The Falcon was never designed for Left Hand Drive.

The engineering was not done in parallel at the time true. Until very recently there was an intention to left-hook the Falcon for export and the engineering was done after release, but shelved.

B)How is a big RWD vehicle going to help Ford hit CAFE at 35mpg (assuming it doesn’t go up even more after that)?

It’s not.

Everyone jumps up and down about Holden and Ford of Australia, but both of them are getting their asses kicked by Toyota for similar reasons as the US.

Toyota AU is destroying them.

The drivetrain is not the problem; the platform is. I don’t know what world you live in that platform engineering is cost-free.

The Mustang platform would require significant changes to “work” as a mid- or full-size sedan. It would need to be stretched in every concievable dimension. Ford would also need to reconcile the the wasted-space issue that plagues rear-drive cars versus their front-drive competition.

The F-150 is so far removed from a passenger vehicle that it’s not feasible. You cannot take a platform designed to pull eleven thousand pounds and scale it into something that has a decent amount of room, good ride and mileage.

Plus, are they really gonna give up on the cop car and taxi market? Not in this economy.

The cop market would probably continue buying Panthers. I realize I come across as hard on the old girl, but it does fill this very specialized niche very, very well. If you want something that’s cheap to repair after you’ve hopped the kerb at the donut shop pulling up to a crime scene six times a day, you cannot beat a platform as crude as the Panther.

It’s like the space-shuttle: quarter-century-old technology, utterly useless outside of it’s niche, but the best choice given it’s purpose.

As for taxis: they’re planning the Transit for that, which is a much roomier, more fuel-efficient and more comfortable vehicle.

The most popular cars in America may have a foreign nameplate, but they’re domestic in their design philosophy through and through. Take the Camry: while it’s occasionally sold in other markets**, it does very well in America because it was engineered for America.

Were Toyota to try and sell the Avensis or suchlike here, they’d fail, just as Ford likely would if they ported over the Falcon, or GM is with the G8. As much as it pains enthusiasts, the three- to four-hundred thousand Camrys speak volumes about how well a front-drive appliance actually does sell. Ford would do better to improve the Fusion and Taurus—especially their deplorable marketing—rather than try and switch gears.

Localization is important. Even BMW and Mercedes do it, though admittedly by declining to sell, for example, cloth-seat’ed S-Classes equipped with tiny little turbodiesels that can’t get out of their own way.

** in Australia, for example, tweaked slightly into the Toyota Aurion, and selling too badly at all.

I’m keeping my fingers crossed with the upcoming Fiesta, but nearly every time Ford has followed your logic, they’ve gotten their lunch eaten by GM or the foreign competition.

The original late-’70’s Fiesta is one example. Another is the ’80’s Merkur fiasco. And after a nearly three billion dollar investment in the mid-1990’s, the Mondeo/Countour/Mystique suffered the same fate. “Americanizing” Ford’s international offerings without making significant platform changes (for things like rear seat & cargo room) has usually failed in the past, and it probably will again.

Maybe it’s time for Ford to try the inverse approach: design a vehicle for the North American market and then try to make it conform to foreign market tastes elsewhere in the world. Likely recipie for disaster, right? That’s why I say consumer preferences are fundamentally different between North America and the rest of the world, and Ford – no matter how much money they’re bleeding – would do well to remember that.

RWD only makes sense where the emphasis is on performance and handling. Given the current levels of FWD handling and ability to handle HP, RWD is more of a fashion statement than a necessity.

I think that Ford is right to focus (sorry) on lower end vehicles for the immediate future. Get them right, and abandon Lincoln to its fate for a decade or so. Better not to do a thing than to do it badly. Note: If there’s still enough of a market for town cars for the carriage trade, I’d continue to make them, but I might call them something other than Lincoln.

The whole idea of Ford being a broad spectrum manufacturer came from General Motors jealousy. There’s never really been a market case for Lincoln, except, perhaps for 7 – 8 years during the early 60’s. Up to a certain point, Old Henry the original had it right. Model T’s and Model A’s and if they want it all tarted up, let ‘em shop elsewhere.

I think what this does though is ensure that the mustang will face worsening competition from imports (hyundai, nisaan) and could very well loose market share as these cars exploit economies of scale with their platform mates to trickle technology down into economy sports cars that Ford just can’t afford to. Also, of course, this is the kiss of death for Lincoln. FWD luxury has apparently not worked at all for Saab, Volvo and the old Cadillac, so why would they apply this format to their original luxury brand? They expect it to die.

I think that kind of thinking (”Consumer tastes are very different in Australia versus those in North America…”) is the #1 problem with American car companies. What are Americans buying? FOREIGN CARS. I wonder why? You don’t see Cavaliers or Sebring’s in Europe. Not even as rental cars. You see the Focus, the Fiesta, and several Korean Chevrolets. You also are beginning to see PT Cruisers and Jeeps (Chrysler must be doing something right…).

What the big 3 need to do is look at world market segment and build quality cars to fit them. If America wants a big v8 car, and they have one called a Holden or Falcon, give them that. If they want small, fuel efficient cars; bring the Fiesta or the Chevy Matiz (belch). Don’t re-invent the wheel just because “Consumer tastes are very different…”. Build your premium brands to compete with Premium brands. Lincoln should not compete with the BMW 3. It should compete with the 5 and 7. The Mustang should compete with the 3. They should not waste their resources building 2 Focus’. It should be one Focus. American spec cars could have premium A/C and automatics since America forgot how to drive a stick but really, that is all that America demands different; have premium A/C and automatics.

I am willing to bet, if you compare the needs of the Euros, Brits, and city dwelling Aussies, they are all similar to the Americans – with have premium A/C and automatics.

Unfortunately they are too stupid to throw any updates it’s way or God forbid some advertising.

Maybe this will help keep the ol’ Panther around a little while longer.

Well, I can’t say that as I’ve owned neither myself and have not driven the latest Falcon. The G8/Commodore go neck’n'neck in Australia for loyalty.

I’ve ridden in an F6 Falcon as that friend used to have a ‘95 Supra manual twin turbo that he had totalled for him. All he’d done was change the exhaust in his F6 and we had no trouble blowing past anything we wanted, with 28mpg in a full size RWD performance sedan (if he’s careful).

Ford could “borrow” this tech right now for the US if they were inclined. The money is already spent.

The G8’s likely failure isn’t helping of course.

And it’s a much better car in just about every way than the G8Commodore.

Consumer tastes are very different in Australia versus those in North America, not just in vehicle capabilities, but in exterior and interior styling, as well. The GTO and G8 were just different enough (okay, the GTO’s styling was a lot different) from what typical GM consumers had come to expect from Pontiac that it could have definitely affected a lot of purchase decisions when coupled with the difference in price from the home-grown FWD Pontiacs.

This “culture/price-shock” would probably happen less with Lincoln buyers (and more importantly, with those Lincoln is trying to win over from imports) if the superior vehicle dynamics a RWD platform is capable of were maximized and made palpable to the consumer.

The crazy thing is, Ford have an excellent RWD platform alive and well in Australia with a great name-plate from the days of old: Falcon.

On that platform they manage to produce;

Sedan, Wagon, Ute/light-truck (like Camino), a soft-roader SUV called the Territory and absurd performance versions.

This platform was only released late last year; the engineering is done!

Why?

I’ve taken a real hankerin’ to AWD lately.

Yes, the ones dominated by top-end BMW, Mercedes, and Lexus models. If Ford is serious about being a truly competitive global automaker, it absolutely can not write off those segments.

Do you really think Lincoln can survive being “near-luxury” forever? Ford tried to “buy” the true luxury segments with PAG, and yes, I agree, it was disasterous. Allowing Lincoln to spiral downmarket would be nearly as bad for Ford’s bottom line and worse for its already-tarnished image.

Two decades ago, Ford was extremely competitive in the luxury segment (albeit a very different luxury segment) with the sunk-cost-profitable Town Car. In the 1990’s, consumer preference changed and the types of customers who had purchased Town Cars and Fleetwood Broughams started buying entry level Bimmers, Benzs, and Lexi for relatively the same price. Asleep at the wheel and cash drunk with SUV money, Ford finally (and half-heartedly) acknowledged this shift in 1999 with the Lincoln LS, which was clearly more than a day late and way too many dollars (and way too much substance) short. What Ford should have done then – and what it should do now – is stop ceding entire chunks of the market to the competition and do everything possible to have a seriously comparable model in every major market segment.

I understand the magnitude of the current financial crisis, but a solid toehold (RWD platform) in a profitable segment where it has no current presence (mid- or full-size luxury sedans) would give Ford something (rather than nothing) to improve upon.

It’s absurd to think that Ford can keep on and on shrinking its way to prosperity (current major belt-tightening aside) and become successful by selling only mass market “almost-as-good-as” models at discount prices. This is a desperate, purely defensive strategy, and I’ve never heard anybody say that the best offense is a terrific defense.

Honda has similar luxury brand credibility problems with Acura. However, they make good money with a few mass market FWD platforms with near-luxury variants. Not exciting, but Honda was making a profit building cars in Ohio. If Ford just works on making a few good high volume profitable FWD cars, a good high volume profitable kid hauling crossover or minivan, continue to make money with the F-150 and SUV variants, and keep the Mustang they’ll be ok.

Which segments? The ones dominated by BMW, Mercedes and top-end Lexus model? Um…probably wise to not even try.

jthorner: agree 100%

(Okay, back to reality.)

Ford is a mass market brand, and the mass market either doesn’t care about RWD or actually doesn’t want it.

There was a time when Cadillac was doing quite well selling FWD Devilles, Sevilles and Eldorados. Cadillac’s expensive move back to RWD has been cheered by buff books and some enthusiasts, but the brand has continued to lose market share.

Audi does just fine as a luxury brand with FWD and AWD as the only options. Lincoln doesn’t need RWD to grow significantly. In fact, traditional Lincoln segment buyers can be sold on the advantage of FWD, especially when combined with traction control and yaw control to make motoring around in snow country easier.

Leave the Mustang with its own little niche and of course keep the big trucks RWD for towing. Otherwise, kiss RWD goodbye.

I remember the late ’80’s when the FWD Ford Probe was originally slated to be the “Mustang IV” (and likely would have been absent the organized outcry from a generation of Mustang owners). Front-wheel drive was the future, man, and that’s where Ford was going!

And I’ve always heard that one of the main reasons the Ford 4.6-liter V8 is such a physically short, wide engine was because it was designed for transverse mounting in FWD applications – all because at the time (in the late ’80’s), Ford expected all of its domestic passenger cars to be FWD within a few years.

Since it’s 1991 introduction, the 4.6 V8 has been available in at least seven Ford domestic passenger cars (among four completely different platforms) and only *one* of them (the final generation Lincoln WallowyAirSuspensionNightmare…er, Continental) was FWD.

In my opinion, canceling this platform is an unwise overreaction that will ultimately keep Ford from eventually being able to compete in several very profitable market segments.