Broady to go global

AS THE Federal Labor Opposition today warned of a possible closure announcement of Ford’s Geelong engine plant as early as tomorrow (July 18), further details have emerged in the US of the all-new V6 – including a twin-turbocharged direct-injection version – that should eventually slot into the next-generation Falcon.

Opposition industry spokesman Kim Carr told Fairfax newspapers today that the Australian auto industry was “bracing itself for a decision, and we fear the worst”.

Meanwhile, across the Pacific respected US website Edmunds.com has revealed further details of the replacement V6, along with the BMW M3-style twin-clutch transmission it will be paired with (in the high-performance variant) and the lead engineering role Australia is believed to be playing in the Blue Oval’s future global rear-wheel drive platform architecture.

In return for part of the $137 million it received mostly in the form of Federal Government import duty concessions from the Automotive Competitiveness and Investments Scheme (ACIS) in 2006, Ford Australia has committed to developing a left-hand drive version of its reskinned 2008 Orion Falcon for sale in potential export markets.

Now, precisely 12 months after GM Holden launched the VE Commodore sedan as the first model to ride on GM’s new global rear-drive “architecture”, Edmunds has reported that the first of a procession of US and possibly European models to employ all-new vehicle underpinnings designed by Ford Australia for its next-generation Falcon (not due before 2013) will appear globally inside four years.

In a worldwide future model engineering strategy that appears to be a carbon copy of what Holden and GM began with the Commodore’s Zeta foundations, it is believed Ford US will launch the first in a family of large rear-drive coupe and sedan models in 2011 for the 2012 model year – around two-years ahead of Ford Australia’s all-new next-generation Falcon.

According to Edmunds, Ford Australia “will do much of the initial engineering work” for the new RWD/AWD component set, which in North America is expected to form the basis of replacements for Ford’s Mustang coupe and Crown Victoria sedan, plus the Mercury Grand Marquis and Lincoln’s Town Car.

The Mustang would have been North America’s last remaining rear-drive Ford by 2011, following the closure of the plants that build the latter trio (all based on Ford’s circa-1978 “Panther” rear-drive platform) in 2010 and the demise of the Lincoln LS sedan and Ford Thunderbird, both of which share the outgoing Jaguar S-Type’s premium-priced DEW98 platform.

An all-new Crown Victoria, expected to look a lot like Ford’s striking Interceptor concept from January’s Detroit motor show, should be the first to preview the next-generation Falcon’s platform.

Ford Australia has already announced that its upcoming Orion sedan will not, at least from launch, form the basis for a successor to Ford’s once-dominant long-wheelbase Fairlane/LTD flagship – a model that could be vital for Ford in emerging Asian export destinations – just as Holden’s WM Statesman/Caprice is.

However, Edmunds reports that the future architecture known to US suppliers generically as the “global large rear-wheel-drive vehicle platform” will (eventually) underpin both a future Fairlane/LTD. It says both a new rear-drive flagship sedan for Ford of Europe and a car-based replacement for the Explorer could also be built on the same platform.

Ford Australia’s new role in its parent company’s broader model plans is the brainchild of new Ford CEO Alan Mulally and Ford’s group vice-president for global product development, Derrick Kuzak, who visited Ford Oz last month for the first time.

Like Bob Lutz, his opposite number at GM, Mr Kuzak appears to value the ability of his Australian subsidiary, which is believed to have already started development of the Orion’s fully redesigned successor, to develop a range of large rear-drive models based on one chassis architecture.

Edmunds also reported on Friday that Ford’s new RWD/AWD platform will be engineered to accommodate both V6 and V8 engines, including the new twin-turbocharged, direct-injection “TwinForce” petrol engines, and Ford’s new VW DSG-style twin-clutch, six-speed transmission.

As with the new BMW M3’s upcoming automated (seven-speed) manual dubbed M-DCT, Ford’s six-speed “PowerShift” gearbox will be sourced from German transmission maker Getrag.

Mr Kuzak used a 2008 model preview for selected US journalists two weeks ago to reveal more details of the 2.5-litre four-cylinder, 3.5-litre V6, 5.0-litre (and 6.2-litre – for the F150) V8 “GTTDI” engines currently being developed at Dearborn.

While direct petrol-injection and turbocharging are technologies already currently employed by the Ford group (the former in the US Mondeo and together in the Mazda6 MPS), direct-injection remains on the shelf as a fuel-saving technology for the Holden-built Alloytec V6, which is already produced in (2.8-litre) twin-turbo guise for GM outposts like Saab.

Holden’s own 280kW/480Nm TT36 Torana concept was powered by a twin-turbocharged 3.6-litre Alloytec V6 that is odds-on to join the Commodore performance line-up eventually.

The TwinForce engines also possess a cylinder shutdown feature similar to GM’s “displacement on demand” system that’s yet to appear on Holden’s V6.

GM’s future Zeta-based large-car programs beyond the Chevrolet Camaro were brought into question by Mr Lutz as strict new Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards moved one step closer to reality in the US last month.

Ford’s long-term strategy to meet ever-tightening fuel consumption requirements was first outlined with the Detroit show reveal on the Lincoln MKR concept, which is powered by a twin-turbo, direct-injection of Ford’s all-alloy Duratec 35 engine – the 3.5-litre V6 that we last week revealed was most likely to replace Falcon’s long-running inline six by mid-2010, when strict new Euro4 emissions laws come into full effect.

Mr Kuzak said Ford had fast-tracked many technologies and that the new TwinForce engines would deliver fuel economy that approached diesel engines – without the expensive development and production costs.

“Our TwinForce engine technology is a key element of how we’re going after fuel economy gains without asking anyone to give up performance,” he said when presenting the MKR at Detroit in January.

The MKR’s E85-compatible engine was claimed to deliver 309kW and 540Nm – and 15 per cent better fuel economy than a V8 with similar performance.

The figures eclipse even the twin-turbo/direct-injection 3.0-litre inline six (225kW/400Nm) of BMW’s highly acclaimed 335i which, unlike the TwinForce V6, runs only on premium unleaded.

Latest speculation from the US is that the flagship of the 2009 Ford Fusion range in the US will receive a single-turbo 2.5-litre inline four that produces 194kW, while further-out the 5.0-litre GTTDI V8 will offer more than 320kW.

Of most significance to Australia is the 3.5-litre GTTDI V6 that will dispense somewhere between 261kW and 313kW when it powers the production Lincoln MKS, next-generation Mustang and, potentially, Ford’s local FPV and/or XR models.

And that should be enough to appease those already lamenting the banishment of Ford’s brilliant turbocharged six in the XR6 and FPV F6s from 2010.

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