The Ford Falcon is all Australian. It has always been driven by the rear wheels, and it has always been designed, engineered, and built Down Under. The automotive world is rapidly changing, though, and Ford is one of many OEMs that are driving towards global vehicle architectures and a less diversified corporate parts bin. What does that mean for the Falcon? Nothing for quite a while, as the once hot-selling Aussie special just received major rework in April, and another redesign is many years away. When it does go under the engineering knife it will likely have more in common with the Ford Taurus than anything native to the Outback.
Ford product chief Derrick Kuzak is working towards what the Blue Oval calls "One Ford." That means, for example, that there will be only one C-segment platform for like-sized crossovers, wagons, hatchbacks, coupes, and sedans, and that platform would be used in all regions around the globe. Ford will still have a rear-drive platform for performance vehicles, but the rabid push for fuel efficiency and weight reductions means that the chance of future Falcons being motivated by the rear wheels is slim. Plenty can change between now and 2015, so we'll keep our dimming hopes for a RWD Falcon for all alive, but the prospects look less rosy by the day.
"You guys are obsessed with rear wheel drive," Alan Mulally mused to the Australian press after a browbeating about which pair of wheels might propel the Falcon into the future. Try as they might, the Ford Chief would not be pinned down about the chassis architecture of future Falcons, saying only that the choice would be customer driven, and plugging front and all-wheel drive vehicles as "pretty spectacular." Mulally is right that Ford's global push to put exceptional small cars in showrooms is what the automaker's focus is and should be. The Falcon has long fallen off its sales peak from the halcyon days of two decades ago, and while Mulally agrees that it's "an absolutely dynamite vehicle," small cars in the future will prop up the more niche-y vehicles like the FG Falcon. Mulally went on to say that Australia will serve as an engineering and product development outpost for Ford, and the big-vehicle prowess in Oz will be useful regardless of layout. As Ford pulls its global platforms together, the Ranger and Focus will come at us from Australia, too. While we all wish we could fill our driveways with an FPV GT sporting Paul Stanley eye makeup and Boss V8 motivation, we're not holding our breath. Ford doesn't appear to be following GMs lead bringing its Australian cars stateside, and the V8s days may be numbered. Mulally acknowledged that fuel efficiency and carbon dioxide emissions are going to be tremendously important going forward, which will likely spur a shift to smaller four- and six-cylinder powerplants with forced induction serving as the performance option. An FG FPV with an Ecoboost four underhood? Heck, we'd still take it - it's bound to be better than the mush-tastic fleet-only Crown Victoria.
Holden and Ford have been fighting the battle of Commodore vs. Falcon for many years, and with the recent announcement of the new Falcon range, the war has heated up. Holden's very competent Holden line has been given quite a jolt in anticipation of the Falcon's release, with many offerings trumping Ford's recently introduced Falcon models.
The Commodore will now feature standard side curtain airbags across the model range, as opposed to only two of eight Falcon models having the safety tech standard. The Commodore's side air bags will also protect both first and second row passengers, as opposed to only the front row in the Falcon. Holden also held the price of the upcoming Commodore wagon to within $1,000 of the sedan's price, where before it was an extra $3,000, and air conditioning is now standard on all models. Pricing for the eight Falcon models has yet to be announced, so Ford still has a chance to retaliate.
It appears that the battle rages on for RWD superiority in the land of OZ, and if we're lucky Ford will bring the Falcon Stateside to battle the Pontiac G8 on our turf.
