Export Falcon fails to fly

FORD Australia has revealed that the next-generation Falcon will not be built in left-hand drive for export.

Despite developing the 2008 “Orion” Falcon with the ability to be built in left-hand drive, Ford Australia’s proposal for the export vehicle has been knocked back by Ford Motor Company senior executives in the United States.

Ford Australia president Tom Gorman told GoAuto last week that the company would now concentrate on producing the Focus small car locally from 2011 after the large-car export program fell through.

“We went and market-tested a vehicle that looked good and we thought would do well, but as an organisation and a corporation we decided that the right path for us is to fill our capacity and the best way we could do that is a big chunk of volume and that is where Focus comes in,” he said.

Mr Gorman said that whilst Ford Australia was no longer pushing for a large car export program, production levels would not be diminished at Ford Australia’s Campbellfield and Geelong plants.

“We have cast our lot with Focus and in the short to medium term, the Focus program comes in 2011 and, based on our forward plans, our capacity will be fully subscribed.”

Left: Current South African-built Focus.

In May last year, Ford Australia announced it would invest in left-hand drive engineering capacity for the Orion Falcon which Mr Gorman said would “assist us to develop a viable export program for our world class rear-wheel drive architecture”.

Part of the announced Federal and Victorian government grants, totalling $105 million, was earmarked for the development of the left-hand drive Falcon-based model.

Ford Australia spokeswoman Sinead McAlary told GoAuto this week that both governments had agreed that part of the funding would be redirected to the Focus production program as it also included significant export volumes.

Mr Gorman said the (right-hand drive) Focus would now be Ford Australia’s major export model.

“The export business that we found is associated with the Focus so when we build Focus here, we do 40,000 – 15,000 will be exported,” he said.

Mr Gorman said that when added to the existing Falcon and Territory export programs, Focus exports would lift the rate of Ford Australia models headed overseas.

“You add that 15,000 (Focus) plus 8000 to 10,000 of Falcon and Territory, lets say 20,000 to 25,000, which is about 20 per cent of our build capacity and is up from where we are today,” he said.

Mr Gorman indicated a left-hand drive Falcon would not have delivered a huge increase in volume. “Even when we looked at (new) export opportunities, those volumes did not match what Focus does for us domestically and export,” he said.

“Ten years ago the Focus segment was less than 100,000. This year it will be close to 225,000, so if we can get our fair share of that segment… If you only assumed a 10 per cent share, that is 20,000 to 25,000 right there, and we think that with our products we can do better than that.” The Orion export Falcon program is the not the first left-hand drive Ford Australia program to be knocked back by Ford in Detroit. The company had worked on plans for at least three previous-generation Falcons to be built in left-hand drive, but all were canned.

While exporting left-hand drive Falcons to US, in a move that would have mimicked Holden’s export of Commodores as Pontiac G8 models, was a potential, it is believed the Middle East was of particular interest to Ford Australia.

Also an export destination for Holden cars, the Ford Australia model could have replaced the ancient Crown Victoria which struggles against the latest-generation Holdens that are sold as Chevrolets.

Ford Australia’s role in the development of a future Ford global large rear-drive architecture, which is due to debut on US models as early as 2011, remains unclear.

The new global platform, expected to form the base of the all-new Falcon due some time around 2013, could be developed by Ford Australia or by another Ford arm with at least some input from the Australian team.

Ford Australia has already announced it will import a US-sourced V6 engine for its Falcon and Territory models from 2010, ending production of the locally-made inline-six powerplant.

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Focus closing in on Falcon