2008 Ford Falcon Spotted in Detroit: Export Rumours Gather Pace

Motoring Channel Staff - 31/May/2007

Detroit, USA — Following Holden's increasingly important role as a rear-wheel drive technology expert in General Motors global export scheme - it has secured deals to exports components and cars to the United States following the launch of the new VE Commodore - fresh evidence suggests Ford Australia may follow suit.

The Holden VE Commodore platform is a rear-wheel drive floorpan, which will be used on a number of upcoming American cars including the Pontiac G8 and Chevrolet Camaro, and like GM Holden, Ford Australia has been building rear-wheel drive vehicles for decades, and both companies have huge experience in these areas.

In America, GM and (to a lesser extent) Ford tried to compete with increasingly popular Japanese cars in the 1990s, and pushed some of their volume selling sedans to a front-wheel drive format. This wasn't the recipe for success they had banked on, and now both companies are actively seeking to return some of their models to the more profitable days of rear-wheel driven mid-sized and large cars.

So now these new Australian rear-wheel drive platforms (albeit with significant input from the US) are being regarded as ideal solutions, and the sighting of the next-generation Falcon model in Detroit - the home of the American automobile - adds more credence to the news thatin America Ford will be using the Falcon's new rear-wheel drive platform in upcoming new vehicles.

Currently Ford Australia hasn't released an official comment on when the new Falcon will be launched in Australia, but evidence suggests it could be as early as March or April in 2008.

News of the 2008 model Falcon's appearance at Ford's American headquarters bodes well for the future of the Falcon, as without a strong export scheme or at least a component-sharing deal, the languishing sales of large cars in Australia (due mainly to increases in the price of petrol) may make it unviable going into the next decade.

It would premature to speculate on the Australian-made 2008 model Falcon being exported to America as a new vehicle but this sighting is the first time the next generation Australian large car has been spotted on foreign soil. 

Ford Australia's President, American-born Tom Gorman, didn't so much admit to export plans, but did mention it was part of the company's new agenda: "While we have no concrete export plans to announce at this time, our new strategic direction as a company will involve us actively targeting additional opportunities for our outstanding domestically manufactured vehicles.

"Our new globally-oriented strategic direction will allow us to build upon the capabilities and intellectual excellence we have here in Australia. The Ford Australia team will deliver an exciting new engineering and design program for numerous markets around the world, while also investigating further future export opportunities for both Territory and Falcon," added Mr Gorman, in the strongest hint yet that the new 2008 Falcon platform will play a larger role in Ford's global car making plans.

"The addition of left-hand drive engineering capability to our product development team will provide significant experience and assist us to develop a viable export program for our world class rear-wheel drive architecture," said Tom Gorman, adding even more weight to the North American left-hand drive export rumours.

While the Holden developed Zeta platform will be used in a wide variety of North American-built models, there are rumours that the new Falcon rear-wheel drive platform and possible some of its other components (V8 or turbo 6-cylinder engines?) may be used on a number of new vehicles as we've reported in the past, such as the Crown Victoria, a popular police and fleet vehicle in the States, and even the next generation 2010 Ford Mustang.

This new evidence showing a disguised 2008 model Australia-built Ford Falcon at one of Ford's engineering facilities in Detroit suggests that Ford Australia could indeed be following Holden's lead in supplying the American market with rear-wheel drive technology. To view the spy photo of the 2008 Ford Falcon from KPG Photography, click here.

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