcon does not need to be FWD. That’s what the Mondeos for.
Check the Mondeo’s weight, Tony. Yes, it’s lighter than a Falcon, but only by a torque tube. And I do realise the Falcon has by far the greater torque. I don’t see the Mondeo as the conservative retiree’s car, it’s too un-camry for that.
If anything, it’ll probably hold greater interest for thirty and forty somethings who don’t need to tow a trailer of sand. I live in the city and will never need to tow a trailer of sand. If I did…yeah, maybe Falcon…or, better still, pay the Soils Ain’t Soils man to come by in his truck and drop it on the verge.
Astro boy,
are you serious? can you really drop the tail gate when you have a trailer on the back of a falcon ute? if you can i got ripped cause i cant drop mine down with a trailer on!!!
also i think the hinges will stay the way they are. the tail gate is rated to 500kgs and if they set them up like the commy they would lose that advantage.
Frugal one,
are you serious aswell?
you blame fuel prices for large car sales being poor yet you say to combat that ford should make vans, 4X4’s, duel cab utes etc. mate all of those cost more to fuel!!!
oh and for the record large car sales arent going backwards last time i looked. they are just not growing as much as the other categories. they still have positive growth though.
too many people blame fuel prices for the growth not being in falcons and commy type vehicles. sorry i dont buy fuel prices. so why is the biggest growth being seen in SUV’s and 4X4’s the very type of vehicles that easily cost more to fuel??????
Tony M,
yes i agree the falcon will be the cat amongst the pigeons in the way the BA was.
ford AUS can build some great ahead of their times vehicles but the problem lies where they sit on them for too long giving other manufacturers the time to catch up.
great examples can be seen with the BA falcon and territory.
only now are holden and toyota able to claw some sales off of the territory. and how old is it??
ford should have re-styled and upgraded the territory again a few months ago before the new kluger hit.
Yes Andrew M…
Frugal one, how come Ford should stop large cars because they not selling well because of fuel prices. Look at Holden, how is the VE Commodore selling? Also you say the Toyota LandCruser is the best 4X4 in the world when they take up more fuel than any Falcon.
There is still too much front and rear overhang on the Falcon, a problem they can’t change due to the carry-over platform. This makes it look dated already. The trend is for shorter front and rear over-hangs like the VE Commodore
I agree Shane, in previous posts I have said VE looks great with tiny front overhang. Ford will look dated here as you say.
That front overhang because they need to fit that big inline six in there. After the Orion in 2010, it hopefully won’t be like that.
After the I6 has gone, there won’t be much overhang. I hope the V6 Duratec 35 comes as an option or standard for base models in the Falcon next year.
Looks like your going to have to wait till Melbourne Car Show Feb next year,FPV have just announced their canceling their open day in Feb they normally have…….I guess they are concerned the NEW GT maybe leaked a month before its release!
DAMN!
Don’t get me started BM…When ever I here anything about the Orion GT, I get too crazy in joy!!! Now I wish tomorrow is the first of March 2008.
I don’t know why people are so hung up about the overhang.
Ford are not taking design cues from Holden (ripping-off BMW styling ), Ford have a global concept.
It is more important the car is well porpotioned and has an individual style.
Personally I think the dating BA/BF body is still the better looker when compared with the VE.
i can tell you all now… falcon has been delayed till at least may 08….. finally went to bite the bullet and order an orion GT and have just been told that…. and its not just FPV models delayed its the whole lot!
Any idea on the price tonyn?
So I guess no Melbourne Motor Show for it!
nope, was told that it would be similar to the BF, but no set pricing….. they would take my deposit but!!!
No melbourne motorshow for it im afraid…. or at least i dont think so!
I am trying to find colours and stuff now, but i have been told that there should be 30% power increase over BF too…. how true i dont know but it came from a good source!
Shane…
Orion will have shorter overhangs than the BF series falcons, around a 30mm increase to wheelbase.
Take a close look at the spy pics, there isn’t that much more front overhang compared to VE and the rear is the same.
I agree with BlueBlood, too many focus on one or two styling elements when the whole package should look cohesive.
To me the VE looks too blocky, thick and heavy, the weheel arches in base models in particular look too pumped out.
The VEs side profile also looks too bland and plain.
So far from what i can tell from the spy pics, Orion has a slimmer more athletic look to it, look at the size of the front structure, for having to fit a tall inline 6 engine Ford from the looks of it have done a bloody good job making it look petite and tight.
The sill panels don’t look too thick or overdone and the side profile, creases and character lines look more detailed than the VEs.
Holden tends to over do some styling elements imo.
I hope this falcon looks more efficient and smaller than VE.
Also too, RWD platforms are the one that can afford short front overhangs, FWD cars you will find still have bigger front overhangs.
i infact hope the thing has big buldging guards, personally think the commo isnt that good looking, but i love the guards. doesnt look like it on the pics but
Maybe the fords could do the audi trick and make the guards wider on there sports models to define them!
You think the wheel arches look good on base omega VEs!?
base models never look good…. not even a base model mercedes or bmw looks good…. but yeah i like the flared guards on the commos….. omega looks crap…. id much rather the falcon look low and wide than tall and skinny, i think that was the AU’s problem… where even the base model omegas look low and wide….
I think that was the AU’s problem it was too skinny and tall, amazing how the look changed with them when you lower the hell out of it and stick some good size rubber under AU’s!
Agree about AUs looking to narrow, falcons always had a low, wide stance and that was the problem with AU.
I don’t think you will see Ford do any sort of styling mistakes again on falcon.
Not all base models look underdone though.
i dont think you will either
I havent seen to many good looking base models though!
i guess they rely on the higher end models to promote though!
Tonyn,
30% increase in power on the GT’s????
thats 377kw!!!! are you sure it was 30%??
Well you know he has a good source…..not sure on what make of Orion hes referring to though. Send him a private email and ask him!
Hope he was right about 30% increase in power. LOL!
And a wheelbase increase? Tom Gorman himself (I think) admitted it was just gonna be a Top and Tail job. That means no changes to engines, suspensions, wheelbase or other key hard points, just a shiny new body and interior.
golfschwein,
i thought it was getting territory front suspension though.
i thought that was a given…
I doubt you right about TOP AND TAIL…….it doesn’t take that long to tool new panels!
FPV are getting more so why wouldn’t the rest of the range!hmm
This is so crap! Still have to wait untill next year too see the Orion and know that it’s not a “failure”.
BTW, F6X soon…
Apparently orion will get the territories front mounted steering rack hence the wheelbase stretch of about 30mm.
remember the VE commodore is the first commodore in history to have a longer wheelbase than falcon, and shorter front and rear overhangs.
I didn’t see this handicap the commodore against falcon for the past 30 years??
Just a thought also.
See how the orion seems to have better packaging in relation to rear door openings and general green house space.
Wouldn’t this indicate that the wheelbase would have to bee enlarged in order to make this improvement??
THIS IS WHAT I WONT TO SEE HAPPEN. (NOT ACTUAL SPECS)
XR6N/A=230kw/430nm
XR6Turbo=280kws/550nm
XR8=300kws/570nm
F6 Typhoon=315kws/585nm
GT/GT-P=335kws/600nm
GT-HO=351kws/670nm
This would be the best possible result for ford/fpv and the have the gear and NOW the right person in the drivers seat to do it! They have also had over 18 months to do it. Come on ford and fpv and thank you rod barrett, you are our new god!!!
GT HO only 351kws??
i think you are on the money though.
im definately waiting till next yr then if those are the figures we will get. N/A needs to be 230kw. they cant only match the others but they must pass them.
people are simple and percieve the KW figure as being the true judge of a cars power.
for eg is the aurion the most powerfull?? not in my eyes.
oh and i think you are being conservative on your Typhoon torque figure too
Na Im thinking more than 351………Rod Barret wont bring a Ho out if he thinks he cant beat an HSV or even a EVO on a track. He’s dead serious that the HO name has to live up to its previous reputation,and that was the fastest 4 door in the world ! Which is why they are now saying no blown 5.4 because of the weight. Maybe as I have said before the V10 will happen 427 and the engine weighs less than the 5.4 .Bring it on!!!!!!
Great one Cobra 302, Wikipedia says the FPV V8 might have only 550nm and F6 570nm. That’s just not enough torque, because HSV will soon upgrade their engines now that they herd about it. What you said is more promising, I hope FPV will equal that – or even better it. LOL!
I don’t know if the V8 would have more torque than the turbo six, because the current ones have more torque than the V8s, that’s why the F6 is faster when it has less KW than the V8.
Me I wouldn’t worry too much about the new Phoon….from what I have heard it shakes when its running just like HSVs will when they hear it……hahaha sounds awesome! Na really it will not only be fast in a straight line but faster around a track than anything thats currently in the Performance car series……true!
That David Flint was a trator for Ford fans. Glad this new Barret guy sounds like someone to give them the power they needed a long time ago.
The GT-HO should be 400kw & 700nm, 351 should be for the normal GT V8.
It’s good the Orion FPVs will handle well and won’t be a VZ HSV (straight line speed only)
I think Rod is seriously taking on his new role at FPV and will be a that breath of fresh air we have been waiting for , …..again in true FORD PERFORMANCE VEHICLES!
Now FPV stands for FORD PERFOMANCE VEHICLES…not FORD POWERLESS VEHICLES!
C’mon Ford/FPV! If they do what Cobra 302 said, it’ll be the end of Holden, because 300kw XR8 does sound over the top, but it should happen.
Shit poo ugly stooge homo ford.
Its filthy ugly.
Unlike the sexy ve!!!!!!!!!
pff shut u dont know what your talking about fords allways benn powerful u dumb ass