Ford slashes pricing

FORD Australia has slashed the prices across its range in a bid to win back sales.

Price cuts of up to $4000 have been made across the Falcon, Territory and Ranger lines, while some models have also gained extra equipment.

Ford Australia has also announced the revised Focus, to be launched later this week, will have a sharp starting price of $19,990.

The Focus has rarely dropped below the $20,000 mark, except for limited offers and during run-outs.

The struggling Falcon now gains electronic stability control as standard equipment for all automatic petrol models, as well as manual and automatic XR models.

Prices of the regular Falcon models remain in place, but Ford has taken the knife to prices of XR models with cuts of up to $1720 while also adding equipment.

The Falcon price cuts come as a surprise given what Ford Australia sales and marketing vice-president Mark Winslow told GoAuto last month.

"We are not going to discount. Our policy is to add value," Mr Winslow said.

XR cuts range from $1000 on XR6 Turbo and XR8 to $1720 for XR6 manual and four-speed auto. The XR6 six-speed auto model is now $1220 cheaper.

Apart from hacking off some of the sticker price, Ford has also added more gear to all XRs, including premium audio and climate-control, while the XR6 now also comes with the same 18-inch rims as the XR8.



From top: Falcon XT, Territory TX and Ranger XLT Crew Cab (bottom).

Ford had offered a pack, including ESC and a six-speed automatic on Falcon models for just $250, that was introduced with the BFII model.

Ford Australia president Tom Gorman said the new price structure and equipment levels make the Falcon range more attractive.

"With the release of the BF Falcon MkII in October last year, we took the deliberate strategic repositioning of some of our most popular Falcon models, in order to deliver and even more customer-focused price and specification set for our vehicles," he said.

"We have now taken these actions a step further, building on the overall competitiveness of the Falcon brand with the most comprehensively equipped Falcon range we have ever released." Pricing for the high-end Territory models in the same, give or take $100, but the starter models are now between $1500 and $2700.

The TS RWD is now $2700 cheaper and the TS AWD costs $2500 less, while Ford has reduced the TX AWD by $1850 and the TX RWD by $1500.

The premium Territory models gain a six-way adjustable driver’s seat, while the TX RWD and TS RWD now add ESC.

The sharpening of Territory prices and the addition of extra gear is clearly part of the preparation for the second-generation Toyota Kluger that will arrive in both two-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive from next month.

Ford Australia has saved its most drastic price cuts for the Ranger ute, which has struggled against the Holden Rodeo and the mighty Toyota HiLux since it was introduced late last year.

Price cuts across the Ranger line-up run from $2000 on some models to a hefty $4000 on the XL single-cab diesel model.

The only Ranger model not to receive a price cut is the entry-level XL single-cab 4x2 and 4x4 models, but both now come standard with air-condioning - which was a $2000 option.