The Ford Falcon ute could be reborn – at least in spirit.
The Blue Oval brand is looking to bolster its ute ranks in Australia with a new version of the cargo hauler that is said to focus more on performance and everyday usability rather than cargo hauling and extreme off-road capability.
I only speak with Daily Sparkz During his visit to Australia this week, Ford boss Jim Farley said he recognized the value of a monocoque ute that in some ways revives the legend of the Falcon ute.
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Mr Farley said Australia’s long history with car-based subways – from a long line of Falcons and rival Holden Commodore to cult classics such as the Subaru Brumby – showed the formula still had wide appeal.
“I think this country gave the world the ute,” Farley said, pointing to Ford’s 1934 coupe utility, which is credited with inventing the ute based on the car. “Well, I’m pretty serious.”
Mr Farley sees such a vehicle as an opportunity to further distinguish the brand as an authority in commercial vehicles, which is proving popular worldwide.
He also clearly sees this as an opportunity to overtake arch-rival Toyota.
“Today, there is no Toyota unibody pickup truck in the United States,” he said.
While Ford already sells the mid-size Maverick ute in the US, Mr Farley hinted Australia would likely get something different rather than simply importing the Escape-based model.
“We’ve been really successful with Maverick (in the US). We sell 200,000 Mavericks a year,” he said, before suggesting the Australian monocoque ute solution would likely be better tailored to local needs.
“No, I don’t think it should necessarily be the same (as Maverick),” he said. “I won’t go into details. I’ll just say that the Aussies – on paper – would love a consistent, efficient and consistent performance (ute) because they did (before).”
Mr Farley reiterated that any new vehicle must be designed specifically for Australian use and not simply adapt a model developed for other markets.
“To get this right, as an automotive expert I don’t just want to bring a global solution to market and force the market to adopt it – that’s why I’m here,” Mr Farley said.
“The solution here is different than in the US. The costs… the usage is more extreme here. The commercial space would be larger here (from a sales perspective).”
He declined to elaborate on where such an attack would come from, only suggesting that the details had been discussed internally.
One possible route could go through China, where Ford already builds several models tailored to regional markets.
The China-built Ford Territory is an example of the type of global collaboration the company could leverage.
The latest Territory – a midsize SUV made in China known there as the Equator Sport – is already sold in several right-hand drive markets, including South Africa.
It’s powered by a turbocharged 1.5-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder gasoline engine and recently added a hybrid system, demonstrating the type of electrified powertrain that Ford is increasingly pushing globally.
Any new unibody ute would likely need to be sold in multiple markets to justify the development costs, with South Africa an obvious candidate alongside Australia.
Not that Mr. Farley gave any clues.
“I’m not saying anything about where it comes from and what it looks like. We will talk (more) about it and discuss it,” he said.
Wherever it comes from, expect it to be more than just another vehicle.
He suggested that anything Ford builds for Australia must respect the country’s strong performance heritage.
He pointed to the high-performance versions of the Falcon, which in many ways were the closest thing to an Australian sports car.
“We have a long history (with Australian small cars) so there are big performance expectations here. People would ask, ‘Can I get that with a V8?'” he said.
At that point he pointed to the government’s stringent New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which sets strict limits on CO2 emissions, as something that could prevent a V8-powered version.
Such a unibody ute might have an unlikely ally in the race for production: Mr. Farley’s son.
“My child in the United States, his favorite car in the world is a high-performance Falcon ute,” the Ford boss said. “He can tell the value of the vehicle just by looking at it.”
Mr Farley is in Australia until Friday and says he will make a decision on the unibody ute before he leaves, as part of the company’s product development pipeline worth over US$9 billion (AU$12.8 billion) over the next 12 months.
Along with Sam Basile, vice president of advanced product development, and Kumar Galhotra, COO, Mr Farley is in Australia until Friday and says he will make a decision on the unibody ute before he leaves.
Ford is busy expanding its ute/pickup lineup, confirming two affordable new models for the US market.
In addition to a mid-size electric model based on the new Universal EV platform and starting at under US$30,000 (A$42,800) in 2027, Ford has confirmed it will launch a new model with a combustion engine.
Expected for 2029, it will also be built in the US and will have a base price of under about US$40,000 (AUD$56,000). However, further details about this combustion engine pickup are still scarce.
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