FG Falcon: Reading between Ford's lines

IN CASE you missed it, Ford Australia launched its vital new "Orion"-codenamed Falcon, the eighth-generation FG, on the weekend in a once-a-decade showcase that emulated GM Holden's unveiling of its VE Commodore in 2006.

Here's a selection of some of the event's more interesting exchanges.

Were you interested, Bill?

ASKED whether he was surprised at how good the FG Falcon performed when he took it for a drive, Ford Australia’s new president Bill Osborne said: “Yes, frankly, because I didn’t realise it would be so good. We tend to compare ourselves to domestic competition, and when I drove the vehicle I told our engineering team that we really need to compare it to some of the best sedans in the world – not just our domestic competition – it is that good.” Better, even, than the Germans? “I think the vehicle compares favourably from a performance and vehicle dynamics standpoint, with any of the German sedans. That’s what I mean by ‘world-class’ sedan. I don’t believe it’s simply one of the best cars in the segment – it’s one of the best rear-wheel drive sedans in the world.”

How much better than VE?

FORD Australia’s engineering chief Trevor Worthington believes the FG Falcon will beat the VE Commodore in most areas. He declined to name the areas in which he thought Holden had the Blue Oval’s measure, but these were his comments when GoAuto asked him how well the FG performs, in his opinion, against VE.

“Because we have to, it’s appropriate that we do, we benchmark all of the competitive cars – the local competitors and a lot of overseas cars. There are some good things that they (Holden) have done, and we think that we’ve got a car that will beat them in almost every attribute... Our car apologises for nothing versus its competition.”

How much Sexier than VE?

FORD Australia’s design chief Scott Strong declined to make a comment on how the FG Falcon looks alongside the VE Commodore.

When GoAuto asked for his opinion, Mr Strong said: “It lends itself to doing an absolutely full-on performance look and at the same time it can look very elegant and prestigious. I think the team has done a really good job of creating a car that can be dressed to appeal to specific customers.” Okay, so how about its advancement over the current Falcon? “It looks like a worthy successor to the current model. We’re really excited about its more modern proportions and more overt and dynamic design. That was the intention – to make sure that the exterior would fully express all of the engineering improvements that lie under the hood of this thing.”Right. Well, what about fact that global design trends don’t always translate well into large cars? Did Mr Strong, who in his first stint at Ford Australia was told to fix the mess made with the AU Falcon, have the freedom with the FG to cut his own cloth that suits our particular market? Sort of...

“When we say ‘global DNA’ we’re talking about the underpinning vehicle attributes that customers value in a Ford product line. As it applies to styling, I would refer to it not as a recipe but as a philosophy. So I think in that description you have some latitude,” he told GoAuto.

“The important thing is when you put them together they look like a family photo.. We don’t want what I call Russian Christmas eggs that just look like small, medium, large versions of the same idea, but we do want them to have graphic elements and architectural elements that tie them together as carefully managed global vehicles.”

The biggest achievement? Shhh...

WHEN asked to nominate his biggest achievement in engineering the FG, Trevor Worthington, without hesitation, said: “The fact that I’m still standing upright.” In vehicle terms, though, he specified the all-new, all-aluminium virtual-pivot front suspension, improvements made in steering, the revised rear suspension and, perhaps above all, the new door architecture that brings a massive improvement in refinement.

“Anything over 80km/h there’s now something missing,” he said, of the absence of wind noise. “The (lack of) wind noise is just nothing like what we’ve experienced in our car, or we would say probably our competitors’ cars.”

Key part of the strategy

“THE most important part of our strategy is that we’re targeting a broader range of customers,” Bill Osborne told GoAuto this week.

“The primary thing driving our strategy really has been to target a broader range of customers – to move beyond the fleet buyer and the performance buyer into more of a family-type customer. A customer who is sophisticated enough to appreciate the driving dynamics of a vehicle but is really more family-oriented.”

Large cars, big slice

IN DEFENDING the Falcon and its role in the large-car segment, Ford Australia chief Bill Osborne said: “It is still a very important segment in Australia and it’s a segment that we do very well in. We believe that there is a market for people who need the space and functionality of large cars. Now, obviously consumer tastes have been changing but... it still represents roughly 14 per cent of the industry.”

Aiming for top spot

HE DESCRIBES the Falcon’s comeback as a marathon, but Bill Osborne is confident the FG can reach leadership in the large-car segment.

“The new Falcon is meant to change that – and that’s what I’m here to do. I’m here basically to make sure that Ford Falcon reclaims its rightful place at the top of the segment,” he said. “I don’t think that’s overly optimistic but it does take time... It takes time for consumers to come to appreciate what we’ve done. It’s more of a marathon than a sprint. We’ll stay focused on it every day... and with an energised dealer body and a very strong team behind us, I think we can overtake them over time.”

V6 transition no problem

BOTH Trevor Worthington and Ford Australia chief Bill Osborne told GoAuto at the FG Falcon launch this week that there would be no complications when in 2010 the Falcon retires its long-lived inline-six engine for a new global V6 (a story GoAuto broke to the world last year).

“The chassis architecture that we’ve got, and the body architecture that we’ve got, has got a huge longevity,” Mr Worthington said. “We know that because we already fit a 5.4-litre V8 with four-valve heads on top, and we have a turbocharged engine that has engine coolers and pipes running all through it – it doesn’t get more challenging that that. So this is a very, very sound architecture that will stand us in good stead for a long time.”

Prepared for success

FORD Australia will not increase the line rate at its Broadmeadows plant if the FG Falcon exceeds sales expectations. Rather, if the program is successful, management will increase production through the use of overtime, Saturday production and the like.

New chief Bill Osborne said the ultimate objective was to “fill up the entire plant” but he conceded that “our production numbers are somewhat conservative at this point”.

Falcon Euro vision

FORD has taken a leaf out of Honda’s book, inserting European connotations into its model nomenclature. Just as the Accord Euro seems like a bit of culture clash, and perhaps even an inferiority complex, for a Japanese manufacturer, what are we to make of the “all-Australian” Falcon G6E? As Ford Australia chief Bill Osborne announced in his opening address this week, the “E” stands for “European styling cues”.

Focus fast-track?

THE first Australian-built Ford Focus is due to roll off the production line mid-2011, but Ford Australia’s new boss Bill Osborne wants to bring the program forward.

“I want to get the Focus here as quickly as possible because I think it gives us a better cost equation, and gives us better control over our future,” he said. “So I’d love to get the Focus here as quickly as possible.”

Bon voyage Tom Gorman

WITH Tom Gorman deciding not to attend the launch of the FG Falcon this week, GoAuto did not get the chance to ask the outgoing Ford Australia chief to about his legacy.

Instead, we’ll have to delve into the archives. In October 2006, Mr Gorman told us: “If there’s going to be a legacy from me in Australia, I’d like it to be that I was able to crack the export nut.” Indeed, among his achievements were the Territory to South Africa deal inked in 2005 and the 2011 (right-hand drive) Focus production-in-Australia program.

But a left-hand drive Falcon, something that might have stopped the persistent questions about Ford’s future as an Australian car manufacturer at this week’s FG launch event, eluded him.