Feathers Fall Off Flight Of The Falcon

[f-wolf]

Feathers fall off flight of the Falcon

June 26, 2010

THE Ford Falcon is turning 50 on Monday, but there is little reason to celebrate. Sales numbers have been on the slide for more than a decade and there are big question marks hanging over the car's future.

Since the first Falcon XK rolled off the production line at Broadmeadows in Victoria on June 28, 1960, more than 3,486,983 Falcons have been sold. But while that makes it one of Australian motoring's greatest success stories, Ford Australia cannot ignore the slide in sales.

Only 14 years ago the Falcon was riding high with 77,835 annual sales. But last year only 31,023 were sold. It is not just a Ford problem. Expensive Daewoo is experiencing a similar drop as motorists spurn large cars.

The future of the Falcon remains in limbo. Ford's global boss, Alan Mulally, has said there will no longer be cars for individual markets. Australia and New Zealand are the only big markets for the Falcon.

That leaves two main options: the Falcon could become a rebadged version of another model in the Ford world, such as the US-market Taurus, or the next generation Australian Falcon could be globalised and tweaked for markets in Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.

The president of Ford Australia, Marin Burela, is playing his cards close to his chest. He refuses to reveal the fate of the Falcon, which he says will continue in its current form until about 2014.

"As is normal practice, we're currently working on our future model plans, which will continue for some time," Mr Burela said.

"As part of that we're talking to Australian customers about what their priorities are and our goals to deliver that."

But with 50 years of heritage and a place in Australia's identity, whatever form it takes Australia's longest-running motoring nameplate is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

STUCK IN REVERSE

Falcon sales

1999 - 70,084

2000 - 60,460

2001 - 53,534

2002 - 54,629

2003 - 73,220

2004 - 65,384

2005 - 53,080

2006 - 42,390

2007 - 33,941

2008 - 31,936

2009 - 31,023

From : Feathers fall off flight of the Falcon

Edited 26/06/10 05:15 AM by f-wolf

[tab]

Wonder if the spike in 2003 was caused by all us bogans stampeding the dealers for XR6Ts

Certainly is a sad sight. I'm sure it'll still be around for a while but will have to be killed of eventually. Can't imagine the return being there based on production figures much below what it is currently

[NB4C]

The Falcon is as iconic as the Mustang is in the States. I'm definitely grabbing one from the last batch. It'll be there to remind me of the good old days in the year 2037, when I'm 50 and everyone's driving personal transportation pods.

[GOLDIE]

yes the figures are low but so are all the others it is because there are so many choices out there.

And also people wrongly believe that the falcon uses more fuel.I drive a bf11 4 speed auto that gets 37 mpg on the highway tell me anyy other true family car that does that.

Ian

[RHR]

My current car gets better fuel economy than my dads old EF manual that he had.

People believe that if the falcon uses say, .1 of a litre of fuel more than say a commonwhore its bad on fuel.

My turbo still amazes me with its economy 10.3l /100 around town with mixed hwy driving

[smicky]

Idea:

Take this 4cyl Eco piece of half arsed Falcon, and send them over to Asia/Euro/US... see if that boosts your sales Ford Australia???

The rest of the car is good enough to export, easy enough a world class level product, so why not send the 4cyl OS?

Territory even maybe?

The 6T version of the 4wd is surly good enough for the US and Euro???

Then again, Mondao and the F series... Its really just another local version, isn't it?

[Smoke them tyres]

I don't get how most Australian's view their own locally manufactured product.

Have a mate that believed that these cars were inferior...."if it is imported, it must be good/better" mentality. What elitist rubbish. Foreigners can make crap as well as anyone. What does this attitude say about how most Aussies view their own work output? "Another Aussie made it, so it must be crap".

He then went for a ride in a BA XR8 (prior to my lightly modded XR6T) and was then quite surprised about it's value for money/character/performance. Up until then, he had not been in a late model Australian made car (yet still passed judgement). He now has a changed attitude that is more "enlightened" and balanced.

I think Ford has made fantastic strides in the Falcon and the engineers here have proven that they can do world class cars. I am always surprised that Ford Oz don't export this car vigourously and do a LH drive version as well. Far better than the crap Yanks make. Christ, even the japs are not feature packing their cars like they used to (Corolla with front electric windows and window winders on the back....WTF?). $45k+ for an Accord...wtf?

Maybe the 4cyl version, dare I say it be good, in that it will hopefully get people into the Falcon (a 4 cyl Camry is a mid size car too and TOYota sell them). Once they see how they are, future upgrade purchases may happen. C'mon Mullally....use the good (Australian) product you already have in the inventory and take it worldwide.

They're not perfect, but where else can you get such value for money with the technical specs, performance, features and fit'n'finish that the Falcon now has.

Be a sad day when I can't get to own a Falcon/XR.

Edited 27/06/10 09:45 AM by Smoke them tyres

[arm79]

I notice those sales figures omit the Territory, which could add 10,000 or more sales to the brand. Seeing as they share alot of components, it goes a long way to keeping the factory viable.

  On 27/06/2010 at 9:42 AM, Smoke them tyres said:

They're not perfect, but where else can you get such value for money with the technical specs, performance, features and fit'n'finish that the Falcon now has.

And therein lies alot of their problems. They are better built and specced than ever before, but they still are far from perfect.

Their overall quality and service (pre and post sales) needs to be better.

I know 3 managers at work that would love to own FPV's or G6ET's, but they see how much time my car spends at the dealer and some of the difficulties I have getting things done, and it puts them off. I know my car is a bad example, but it sets a bad example for the brand as a whole.

Plus, whenever they drop their Beemers or Lexus for a service, a replacement car is always available. For the same $$$ as a standard service on my FPV, the CFO can have his Lexus collected from work, a replacement car left for him (always an IS250) and his car will be returned to work, serviced and detailed. No having to book, hope and pay extra.

When Ford can match that, he said he will be in a Territory Ghia or G6ET.

I remember with my EL Ghia under warranty, and I believe AU's as well, I had a "Prestige Service Plan". If my car needed to spend more than 24 hours in a service centre, I would immediately be given an equivalent car until mine was ready. Plus they would book travel, hotels, pass on messages for me, etc, etc.

If I spend $80k on an F6-E, I don't get that service anymore. If I want a loaner when I send my car for service or warranty, I have to give them 3 weeks notice, pay $30 or $40 on top of the service and end up with some crappy Fiesta or a column shift base model ute.

[seduced]

Exactly. However, I dont believe it is the dealers causing the problem. Ford Australia won't give them an inch to move. For all the warranty work my car had done, the dealer had to lie and dramatise the problems so Ford would approve the work and pay them.

If Ford actually cared about sales, they would give the dealers whatever they needed to keep the customer. If that means they keep a fleet of loan cars at each dealer, then do it. If that means spending thousands more on warranty work, do it! Because when my car comes up for replacement, I am seriously thinking about moving to something that is built properly. I'm tired of all the faults and the games you have to play to have them fixed.

A Lexus sounds very good to me for my main car... and I'll buy an EVO for the thrills I need.