The Ford Falcon ute might be reborn – in spirit not less than.
The Blue Oval model is trying to bolster its ute ranks in Australia with a recent tackle the load-lugger that appears set to focus extra on efficiency and on a regular basis driveability quite than load lugging and excessive off-road functionality.
Talking solely to CarExpert throughout his Australian go to this week, outspoken Ford CEO Jim Farley mentioned he can see the worth in a monocoque ute that in some methods revives the legend of the Falcon ute.
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Mr Farley mentioned Australia’s lengthy historical past with car-based utes – from an extended line of Falcons and the rival Holden Commodore to cult classics such because the Subaru Brumby – exhibits there’s nonetheless sturdy attraction for the method.
“I believe this nation gave the globe the ute,” Mr Farley mentioned, referencing Ford’s 1934 Coupe Utility credited with inventing the car-based ute. “So, I’m fairly critical about it.”
Mr Farley sees such a automobile as a approach to additional stamp the model as an authority in industrial automobiles, one thing that’s proving common around the globe.
He additionally clearly sees it as a approach to steal a march on arch rival Toyota.
“Even at present, there’s no Toyota unibody pickup within the US,” he mentioned.
Whereas Ford already sells the mid-size Maverick ute in the USA, Mr Farley indicated Australia would doubtless get one thing totally different quite than merely importing the Escape-based mannequin.
“We’ve got actually been profitable with Maverick (within the US). We promote 200,000 Mavericks a 12 months,” he mentioned, earlier than suggesting the Aussie monocoque ute answer would doubtless be extra tailor-made to native wants.
“No, I don’t suppose it ought to be the identical, essentially (as Maverick),” he mentioned. “I’m not going to get into specifics. All I’m saying is, Aussies would love – on paper – a unibody, environment friendly, even efficiency [ute] as a result of they’ve [previously].”
Mr Farley bolstered that any new automobile would should be engineered particularly with Australian utilization in thoughts quite than merely adapting a mannequin developed for different markets.
“To do it proper right here, as a automotive individual, I might need it to not simply stamp a worldwide answer and power the market to take it – in order that’s why I’m right here,” mentioned Mr Farley.
“The right way to resolve it for right here is totally different than the US. The price … the utilization is extra excessive right here. The industrial area could be larger for it right here [from a sales perspective].”
He refused to element the place such a ute would come from, aside from to recommend the main points had been mentioned internally.
One potential pathway might contain China, the place Ford already builds a number of fashions tailor-made to regional markets.
The China-built Ford Territory is an instance of the form of world collaboration the corporate might leverage.
The most recent Territory – a mid-size SUV produced in China, the place it’s often known as the Equator Sport – is already offered in a number of right-hand-drive markets together with South Africa.
It’s powered by a turbocharged 1.5-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder petrol engine and not too long ago gained a hybrid system, demonstrating the form of electrified powertrain Ford is more and more pushing globally.
Any new unibody ute would doubtless should be offered in a number of markets to justify improvement prices, with South Africa an apparent candidate alongside Australia.
Not that Mr Farley was giving any clues.
“I’m not saying something about the place it’s from, what it seems to be like. We’ll be speaking and discussing it [more],” he mentioned.
Wherever it comes from, anticipate it to be extra than simply one other automobile.
He hinted that no matter Ford builds for Australia would want to respect the nation’s sturdy efficiency heritage.
He pointed to the high-performance variations of the Falcon that had been in some ways thought-about the closest factor to an Australian sports activities automotive.
“We’ve got an extended historical past [with Australian utes] and so there’d be lots of efficiency expectations right here. Individuals could be asking ‘can I get it with a V8’,” he mentioned.
It’s at that time he alluded to the federal government’s stringent New Car Effectivity Normal (NVES), which locations strict limits on CO2 emissions, as one thing that would stop a V8-powered model.
Such a unibody ute might have an unlikely ally within the race to make it manufacturing: Mr Farley’s son.
“My child in the USA, his favorite automotive on the earth is a high-performance Falcon ute,” mentioned the Ford boss. “He can see the worth of the automobile simply by it.”
Mr Farley is in Australia till Friday and says he’ll decide on the unibody ute earlier than he leaves as a part of the corporate’s US$9 billion-plus (A$12.8bn) product improvement pipeline for the following 12 months.
Together with superior product improvement vp Sam Basile and COO Kumar Galhotra, Mr Farley is in Australia till Friday and says he’ll decide on the unibody ute earlier than he leaves.
Ford is busily increasing its ute/pickup lineup, confirming two reasonably priced new fashions for the US market.
Along with a mid-size electrical mannequin due in 2027, based mostly on the brand new Common EV platform and beginning at below US$30,000 (A$42,800), Ford has confirmed it’ll launch a brand new combustion-powered mannequin.
It’s anticipated in 2029 and also will be constructed within the US, and can carry a base value below ~US$40,000 (A$56,000). Additional particulars on this combustion-powered pickup, nonetheless, stay scarce.
