FG Falcon: Eco-Ford not soon

FORD Australia’s engineering chief has cast doubt over the value of petrol-electric hybrid vehicles but conceded that alternative-fuel versions of the new-generation FG Falcon would emerge in time.

The company is known to be well advanced on producing a turbo-diesel engine – understood to be a derivative of the 2.7-litre V6 oiler used in the Land Rover Discovery – for its Australian-built models, including the Falcon sedan and utility range and the Territory SUV.

However, Ford Australia’s product development vice-president Trevor Worthington told GoAuto that consumers did not want radical alternatives and their expectations had been met with the FG Falcon via improved six-cylinder petrol fuel consumption – down one per cent to 10.1L/100km – and the continued availability of the LPG-only E-Gas derivative.

“I’m absolutely confident in what this car delivers,” he said. “We still have the fantastic E-Gas powertrain that delivers the running cost of a Fiesta or a Focus in a big car... and 20 per cent of the cars that we sell are E-Gas.

“People aren’t looking for radical. People want... a car that’s going to deliver what they’re looking for and is going to live through the cycle that they want.”

Mr Worthington questioned the value of Ford Australia producing alternative powertrains that used a combination of petrol and electric power, or were able to run on high levels of bio-ethanol.

Left: Land Rover Discovery TDV6 engine.



“There are a lot of questions about a lot of those alternative-fuel vehicles where people have got into them for the feel-good factor, but they don’t yet understand the implications of what they’ve got,” he said.

“We’ve all heard stories of people who have bought hybrid vehicles and then they’ve said, ‘What’s the resale value of my car? I’m going to sell it now because of the replacement battery cost, or the uncertainty about warranty.’“There are a number of technologies that are being worked on globally – we are part of a global company, we understand all the things that are being worked on – and our job is to make sure that we choose the right technology and jump at the right time.

“I’m just telling you that the right time to jump isn’t now.”

Perhaps in a reference to his team’s work on the diesel engine, a powertrain that Ford Australia’s new president Bill Osborne also admitted this week was under investigation, Mr Worthington said it was inevitable that new engine derivatives would emerge in the FG generation.

“It’s inevitable that you will see alternative fuel versions of this car out in the future,” he said.

“In the short-term, for this car, our customers have said to us they want everything – they want lower cost of ownership, and they want better performance, and again just like we did with BF, we’ve given that to them.

“It’s our job to ‘future’ (predict) what the market wants, and work on the right things. I’m not going to talk about what we’re working on, but clearly we’re working on a range of things.”

Ford Asia Pacific design director Scott Strong, who admitted his team had gone to “great lengths” to make the Falcon not seem too large, echoed Mr Worthington’s comments in arguing that the FG met the needs of Australians who want a large, but green-tinged, family sedan.

“Customers want everything – they want, I think, to continue to drive a big Australian car but they want it to be easier on the environment, easier on the chequebook, so that they can drive it with a clean conscience,” he said.

“There’s been a great effort to make it a more modern vehicle so they can do it.”

Read more:

First look: Ford's Orion Falcon breaks official cover

FG Falcon: Engineered to lead

FG Falcon: Inline Aussie six's final swansong

FG Falcon: A better packaged interior

FG Falcon: Ford goes to finishing school

FG Falcon: No FG wagon - yet

FG Falcon: No ute ESP