Fords Current and Future Line Up

[MeestaNob!]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

Yes image is **** poor but that was Fords own doing, losing names like the Laser / Telstar etc lost ford alot of ground. The mondeo should be brought here as something else as they were never highly regarded before...

Perhaps, but now that the Mondeo is a genuinly good car it should be given a chance to build a positive reputation with the name.

Marketing avalanche required.

[flukey77]

Originally Posted by FourBarrel

Mondeo is FWD right. I really want a performance car that is 2/3rds the size of a Falcon but RWD.

C'mon Ford give us the Mustang at Falcon prices, it would sell like hot cakes!! Either that or a shortened 2 door Falcon!!

[sleekism]

Yeah screw the Focus off and build another Laser based on the Mazda 3 (I know the Focus and Mazda 3 are same platform but the Mazda has better styling) we need the 190kw turbo 2.3L Mazda engine in a new FPV TX3 Laser possibly with an AWD kit.

And I know it would probably kill Falcon sales but the Mustang in Australia would be a big hit for young people you can't argue with a sub 30 grand muscle car with such an iconic name as Mustang regardless if it has stone age suspension, no torque and bad build quality it would sell VERY well.

[Smoke Pursuit]

lol mustang never sold when it was here. i remember when Tickford had a few of them sitting down in Melbourne for a very very long time.

[Polyal]

Sub $30 mustang! LOL...you want a V6 version? Its shocking.

The mustang is not wanted, nor needed here IMO. If someone is desperate enough they can import it or go through one of those companies.

[sleekism]

How bout Lincoln Navigator? lol

[The Stylist]

Originally Posted by sleekism

Yeah screw the Focus off and build another Laser based on the Mazda 3 (I know the Focus and Mazda 3 are same platform but the Mazda has better styling) we need the 190kw turbo 2.3L Mazda engine in a new FPV TX3 Laser possibly with an AWD kit.

And I know it would probably kill Falcon sales but the Mustang in Australia would be a big hit for young people you can't argue with a sub 30 grand muscle car with such an iconic name as Mustang regardless if it has stone age suspension, no torque and bad build quality it would sell VERY well.

As far as I'm concerned the Laser can stay dead and buried. I'm glad those re-badge days are over. The Focus is a great product, and I'm afraid slapping a Laser badge on Mazda3 is only going backwards. Sure the 2.3L Mazda engine on the 3MPS is potent, but there is nothing wrong with 2.5L 5cyl in the XR5/ST.

I don't think the Mustang would even be a blip on the on the Falcons radar. They are in completely different segments, and if think you can get a new Mustang in for under 30 grand then I want to know what the hell you are smoking.

[aualright]

Not a bad article in The Age today that is related to this topic.

"Marketing and sales vice-president Mark Winslow admits that a major advertising push to get the small-car message across this year has misfired...Ford has gone for driving dynamics and European engineering - that's what we want to stand for in the marketplace - and our closest competitor has gone down the Korean path. You will only see who has picked the right path two or three years down the track. Clearly, they'll get short-term sales by having a lower price."

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...rticleID=40826

****

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by The Stylist

As far as I'm concerned the Laser can stay dead and buried. I'm glad those re-badge days are over. The Focus is a great product, and I'm afraid slapping a Laser badge on Mazda3 is only going backwards. Sure the 2.3L Mazda engine on the 3MPS is potent, but there is nothing wrong with 2.5L 5cyl in the XR5/ST.

I don't think the Mustang would even be a blip on the on the Falcons radar. They are in completely different segments, and if think you can get a new Mustang in for under 30 grand then I want to know what the hell you are smoking.

100% agree

[csv8]

Originally Posted by sleekism

How bout Lincoln Navigator? lol

Yes Please !!! awesome vehicle..give Scruby nightmares. Company in Queensland imports them and converts to r)hand. for $120k.

[csv8]

How about this ? FORD has the Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo as thier main cars with the Falcon reduced to Futura and Fairmont Ghia. Leave FPV as they are.!!!!

[The Stylist]

Originally Posted by csv8

How about this ? FORD has the Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo as thier main cars with the Falcon reduced to Futura and Fairmont Ghia. Leave FPV as they are.!!!!

Haha, it would simplify things a bit in the Falcon range, however I think Ford will roughly align with the Commodore range, model by model. Keep the XR's I reckon as there is significant branding power with XR badge.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by csv8

How about this ? FORD has the Fiesta, Focus and Mondeo as thier main cars with the Falcon reduced to Futura and Fairmont Ghia. Leave FPV as they are.!!!!

I think you are right in a way. Personally I would keep all the current falcons but get rid of the XT (so Futura base) and the Fairmont. Then have the Ghia for luxury and the XR's for sport.

It would be interesting to see the sales data from each model, but it would be pretty hard to get I think.

[FoMoKid]

Originally Posted by Polyal

Mondeo - not too much known, but you can safely say it will be as good, if not better than the one it just replaced in the UK - hopefully we get a ST/XR version aswell

OK, we have Fiesta XR4, Focus XR5, Falcon XR6/8. The Mondeo will be called XR5 as well? A V6 version XR6? Maybe no XR variant on Mondeo? Slight problem there I think. I mean, would any of you guys mind if Ford have two XR5s?

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by FoMoKid

OK, we have Fiesta XR4, Focus XR5, Falcon XR6/8. The Mondeo will be called XR5 as well? A V6 version XR6? Maybe no XR variant on Mondeo? Slight problem there I think. I mean, would any of you guys mind if Ford have two XR5s?

They would just have to make some other name up, R6 perhaps? As apparently there is a smaller I6 going into it (euro spec obviously).

[Paxton]

Originally Posted by Polyal

They would just have to make some other name up, R6 perhaps? As apparently there is a smaller I6 going into it (euro spec obviously).

Mondeo is apparently going to get the Volvo 3.2 I6, which is currently in the S80 Volvo, mounted east/west.

Mondeo XR6 could work, as long as the Falcon XR6 has similar DNA in it, ford could brand them as a family - "Mondeo XR6, Mid Sized car, Full Sized Fun*."


*™and© Andrew Paxton

As for the model range, simplify Falcon, advertise Mondeo, Focus and Fiesta as Very European and get brand awareness out there, and Ford are 1/4 the way to salvation. All they then need to do is fix Dealer Actions, and they have a decent brand in Australia. Hell, Hyundai treat their customers better than Ford does!

[Bossxr8]

I don't think Ford will bother with a 6 cylinder Mondeo, they don't want to cross into Falcon territory. It works with 4 cylinders only, with maybe the turbo 5 potter. Either way a 6 cylinder Mondeo would be priced up around Fairmont Ghia price anyway.

[Ives]

There's always market for Mondeo XR6 & undoubtedly Ford Australia will bring it here to compete with Mazda6 MPS.

[FoMoKid]

I don't know how big that market sector is? I heard that Mazda might be dropping the 6 MPS due to lack of sales globally, not sure how true it, but would Ford really sell so many hi-po Mondeos? Personally, I don't think so. Perhaps capping it at the Zetec version would be better to go up against the likes of the Accord Euro?

[flukey77]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

lol mustang never sold when it was here. i remember when Tickford had a few of them sitting down in Melbourne for a very very long time.

Yeh cause they were way over priced for what they were. I think they would sell well if they were priced competitively though. But I guess that import tax and cost to convert to right hand drive would kill that idea. Pity Ford Aus and Ford US couldnt share tech like Holden and Chev are doing with the new Camaro. Possibly give the mustang contract to the Aussie boys to design, possibly on the same platform as the Falcon. Give it control blade, etc, price it alongside the Falcon. The mustang sells like hot cakes in America, would be good for Ford Aus too.

But yeh, it might not be possibly for whatever multitude of reasons. I'm just throwin it out there.

[sleekism]

Originally Posted by The Stylist

As far as I'm concerned the Laser can stay dead and buried. I'm glad those re-badge days are over. The Focus is a great product, and I'm afraid slapping a Laser badge on Mazda3 is only going backwards. Sure the 2.3L Mazda engine on the 3MPS is potent, but there is nothing wrong with 2.5L 5cyl in the XR5/ST.

I don't think the Mustang would even be a blip on the on the Falcons radar. They are in completely different segments, and if think you can get a new Mustang in for under 30 grand then I want to know what the hell you are smoking.

The Mustang V6 retails for $19,250 US which equates to about $25,000 Australian that's definately Hyundai territory and would appeal to the millions of young people who don't know anything about cars and buy Hyundais and Toyotas by the shipload.

Even lion fans appreciate the Mustang what I often hear is "Fords suck, except for the Mustang".

Now pretend you don't know anything about cars-you have just walked into a dealership where they have a brand new MUSTANG for sale for only $25,000 and it has a V6 (just like a Holden!!!!) it's an undeniably good looking car in coupe form has 200 different dash colours and it's RWD so you can pretend you can drift. Would you buy it or not???

Also what is wrong with the Laser??
It wasn't a rebadging it was proudly built in Sydneys Homebush factory, sold by the bucketload and you still see plenty around today my parents love them so much they bought three.

They were also pretty fast in their time the 1991 KF had a efficient and good revving SOHC 1.8L putting out 76kw and considering they weighed only about 980kg they were pretty damn fast and that was the base model have a look at the TX3.

The Laser was the Taurus of the early 90's and became a recession family car and I attribute the success of the Mazda 3 is due to the Laser (the perception was that the Laser was simply a rebadged mazda323)

[flukey77]

Unfortunately with the mustang the conversion from US dollars to Aus dollars is only the beginning. You have bulk import tax on top of that, plus the cost to convert it to right hand drive and re-engineer the car to meet our more stringent standards. 25 grand would quickly become more like 50 grand. The best way for Ford Aus to go would be to market the Falcon to Ford US as a solid RWD product and get Ford US to give Ford Aus the RWD sector, like GM have done with Holden. Then Ford Aus could possibly produce the Mustang as a global product on the Falcon platform. Making it cheaper for the consumers and Ford Global overall. Plus it would probably be a better car. Imagine the Mustang on the Falcon platform with the turbo barra!!!

[sleekism]

True that I think their should be an alliance in regard to RWD

Ford Australia will build the Sedan, Ute and the six cylinder engine.

Ford NA will build the Mustang and the V8 engine.

They will share with each other and everyone will be happy.

One thing the Ford lineup is missing though: a mid sized RWD vehicle.

I'm sorry to say that if Holden built a mid sized RWD Torana I would probably buy one.

[ClevlndStemer]

Well just reading the new Motor mag, Michael Taylor wrote a bloody good column about what has been on most enthusiasts minds, why don't Ford bring more Euro cars here. Even into the states, I mean jeez they are bloody good cars over there and i think with a decent dealer network, some decent quality in the local made product and customer service these cars along with the falcon and territory could turn around Ford in a couple of years.

[Danny]

You Forgot To Mention Econovan!