Australia’s most powerful six grinds to a halt

ONE of the most powerful six-cylinder passenger cars on sale will soon be no more, with Ford Australia confirming this week that it is down to a mere handful of its turbocharged FPV F6 sedans.

Ford Australia brand communications manager Neil McDonald told GoAuto that the car-maker only had about 20 of the $64,390 310kW/565Nm F6 sedans left – all with automatic gearboxes – before the inline turbo six developed here for several generations of locally made FPV models passes into history.

According to Mr McDonald, this would leave the more mainstream 270kW/533Nm XR6 Turbo and G6E Turbo as the only forced-induction six-cylinder models in the locally made line-up.

Ford Australia has been progressively winding back its Ford Performance Vehicles division ahead of production of its swansong model, the GT F, which will produce a historically significant 351kW from its huffed 5.0-litre V8 engine – the only powerplant left in the FPV stable.

Dropping the F6 from the FPV line-up leaves the entry-level GS, GT and GT-P in production until the GT F’s arrival next month. The GT F will then sell as the final FPV-badged model, although most cars that will roll off the Broadmeadows production line have already had buyers allocated.

As reported, the FPV name will disappear altogether in December when a facelifted ‘FG MkIII’ version of the current Falcon, which will reintroduce the XR8 badge for one last fling, goes on sale and carries the car-maker to the end of Australian production in late 2016.

To compensate for the loss of FPV, Ford will amp up its performance model line-up with a four-cylinder and V8-engined version of the next-generation Mustang, due on sale in Australia next year, that also features a number of suspension set-ups borrowed from the Falcon.

Ford reabsorbed FPV, which was run as a standalone company, in February last year as part of a buy-out of the go-fast division’s 51 per cent shareholder, British racing and performance car specialist Prodrive.

FPV’s turbo six engine dates back to 2004 when it was first developed for the F6 Typhoon sedan, and later the F6 Tornado ute.

In 2008, the name was shortened to just F6 as the brand dropped its trend of naming its vehicles after what customers viewed as natural disasters.

The F6 name was applied to a number of richly specified cars, including the more luxury-laden F6 E, and was even developed to power a seven-seat FPV version of the Ford Territory SUV known as the F6X.

Ford does not reveal separate sales numbers for its FPV range, sold through a network of more than 70 dealers nationwide.