Straight Aussie six axed to secure Ford's future

COLD, hard numbers and Ford Australia’s potential global engineering role within the Blue Oval world sealed the fate of Falcon’s venerable in-line six-cylinder engine, which the company confirmed last week would be axed, along with the Geelong engine plant and its 600 workers, in 2010.

Ford Australia president Tom Gorman has explained the reasons behind the decision to replace the Australian-made engine with an imported V6 – a move GoAuto exclusively revealed a week before the company confirmed it last Wednesday.

Saving money, both in Australia and Detroit, is at the heart of the matter.

Mr Gorman said sourcing a Duratec V6 engine from the US, where one million will be made in 2010, would be cheaper than Ford Australia developing its own engine, of which about 70,000 a year are made. “I think that we are in a position to take advantage of a much higher volume technology at a much lower overall investment cost for Ford Australia, and in the long run that really produces opportunities for us,” Mr Gorman said.

However, Ford says the cost of upgrading the I6 engine to meet strict new exhaust emissions legislation from July 2010 wasn't the only reason behind the decision.

“The fact that we are making it effective in 2010, which is the time of Euro IV requirements, that is just a natural break point to introduce the V6 versus the I6 and that is why we have selected the date,” Mr Gorman said.

“We can clearly make our I6 engine Euro IV compliant, but this decision is clearly about (the) longer term future well into the next decade.

Left: The 3.5-litre Duratec 35, the Ford Motor Company's cleanest and most powerful V6 ever, entered production at the Lima engine plant in Ohio last July. The 198kW engine debuted in the Ford Edge and Lincoln MKX crossover, and will power one in five of Ford's North American models by the end of this decade.

“If you look at what is going to be required in the next decade relative to performance, fuel economy, emissions CO2, all of that, it really is requiring larger and larger investments for us to remain competitive. And for us to make those investments over really what is going to be less than 70,000 engines annually, then the economics simply don’t work.”

Some critics have blamed the demise of the I6 engine – which can be traced back to the first Australian Falcon of 1960 – on Ford Australia’s failure to secure a major export deal for either Falcon or Territory.

In response, Mr Gorman said that even if Ford Australia could lift its annual production to 90,000 through exports, importing a V6 would still make more sense than continuing to develop the locally made I6 which he referred to as an “orphan”.

“That number playing a million plus (US engines), the economics are so overwhelmingly powerful that a significant increase on our own production here still doesn’t allay that issue,” he said.

It is understood the new Duratec V6 will be available with a range of new technologies including direct injection, cylinder deactivation and the ability to run on high levels of ethanol. Although not commenting on specific technologies, Mr Gorman said these would benefit Ford Australia product in the long term.

“I know this is hard for all of us to accept because we sit in ’07 and I am really talking about stuff three years down the road, but to put our company in a position to access those technologies, some of which we are not even aware of yet, but once we are on the bandwagon with the corporate spend, with the corporate capability, we are really going to be able to access that technology without having to go it alone down here in Australia and that is critically important to us,” he said.

Mr Gorman said Ford Australia was not interested in producing a petrol-electric hybrid model, instead focusing on petrol, LPG, more ethanol-friendly units and diesel.

As GoAuto revealed earlier this month, Ford Australia will use the latest Duratec V6 engine that is built in Ohio, USA, and currently sees duty in the Edge crossover, Taurus sedan and Mazda’s Australian-bound CX-9.

Ford Oz has already said it will take a potent performance version, which as reported last week is almost certain to be a version of the twin-turbocharged design that powered the 309kW/540Nm E85-compatible Lincoln MKR concept at Detroit in January.

Mr Gorman acknowledged that switching to a “corporate” V6 would not improve prospects of new Falcon or Territory export deals in the short term, but hinted it could help in the long term.

“The longer we remain an orphan in terms of our technology in Australia, the less likely we are to fully participate in all of the activity that is underway with rear-wheel drive, so as we adopt corporate solutions from an architecture or technology standpoint, that brings us one step closer to being fully integrated into Ford, which is critically important to us in the long run,” he said.

Speculation continues to suggest a rear-drive architecture developed by Ford Australia could be used for future Ford US vehicles. As we reported last week, the next-generation Falcon platform is likely to be shared with Ford group vehicles as diverse as replacements for the Lincoln Town Car and Mercury Grand Marquis, as well as the Ford Crown Victoria and even the new Mustang, which could even be built here.

Mr Gorman said no such decisions have been made, but implied the Ford Australia adopting the V6 engine could help that cause.

“I would tell you that Ford recognises the strength of our platform and recognises the strength of our rear-wheel drive capabilities and I think we are improving our position vis-a-vis rear-wheel drive,” he said.

Mr Gorman said he felt “devastated” about making the decision to cut 600 jobs and close the plant, which opened in 1925, but does not regret making the call.

“Some people think that as the president, you know, ‘You didn’t save my job’. My view is that I have taken another step toward securing the future of Ford in Australia,” he said.

Several workers who face the axe are angry they were not told until a week after GoAuto broke the story.

Shop steward Michael Vuksic told the Geelong Advertiser last Wednesday that he wanted to thank the media for informing affected workers of Ford’s plans.

“Otherwise, I don’t think that we would know anything, not even today,” he said.