Aussie Inspired Ford?

SUMMARY: After General Motors turned to its Australian unit, Holden, for the new Pontiac GTO, Ford is thinking of tapping the talents of its division down under for the next generation of some of its established nameplates. In this case, according to <i>Automotive News</i>, the models in question are the Ford Crown Victoria and Mercury Grand Marquis. Currently based on the Panther platform that has been in existence since 1978, the Crown Vic and the Grand Marquis have a loyal owner base ranging from police departments to retirees.

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Yes the cown vic has been in the news for exploding. But ford also put out a recaal which installed a kit on the police vehicles adding hard rubber stoppers thereby reducing the risk of explosion. It should not be conidered in the process.

There may well be a market for the Australian Falcon, but I don't think that it is as a Crown Victoria.

Currently, the Crown Victoria is the only sedan that is really big enough to serve effectively as a police car or a full size family sedan.

It faces stiff competition in the new Chrysler products, but the chassis is not really the problem. Ford should be concentrating on the engine and possibly offering a supercharged manual transmission model.

I wonder if the Falcon platform could be stretched lengthwise to accommodate the Crown Vic's size. Interestingly, GM is also reportedly looking to it's Aussie unit (Holden) for development of an affordable RWD platform.

The Crown Vic, Grand Marquis, and Town Car certainly have a big hold on the fleet market (police, taxis, limos, etc). The fact that the platform is old enough to have paid for development costs long ago only allows Ford to further focus on that market. Still, as runuts pointed out, Chrysler could give them a run for the money there with the new Magnum and 300. I also think that Ford believes they're going to have to do SOMETHING some day.

On the private consumer side, the buyer group for these cars is, admittedly, old. Ford faces having their consumers eventually, well.... die, for lack of a better word. The question is, do they go after the private side with a new model aimed at somewhat younger buyers or do they stick to fleet? Or maybe a mix of the two. If they go after the private buyers, the have to come with a product different than the new 500 and Fusion sedans yet it must be very competitive. If they go after the fleet, it has to be cheap to build (as police officers don't exactly NEED loads of leather and wood) and tough. To do a mix of both would be pretty hard, I'd imagine.

Ford's in a bit of a jam. It'd be best to just leave things the way they are, but they know they can't ride that horse forever. Good luck to them, whatever they decide to do.

Mike Cervantes
AutomotiveArticles.com Editor-in-Chief

The Ausie Falcon platform is not as small as prehaps you think it is.
In its Falcon and Fairmont form its certianly smaller than the Crown Vic, however along with the Holden Comodore its comfertbly the largest car on sale here in NZ and Ausie (with the exception of the 7 series BMW and S class merc, which are only just bigger in exterior dimensions).

Its the car of choice for both police forces (who buy both in equal numbers) while Taxi's generaly favour the Falcon, as a Taxi kit is avliable from the dealer, although the Comodore is still very popular.


However, a streched version of the Falcon platform is avliable, the current one being badged as a Fairlane.

I don't how it compares to the Crown Vic in size, but its noticably larger than the Falcon/Fairmont, and is larger than the Holden Calais, which is built useing the Chevy Caprice Body.

Heres a PDF with the full specs and dimensions: http://www.ford.co.nz/fairlane/downloads/fairlane_specs.pdf

or www.ford.co.nz or www.ford.com.au


While Ford has several extermly good FWD global platforms they lack a global RWD one. The falcon would make an excellent base, its of a size that it can be made bigger or smaller to suit differnt markets, and due to the large number of differnt models made off of it for the Ausi and NZ market, its extremly adaptable. It also uses the new generation of Ford V8 engines, and is able to use the new V6s, although it currently uses a reincarnation of the Ausi straight 6, an engine that has been around since the late 70s.

go the aussie falcon .
its as tought as ......
its a large car but not a battle ship size so it handles an drives well
looks good
heaps of engine choices from an LPG straight six , turbo petrol six , or V8s .
from base taxi trim thru to luxory LWB Fairlain
there is something in the falcon range to suit just about ant buyer , private or fleet.

You could be on to something with the Fairlane / Falcon as a possible replacement for the Crown Vic. I think the size would work and with the 5.4L engine the power is definitely there, much better than the current Crown Vic and potent enough to be a contender to the DC Hemi.

I'd like to see Ford do something along these lines. If they'd throw-in a manual transmission, I'd finally part with my old Vic and if they brought over the Ute, it might be time to update the Ranchero!

The Australian Falcon should also be built in the U.S.

I think the Falcon looks great.

Here is an FPV GT-P.

The stripes can be deleted.

http://fpv.com.au/upload/image/355_1x24x200382610PM.jpg

Check the following link for information, pictures, and videos:

http://fpv.com.au/index.asp