Falcon's future emerges

FORD Australian president Tom Gorman has confirmed the new-generation Falcon due in 2007 will retain its rear-drive configuration and should be built on an Australian-designed platform, despite increasing access to global vehicle architecture used throughout the Ford Motor Company.

"From our perspective you can say the rear-wheel drive platform for Falcon is something we like and the consumer likes," he said.

"In the next-generation Falcon there are some things we’d change. It isn’t just about bending sheetmetal – there are some things we would like to do to the vehicle, to continue to refine it to make it more attractive for the consumer. But we feel good about that platform." Mr Gorman said the all-new Falcon would represent a "substantive change from where we are today".

"BA was big change from the AU. It’s now the time for what we would call a ‘major change’ to the program. It’s not just a minor freshening." As far as investment in concerned, the BA program cost about $500 million and the AU, which was a completely new vehicle, cost around $750 million.

"There are some things we want to do to the vehicle to continue to make sure it’s relevant and competitive in the Australian market and some of those are more technical issues and some of those are styling," he said.

"We’re looking at doing both of those things. In terms of migrating to a corporate platform, I think the benefit of being part of the Ford Motor Company is that we have access to technologies from all over the world.

"And how successfully we incorporate those technologies is part of our business. How much do we bring in architectures from other parts of the world that then allow us to be more efficient producers?" Ford enthusiasts were given a glimpse of what the next-generation Falcon could look like in the form of the Iosis concept car at this year’s Frankfurt motor show.

Ford’s global design chief J Mays told GoAuto the Iosis had elements that could appear in the Falcon, including the front-end treatment.

Like all manufacturers, Ford is guarded about future product but earlier this year it received a $28 million grant under the ACIS Stage 2 Motor Vehicle Produce 8 million) and Toyota ($5.5 million).

Mr Gorman would not be drawn on the specifics of what Ford was doing with the cash.

"It’s pretty strategic for our future so I’m not going to go into it in much detail," he said. "It’s less hardware and more software." GoAuto understands a large part of the money will go toward new technologies for the Falcon and Territory. High priorities are known to be emissions and fuel efficiency.

The just-launched BF Falcon and SY Territory have fuel efficiency gains of between five per cent and 11 per cent.

New V6 to power one in five Fords

THE Ford Motor Co last week unveiled a new 3.5-litre 24-valve V6 petrol engine, which will be used to power one in five Ford vehicles by the end of the decade.

It will make its production debut next year in the Ford Edge and Lincoln Aviator crossover wagons, whereupon it will produce an estimated 186kW at 6250rpm and 325Nm at 4500rpm and be combined with a new six-speed automatic transmission.

The latter is claimed to save up to seven per cent in fuel during highway driving compared with conventional four-speed automatics.

The engine has similar dimensions to the smaller-displacement Duratec 3.0-litre V6, allowing it to fit into a variety of vehicles. It uses a dual-overhead cam valvetrain and incorporates intake variable valve timing.

It has also been designed to accommodate direct injection and turbocharging.

- TERRY MARTIN