New Falcon: Barra interior best - design boss

THE Barra Falcon due on sale in October will set a new standard for interior design luxury and quality among Australian-built cars.

That's the confident claim made by Ford Australia design director Simon Butterworth this week, as he revealed various aspects of the new Falcon's interior look and equipment.

Included in the first of a series of media briefings planned in the lead-up to the launch of Barra were details of the new seat design, interior trim and new exterior colours. But no details of the XR sports sedan range were revealed.

Detailed information on the Barra's interior is in a separate story in the Future Models section.

"I think we are certainly going to be leading in the Australian industry by a long shot," Mr Butterworth said.

"We are moving up to what I class as the premium segment. It really does lift us up.

"I think it's going to be a cracking interior - I think it is going to be a milestone for Ford Australia. It's going to sit up there with the best of Ford's interiors worldwide I think. It's a really good interior." This is a big claim considering Holden's VY Commodore goes on sale around the same time as Barra and an all-new Camry is launched in September.

But it reflects the importance of Barra to Ford Australia, which has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the most extensive midlife update of an Australian-built car ever, replacing the disappointing AU Falcon range.

New sheetmetal, new engines, new suspension and that entirely new interior are all part of a package which Ford Australia needs to fire if it is to return to profitability.

According to Mr Butterworth, the importance of the interior in that overall package cannot be discounted.

"The exterior has got to be good enough to grab somebody's attention and that's got to be the thing that attracts somebody to say 'I want to go look at this car further'," he said.

"But the interior is where you actually make your sale and where you actually get your second purchase as well. If that interior really cements with you and it gives you what you want as a customer, that's when you make the choice to say 'I'm going to repeat buy with this particular vehicle', so the interior is a very underestimated part of what design is all about." Mr Butterworth, a senior designer at luxury brand Jaguar before taking the top job at Ford Australia, said the new interior would present significant improvements in ergonomics, packaging, craftsmanship, manufacturability and safety.

He said prototype builds of the interior completed so far were a match in quality terms for anything he had seen within the Ford world.

Compared to the AU interior, he predicted the new Barra design would feel more like a driver's car.

"It feels like its more intimate, it feels like it is orientated towards the driver, so the driver's involvement in terms of commanding the car is there," he said.

"I think it'll also feel good for the passenger - it all really hangs together very well and very homogenously.

"It's very clean and structured in the design as well, so I think you will be pleasantly surprised when you see it."

Ford in the red again

FORD Australia has announced a $5.5 million loss for the 2001 calendar year. It follows on from a $16.1 million loss in the 2000 calendar year.

However, Ford Australia president Geoff Polites was putting the best light possible on the result, and forecasting break-even in 2002 and a return to profitability in 2003 when the Barra Falcon has spent a full 12 months on sale.

Mr Polites said investment in the Barra Falcon and the E265 cross-over vehicle program had a significant impact on results.

However, cost reductions, asset sales and a better close to 2001 than expedted were among the factors that ensured the result was better than initially forecast.