Any reason why Falcon can't go to the UK?

Road_Warrior · 01-05-2009, 11:48 AM

As per the thread title, is there any particular reason why the Falcon is unsuitable for export to the UK?

Considering the UK is a RHD country and the Falcon is RHD (well, duh) I would have thought it would have been a gimme. Perhaps there is an emissions issue with the I6 but can this be overcome? It certainly wouldnt be because of crash safety now that the petrol sedan models are 5 star rated by ANCAP (who base their testing on EuroNCAP).

Seeing a topic on Drivel (or could have been GoAuto) about Holden possibly looking at export opportunities to Europe for the Commodore had me wondering about this. Sure England (especially in London) is small car country, but you can't tell me that they wouldnt sell any of the premium models like the G6ET.

A couple of thousand exports per month of G6E's and G6ET's to ol' Blighty would go down well at Broady I would have thought...?

4Vman · 01-05-2009, 11:51 AM

The UK is the home of the small 4cyl buzz box.... to them a "musclecar" is a fwd 4cyl turbo

i doubt a big thirsty RWD sedan would be received all that well, especially when an entry level 5 or E series would probably be cheaper...
Export is NOT always the best way forward or the solution, just ask holden....

mcnamg · 01-05-2009, 11:54 AM

Cars in the UK pay a smog tax based on CO2 emissions so the Falcon would likely be pretty pricey and would have to compete directly with the Euro's

vztrt · 01-05-2009, 12:00 PM

Does anyone know how Holden went with their exports over there??

Fairlane · 01-05-2009, 12:02 PM

Everytime Australia tries to export a large RWD car to UK it flunks badly. Im guessing Ford feels burned and doesnt want to go their again.

Now Territory their is a whole new games, that should in the UK now.

mcnamg · 01-05-2009, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fairlane

Everytime Australia tries to export a large RWD car to UK it flunks badly. Im guessing Ford feels burned and doesnt want to go their again.

Now Territory their is a whole new games, that should in the UK now.

Once the Territory goes diesel and even the Falcon that would make it a winner in the UK as diesel is pretty damn popular over there

SB076 · 01-05-2009, 12:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcnamg

Cars in the UK pay a smog tax based on CO2 emissions so the Falcon would likely be pretty pricey and would have to compete directly with the Euro's

Plus isnt there another tax (or rego) that is based on engine size? Think that would also make our cars way too expensive

pommy b · 01-05-2009, 12:39 PM

Ford Eurpope ditched there large car...the scorpio.... in the 90's. This was because for the same money, you can get into an entry BMW / Merc and thats exactly what people where doing. Middle managers went from driving big Fords / Vauxhalls etc to 318's, C classes, etc.

The 3 series is now in the top 10 best selling cars in the UK... and I can't see people jumping back to a big ford anytime soon...no matter how good.

Also, as others have mentioned, the co2 emmissions would be a BIG problem as company car owners are taxed based on the co2 output.

irlewy86 · 01-05-2009, 12:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vztrt

Does anyone know how Holden went with their exports over there??

Nothing worth writing home about. I think they sell about 200-300 VXR8' a year

Road_Warrior · 01-05-2009, 12:50 PM

Ok so we know that the smog taxes or whatever it is, would make the cost prohibitively expensive for anyone over there to buy a Falcon.

So how come the VXR8 gan get the gong to be imported and the Ford can't?

vztrt · 01-05-2009, 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irlewy86

Nothing worth writing home about. I think they sell about 200-300 VXR8' a year

So in other words its not worth sending cars over there as it would be a niche market.

You'd think the middle east would be their best place to have a look at the figures.

Dauphin · 01-05-2009, 01:08 PM

More large vehicles may not be a good idea for the UK.

They have 0.24 million square kms of area and 60 milion people living in it.

We have 7.64 million square kms of area and only 20 million people (we may have large areas not largely populated, but still.....).

Imagine the congestion in their city, no wonder they have all those taxes and stuff.

We are a very lucky country!

gcg2503 · 01-05-2009, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irlewy86

Nothing worth writing home about. I think they sell about 200-300 VXR8' a year

Whilst I was in London for 6 years I hardly saw any VXR8s (or Monaros for that matter) on the road

Personally, I think there are no synergies or profits to be had as there would be little demand for these cars in the UK

Road tax (equivalent to our rego here) is based on CO2 emissions and couple that with fuel prices would make the Falcon export program doomed from the start

greenfoam · 01-05-2009, 01:10 PM

The problem is not many Countrys are big enough or have roads crap enough to need a big rwd car. Australia is pretty unique in that way. Any car that has evolved here is going to be the wrong car in most other places. You wont ever sell a car like the Falcon inside Europe or in the UK, especailly not now that a large part of buying a car and living in general is based on how much pollution you make and their desire to not make pollution. Australia is very backwards in these kind of things. The Germans have been using reusable packaging and jars etc in shops for more than a decade, things we still haven't even tried. So it really seems like Australia (and the Mid East) will be the last stand for cars like the Commodore and the Falcon.

Also as everyone said a 2 litre car in the UK is a monster

they have mental problems with engines bigger than that

GT69 · 01-05-2009, 01:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dauphin

More large vehicles may not be a good idea for the UK.

They have 0.24 million square kms of area and 60 milion people living in it.

We have 7.64 million square kms of area and only 20 million people (we may have large areas not largely populated, but still.....).

Imagine the congestion in their city, no wonder they have all those taxes and stuff.

We are a very lucky country!

And they sent us here

:

JPFS1 · 01-05-2009, 01:44 PM

The Falcon would attract £400 a year of VED (vehicle excise duty) as it is.

If it was to get below the 225g/km of C02 mark, then it would go down to £210 per year.

Diesel brings no advantage to cost, where as alternative fuels like CNG/LPG etc have a discount of about £15.

Road_Warrior · 01-05-2009, 01:56 PM

Are the VXR8's sales THAT low? Why would you bother...

vztrt · 01-05-2009, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JPFS1

The Falcon would attract £400 a year of VED (vehicle excise duty) as it is.

If it was to get below the 225g/km of C02 mark, then it would go down to £210 per year.

Diesel brings no advantage to cost, where as alternative fuels like CNG/LPG etc have a discount of about £15.

Falcon is at 236/9 withe the 6 speed auto. I guess with euro 4 they should be able to get it lower.
Still the issue with the car being too big for the average punter still stands.

4Vman · 01-05-2009, 01:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Are the VXR8's sales THAT low? Why would you bother...

Probably a good indication why Ford wouldnt/hasnt either..

gcg2503 · 01-05-2009, 02:00 PM

Exactly Road warrior exactly!

Not worth the headaches and the bottom line iosnt pumped at to any degree. maybe there is enough profit to buy an extra few slabs for the staff Xmas party

Kieron · 01-05-2009, 02:45 PM

The G6ET would possibly be the only candidate but it ain't gonna work. A car of this size/luxury/performance level would have to compete with luxo brands and the FORD badge can't mix it in those circles.

The Falcon is simply too big for that market even if it was a diesel, the Mondeo internally is just about as good as the Falcon and even things such as car parks, garages, carports etc in English houses are too small.

Engine wise, the mentality in the UK is a 2 litre engine is big.

I'm from the UK and have numerous discussions with UK family (while i'm over there) about this. When I moved back there, I left a P6 LTD in Aust and wanted a Falcon in the UK, found a 6 pot LTD for about UKP1,000 but even I decided to pass it up, fuel and insurance costs are huge killers.

500SEC · 01-05-2009, 03:14 PM

I lived in the UK for 10 years. The only Australian Fords I laid eyes upon were an XD station wagon, an XB Falcon coupe and several hearss most of which are Australian Ford LTDs.

Many years ago, Ford Australia exported the XB Fairmont wagon (with the 302ci engine) to the UK and it was road tested by Autocar magazine. It was my dream to locate a second-hander but wasn't able to.

...and there was a Victorian registered Volvo 760 in my street.

Also saw several HSV products wearing Vauxhall badges.

The British wouldn't take to an Australian Falcon because it's too large, wears a Ford badge, no diesel option and wouldn't have the quality of the competing Audis, Beamers and Mercs. Besides, they already have the similarly-sized Mondeo.

Piotr · 01-05-2009, 03:47 PM

UK has the mondeo.

Its just as roomy if not more than the falcon, better build, better equiped and uses less petrol

Not a hard choice

RAREV8 · 01-05-2009, 05:28 PM

I don't think that the decision has anything to do with the size of the car or its engine. There are and always have been plenty of big cars over there- think Jag sedans...far far more of them there than over here. Most of the larger "cheaper" cars (Ford, Vauxhall, Rover) never did that well, not due to their size but that the German offerings were vastly superior and reasonably affordable with some representing better resale vale.
Having said that, the Ford Scorpio was actually German built but not the same quality as the BMW's etc.

I never considered a large Ford or Vauxhall when I lived there, Had 5 series and Audi' Quattros instead...miles better and very affordable 5 and 6 cyl cars.....my big aussie BA's and BF's were no faster than a 1983 528i that weighed more with a smaller engine!
Contrary to popular opinion, the small roads are quite big enough to accommodate large cars- having been brought up in the country and being one of 4 sons we had to have larger cars (CX Citroen Safaris) and I don't recall wedging them in small roads!
4Vman, don't get "muscle" cars confused with "performance" cars....I am as big a fan of old Aussie V8s as anyone here but if I was after a "performance" car, they'd be close to the bottom of the list!

Pooh pooh the Uks tendancies towards smaller cars but I suggest that you have a look at the trend over here now....the cars here and on UK roads seem awfully similar in size, its no secret that sadly smaller cars are becoming far more prevalent here too now.

Cookie-XR8 · 01-05-2009, 05:41 PM

falcon is too fast for poms

Yellow_Festiva · 01-05-2009, 06:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kieron

Engine wise, the mentality in the UK is a 2 litre engine is big.

Exactly,

The typical family car over there is a Corolla / Focus or similar, and prob with a 1.6 petrol or diesel as the entry level model, not the larger engines we get.

Our 'small cars' here would still have 2 classes below that over there.

They just like their cars smaller, simple as that. There is no market for a non premium branded large family car.

paule11 · 01-05-2009, 06:26 PM

parking can be a problem my brother lives in scotland and his house is the only one in the street with a garage

Blue_XR · 01-05-2009, 08:02 PM

This is interesting because I remember reading another thread saying that Nizpro enhanced F6's were exported to the UK

See the you tube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bEe-rXaZ_w

boss-290 · 01-05-2009, 08:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

As per the thread title, is there any particular reason why the Falcon is unsuitable for export to the UK?

Considering the UK is a RHD country and the Falcon is RHD (well, duh) I would have thought it would have been a gimme. Perhaps there is an emissions issue with the I6 but can this be overcome? It certainly wouldnt be because of crash safety now that the petrol sedan models are 5 star rated by ANCAP (who base their testing on EuroNCAP).

Seeing a topic on Drivel (or could have been GoAuto) about Holden possibly looking at export opportunities to Europe for the Commodore had me wondering about this. Sure England (especially in London) is small car country, but you can't tell me that they wouldnt sell any of the premium models like the G6ET.

A couple of thousand exports per month of G6E's and G6ET's to ol' Blighty would go down well at Broady I would have thought...?

Theres no market for it.

**Silver Ghia** · 01-05-2009, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BOOSTED-AU

falcon is too fast for poms

Obviously you have never driven on their motorways. If you do 70 mph (about 115kph, the limit on the motorways), you generally end up in the left lane being overtaken by most, some at quite a speed.

One big problem as has been mentioned, is that carparks are generally of a size that a Honda Civic almost has trouble squeezing into.

But on the motorways in an FG F6 or GT, wow, that would be something.