The iconic Mustang muscle car, an all-new locally-developed full-size seven-seat SUV and the all-new Transit commercial van are the highlights of Ford’s 11-model lineup set to be in-place by 2017.
Ford rolled-out its future plans today at a $4.0-miilion event in Sydney attended by 850 people which included dealers from Australia and New Zealand, customers and suppliers.
Heading the attendees was Allan Mulally, Ford’s global President and CEO, who said: “Our May announcement (to end local manufacturing in 2016) included a long-term commitment and I’m delighted to be back in Australia to share our vision for future growth.”
“We’re now accelerating implementation of our ‘One Ford’ strategy in Australia,” Mr Mulally added. “It’s a product-lead strategy which includes 11 global vehicles coming here by 2017.”
That strategy will see some 30 per-cent more nameplates in Ford dealerships by the time local production winds-down.
And the strategy includes ongoing work for the Australian-based ‘Product Development Centre Of Excellence’ which forms part of a global team (the others in Europe, North and South Americas) designing and engineering new Ford products. Some 1100 people will staff the local facility which benefits from a $200-million investment this year, bringing Ford’s total investment in there to $1.9-billion.
“The Australian product development team is already working on future new products,” Mr Mulally said.
In terms of specifics, we caught a glimpse of the 2014 Ford Falcon update. Obviously no detail but it seems the Falcon will score a Mondeo-style front-end with Ford’s latest trapezoidal grille.
Within weeks Car Showroom will be driving the all-new Ford Fiesta compact car which has received glowing praise from the European media. The Fiesta lineup includes Ford’s 1.0-litre, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine and the racy ST model will enjoy a turbocharged 1.6-litre, four-cylinder good for 134kW/240Nm.
Next January Ford’s all-new compact SUV, the EcoSport will arrive and its engine lineup too will include the three-cylinder EcoBoost. The EcoSport is a vital cog for Ford with local compact SUV sales up by 55 per-cent.
Significantly, Holden has also released details of its Traxx compact SUV and it seems the two companies are continuing their tit-for-tat battle with news the Ford EcoSport will be priced in the low-$20,000 region.
Following EcoSport will be the all-new Ford Mondeo in both hatchback and wagon models. Mondeo will score an upgraded turbo-diesel engine, the 2.0-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder petrol engine and a new 1.5-litre petrol engine with 133kW and impressively low fuel consumption.
But the big news is the all-new Mondeo will debut the industry’s first inflatable seat belts in the rear. Using the same principles as an airbag, the inflatable rear belts spread crash forces over five times the area of a conventional seatbelt and thus provide extra protection, especially for children and the elderly.
Then there’s the hero – the new Mustang muscle car. The ‘Euro-Snobs’ might have an issue but we reckon the Ford Mustang ranks alongside cars like Porsche 911, Volkswagen Golf and Fiat 500 as being genuine ‘classics’ and we can’t wait to hear more.
While Ford didn’t elaborate, word on the street is we’ll be getting the all-new Mustang in two models with both six-cylinder and V8 engines.
Car Showroom drove a Shelby limited edition Mustang in New Zealand in January. Combine the massive horsepower, performance and to-die-for looks and yep, this is a true Musclecar with a capital ‘M’.
So that’s Ford’s passenger car lineup. Speculation the North American Taurus (a smidge larger than the Mondeo) in right-hand-drive would fill the Falcon void proved to be wide of the mark. However the all-new Mondeo is a cracker and a more than capable Falcon replacement.
For commercial operators, the great news from Ford is the return of the Transit van. Seven million Transit vans have been sold since 1965 and it remains a superstar of the Ford Europe lineup.
We’re getting the stylish all-new model Ford Transit in ‘Custom’ and ‘Cargo’ guise next year powered by the 2.2-litre Duratorque turbo-diesel engine. Ford had two Transits on display in Sydney and they looked fabulous.
On the SUV front, Ford is going with a four-model strategy. Already we have the locally-made Territory (due for another update next year) and the excellent German-origin mid-size Kuga.
They will be joined in December by the compact Ford EcoSport which will be powered by the 1.0-litre, three-cylinder EcoBoost engine or a conventional 1.6-litre four-cylinder.
But the big news from Ford on the SUV front is an all-new full-size seven-seat vehicle called the Everest and shown as a near production-ready concept. Details are scarce but we know the Everest has been developed by Ford Australia and is based on the Ranger platform.
The concept model shown looked terrific and it seems the Ford Everest will be pitched against the likes of Holden Colorado 7.
Post-2016 the future of the Territory remains unclear but we keep hearing the name ‘Explorer’ and – speaking from personal experience – we can assure you the current Explorer is a phenomenal SUV so we’d imagine its replacement would be nothing short of spectacular.
We’ll have more news from Ford in coming days so keep checking back with CarShowroom.
