After holding the title for just over six months, the President of Ford Australia has resigned and is moving to the United States to "fulfill a career dream." President Bill Osborne, who took the position only in February, insists his departure has nothing to do with the fact that the company just announced 350 jobs will be cut at Victorian plants. Mr. Osborne is mum on where he is heading, although a company spokesperson said it is outside the automotive industry. Ford has not announced a replacement, but the new boss will have his or her work cut out as the Australian market adjusts from its high-horsepower diet to more fuel efficient vehicles. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Elvis lives. Tupac lives. And we have just discovered that M. C. Escher is also alive, well, living in Australia, and going by the name of Axel Peemoeller. Designer Peemoeller worked out the math to create, optically, directional signage that appears to hang in the air. Found in the carpark of the Eureka Tower in Melbourne, there's no technowizardy here, just a man with a can of paint and a few severely skewed letters. The result: mindbending. And bloody genius. Well done, Mr. Escher Peemoeller.
The exorbitant amount of money required to participate in an Australian auto show has resulted in automakers demanding a cut to one show per year. The shows in Sydney and Melbourne would need to alternate years for this to happen, but the two shows are run by different groups that don't want to give up the income. Cash-strapped automakers have already begun selectively attending the two shows, with big-time brands like BMW and Mercedes-Benz joining 12 other automakers that skipped out on this year's Melbourne show. Sydney and Melbourne organizers are getting the hint, and the two sides are discussing how best to move forward. Word is that the show count will be reduced to only one next year.
The move to alternating shows makes sense, and there is precedent to support it. The Paris and Frankfurt motor shows alternate each year, and both are far larger events than what the car-crazed Aussies put together. Tokyo is also a huge show, and it runs on a bi-annual basis, split between passenger vehicles on odd years and commercial rides on even years. Sorry, but we won't be covering Japan's trucks this October.
While General Motors debuted the 2010 Chevy Camaro in Detroit and L.A. on Monday, they also gave it a proper debut in Australia where much of the car's development work was performed. The General just published some new pictures from the car's Melbourne debut in which the new Camaro poses for the camera with a second generation model, two third generation models, a fourth gen and a very cherry 1969 Camaro SS owned by reigning V8 Supercar champion Garth Tander. Those pics plus GM's own shots that were taken at the live reveal in Detroit have been added to the first gallery below, beneath which we've included our own updated gallery of live shots from the Detroit reveal that includes images of the car after it was driven outside.
Ford Performance Vehicles' new range of Ford FG Falcon-derived super sedans and utes is mind-bendingly appealing. Big turbocharged or NA power, bright colors, and that menacing Alice Cooper eye makeup in front make for an entire farmer's market of forbidden fruit. Sure, on this side of the world, Ford's SVT performance division gives us the Shelby GT500 and the even more monstrous Shelby GT500KR -- but seriously, as hot as the factory super-Stangs are, the lineup of FPV rides you see above is hot enough to turn that desert sand into glass. Only, they can't -- because everything you see there is virtual. Both the backdrop and the cars are CGI. The photo-realistic vehicle models were created using the real cars' CAD data for a brand new FPV TV spot that premieres in Australia this Sunday. If you don't live in Oz, no worries -- FPV sent us a copy of the spot, which is now embedded after the jump for your enjoyment. And you will enjoy it. Right now, there's a void in our lives shaped like an all-black FPV F6, and this commercial's as close as we're going to come to filling it.
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Subaru's Australian outpost is set to deliver a localized special edition Liberty GT (Liberty = Legacy) that's been upgraded with a laundry list of components from the STI catalog. The Liberty GT tuned by STI makes 260 horsepower and 258 lb-ft of torque and will be made available with either a 6-speed stick or a 5-speed sportshift automatic. Brembos, Bilstein shocks, STI springs, a new muffler, lightweight Enkeis, and leather-and-Alcantara sport seats are but a few the features included in the 250-car limited edition, which is now on sale in Australia. Hey Subaru of America, where's the love like this for U.S. customers?
It wouldn't be correct to say that all Ferrari drivers can't drive. What we can say is that a lot of Ferrari drivers are probably not short of ego, and also probably have little idea of what their cars can do when pressed. Combine a robust confidence with a watching crowd, add a high-powered and sometimes testy car, thrown in a little bit of ignorance... and a pole.. and what you get is the image above.
A man in Australia pulled out of a garage in his Ferrari 360 Spyder, took his chance to impress some gathered folks at cafes lining the street, and floored it. The car, as they say in the business, got away from him. The pole in the median did not. We're never happy to see (another) wrecked Ferrari, or to see a man carted away from his toy by the police, so to you kids with Ferraris, please learn from this and stop the madness.
Our favorite part of this picture is that, having made his boo-boo and probably realizing what he's in for, the driver is still just sitting in the car, although the guy in the blue shirt flexing in the background also gets a special mention...
The Australian government has both feet firmly planted on the hybrid bandwagon, and the blokes down under are looking for more of the automotive combo platter in its fleet. The government already has 355 Toyota and Honda hybrids in its fleet, but Aussie lawmakers would like to utilize its own home-grown workforce for future models. NSW Premier Morris Lemma wants the option to purchase hybrids from both both GM-owned Holden and Ford of Australia, and has even guaranteed that his government will be one of the first customers in line if Holden offered a battery-assisted Commodore within two years, as has been reported. Unfortunately, a promise from the government for a few hundred sales is hardly enough incentive on its own for an automaker to begin developing a hybrid, so both Holden and Ford will no doubt be investigating closely whether or not there's enough demand in the Australian market for a gas-electric hybrid to support the investment.
Just as civilian Ford Falcon drivers have a new ride in which to roll, the racers who pilot the competition version of the sedan in Australia's V8 Supercar series now have an FG Falcon to call their own. The FG01 V8 Supercar will be officially unveiled at this weekend's race in Melbourne, where it'll entertain with some demo laps and then reside in the pits. According to Ford, the race car was designed to maximize driver safety while minimizing teams' operating, maintenance, and repair costs. Best of all, unlike the "stock" cars run in our various NASCAR series, Australia's V8 supercars actually bear more than a passing resemblance to their production counterparts -- four doors and all. There's no mistaking the fact that this car is derived from the Falcon XR8. Plus, it has a Giant Effing Wing that makes the apparatus hung off of some Pikes Peak hillclimb cars look like the ducktail on a '73 Carrera RS. Awesome. The FG01 will go into battle against its Holden counterparts next season.
Two 2010 Pontiac G8 Sport Trucks were recently spied in Australia loaded on the back of a transporter. Although seemingly dipped in camouflage decals, the profile of this not-going-to-be-named-El-Camino is easily distinguishable, even without a clear shot of the obvious Pontiac grill. Previewed at the 2008 New York Auto Show, the G8-based Sport Truck will be powered by a 6.0-liter V-8 rated at 361 horsepower. It should scoot to 60 mph in just over five seconds. Those of us in North America can expect this cargo-bedded Aussie import to arrive on our shores in late 2009.
