Falcon's Future In Doubt

[poida97]

Lol, Do you really think they are going to scrap it any time soon after they decided to keep the Geelong plant and re-engineer the I6, its all Scare Mongering and that sort of press is whats killing the local car industry

... or perhaps think of it this way - let's say the decision has already been made to axe the RWD platform globally, I wonder if they chose to re-engineer the Falcon I6 to make it Euro 4 compliant simply because it was a cheaper option than to engineer the engine bay to fit the V6 into a car that was already scheduled to be axed.

I hope I'm wrong, but it just seems to make sense. The commonwealth govt won't bother ford because they will still be building a car in Aus (focus).

[dlfswi]

Ford quit building the FWD Taurus' in America nearly 3 years ago I know this because I run a Taurus SHO forum in the US. The current Taurus is RWD and they are talking about going to AWD in the future 2010. I don't think you guys have anything to worry about with RWD Fords over there. Fact Ford should take what you guys build down there and bring them over here (after switching the steering over) if they did they'd sell some new cars over here. What they try selling us here in the US are boring and have no style compared what you guys have.

[Evil F6]

[Ford US said they want to go FWD to save 1mpg then in the same breath mention AWD as though that will save fuel.

[dlfswi]

Ford is planning on releasing a new Taurus in 2010 here's some links to some articles.

http://www.leftlanenews.com/ford-taurus.html

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/05/07/ford-ho...at-does-it-mea/

They are also talking about putting the EcoBoost engines in them. Here's the youtube vid on the EcoBoost.

and an article about it form Ford.

http://media.ford.com/article_display.cfm?article_id=29661

The picture in the last article is the current Taurus which was released 4 years ago as the Ford 500, but seems Ford couldn't give them away so they changed the name to Taurus 2 years ago to boost sales. You see what I mean by no style? The car in real life doesn't look as good as the pic. Ford US needs to bring over some of your designers and get some fresh ideas.

[Venom XR6]

... or perhaps think of it this way - let's say the decision has already been made to axe the RWD platform globally, I wonder if they chose to re-engineer the Falcon I6 to make it Euro 4 compliant simply because it was a cheaper option than to engineer the engine bay to fit the V6 into a car that was already scheduled to be axed.

I hope I'm wrong, but it just seems to make sense. The commonwealth govt won't bother ford because they will still be building a car in Aus (focus).

The Focus is only being made to help spread overhead costs across a higher number of vehicles, and to keep the plant running to capacity which makes everything more cost efficient. It won't make the sort of money the Falcon and Territory can, because small cars aren't a whole lot less expensive to build than a large car, but large cars cost a lot more. that's also the reason Ford or Expensive Daewoo will never switch to solely building small cars as the profits are a lot smaller. If Falcon and Territory go, the whole plant will shut, it can't survive on Focus volumes of 20,000 cars a year.

Good news is that Ford will most likely have another new Falcon, its the one after that that is the worry. They have invested way too much money now with the 1.8 billion dollars they spent the last 2 years, and then the Focus program costs to cut them any time soon, and word is the Mustang may share the platform now that the Global RWD platform has been cut. It might have actually been better for Ford Australia for it to be axed as it makes the FG's chassis the best RWD platform they have.

Ford quit building the FWD Taurus' in America nearly 3 years ago I know this because I run a Taurus SHO forum in the US. The current Taurus is RWD and they are talking about going to AWD in the future 2010. I don't think you guys have anything to worry about with RWD Fords over there. Fact Ford should take what you guys build down there and bring them over here (after switching the steering over) if they did they'd sell some new cars over here. What they try selling us here in the US are boring and have no style compared what you guys have.

You've run a Taurus forum and you don't know the current Taurus and the future Taurus are both FWD with the option of AWD. No Taurus has ever been RWD. Sheesh.

Edited 23/01/09 07:04 AM by Dagabond

[dlfswi]

You've run a Taurus forum and you don't know the current Taurus and the future Taurus are both FWD with the option of AWD. No Taurus has ever been RWD. Sheesh.

Ford hasn't built a FWD Taurus In over 3 years in the US, Ford even closed the factory that was building them in Atlanta, Ga. I have no members on my board from Australia so if they are still building the Taurus down there that's news to us.

That's the problem with the Taurus it's never been RWD, they suck at drag racing because of the torque steer, I have at least 10 guys on my board their Taurus SHOs are producing over 400hp to the wheels. One his last dyno was at 630hp to the wheels. But the problem isn't the engine it's the sh*ty transmission can't handle the horse power. If these cars had been RWD we could have Taurus' running in the 9s and 10s at the drag strip. There's a guy in California that put a NA SHO engine in an Austin Healey that runs in the low 9s.

Ford's biggest problem in the US is they aren't selling any cars period. Other than the Mustang Ford's US designers haven't got a clue to building a car that looks good anymore. If they could/would bring the XR6 turbo or any other cars that are listed on your general vehicle forum to the US they would be selling cars like crazy.

Here's an example of the lovely color choice they give us here in the US.

http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/taurus/

Hit colors to see them, if you do the 360 view you will see the back looks like a Toyota, Ford US doesn't realize the people buying Toyota's don't buy them for their styling, they'd buy a shoe box if it got good gas mileage.

Any way you guys have a great board over here only thing missing are some scantly clad females.

Edited 23/01/09 07:35 PM by dlfswi

[NB4C]

If they could/would bring the XR6 turbo or any other cars that are listed on your general vehicle forum to the US they would be selling cars like crazy.

Damn right, and it's been proven many times that the Falcon XR6 Turbo > Late model camira SS. That Late model camira is rebadged and sold as the Ponatic G8 GT in the US - and is becoming an iconic car over there, think would the superior Falcon could do.

But so far, Ford cheaped out and decided against making a left-hand drive Falcon for export.

Edited 24/01/09 07:30 AM by never_buy_4cylinder

[seventytwo]

Any way you guys have a great board over here only thing missing are some scantly clad females.

They are here, you just have to know where to look.

Have a troll through this thread Random Pic Thread

All sorts of good stuff in there.

Back on topic, I would rather buy a prius, if Ford Aus imports the Taurus again.

[Venom XR6]

Ford hasn't built a FWD Taurus In over 3 years in the US, Ford even closed the factory that was building them in Atlanta, Ga. I have no members on my board from Australia so if they are still building the Taurus down there that's news to us.

That's the problem with the Taurus it's never been RWD, they suck at drag racing because of the torque steer, I have at least 10 guys on my board their Taurus SHOs are producing over 400hp to the wheels. One his last dyno was at 630hp to the wheels. But the problem isn't the engine it's the sh*ty transmission can't handle the horse power. If these cars had been RWD we could have Taurus' running in the 9s and 10s at the drag strip. There's a guy in California that put a NA SHO engine in an Austin Healey that runs in the low 9s.

Ford's biggest problem in the US is they aren't selling any cars period. Other than the Mustang Ford's US designers haven't got a clue to building a car that looks good anymore. If they could/would bring the XR6 turbo or any other cars that are listed on your general vehicle forum to the US they would be selling cars like crazy.

Here's an example of the lovely color choice they give us here in the US.

http://www.fordvehicles.com/cars/taurus/

Hit colors to see them, if you do the 360 view you will see the back looks like a Toyota, Ford US doesn't realize the people buying Toyota's don't buy them for their styling, they'd buy a shoe box if it got good gas mileage.

Any way you guys have a great board over here only thing missing are some scantly clad females.

Yes, your right, the Taurus was replaced by the 500, but that bombed so they changed the name to Taurus to help it sell, but it was still FWD and AWD.

[bunna]

But so far, Ford cheaped out and decided against making a left-hand drive Falcon for export.

Too much stuff in the way in the I6 engine configuration to easily (cheaply) offer LHD