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Ford fans across the nation must surely be giving each another some rather panicked looks right now. At a recent press conference to discuss the future of Ford Australia’s large car industry, Ford President and CEO Alan Mulally raised the prospect that the Falcon of the future could potentially switch from a rear-wheel-drive to a front-wheel-drive layout.
Uh oh.
The rationale behind such a switch is that having the engine, transmission and driveshafts packaged as a single unit and located up the front would cut overall vehicle weight and improve cabin space, giving future Falcon owners greater sprawling room and a slightly lower fuel bill.
While a front-driving Falcon might not be quite so popular in Australia, Ford’s plans for the big Aussie sedan involve it possibly forming the basis for a future global large-car platform. As such, it would need to be able to appeal to a wide variety of markets, not all of them as enamoured with RWD driving dynamics as us Antipodeans.
A decision on whether to keep the Falcon RWD, re-jig it for FWD or even equip it with an all-wheel-drive drivetrain has yet to be made, but in Mulally’s own words that decision will, "be driven by what the customer wants and values".
Mulally also wouldn’t be drawn on the future of the V8 Falcon, saying that market demand would dictate whether the bent-eight stays. However, he did say that in the long term, V6’s and four cylinders would feature with more prominence in Ford’s lineup and that these motors would likely employ turbocharging and direct injection to make up for any lack of cubic inches.
It wasn’t all doom-and-gloom at the Ford press conference, however. Mulally expressed his wish to base the company’s future large-car development within Australia, and was keen to capitalise on Ford Australia’s experience in building big sedans like the Falcon.
That news is probably of little consolation to the 350 or so Ford employees who have been made redundant by flagging Falcon and Territory sales, but at least it means the Falcon still has a future within Aussie shores. Whether that future involves it dragging its bum as a front-driver or triumphantly igniting its back tyres as a rear-driver is not so clear, however I sincerely hope it’s the latter.
[Drive, via Autoblog]
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Comment by Alan Li
27 August 2008
The government should stop passing useless P plater restrictions that ban some safe cars while permitting dangerous ones, and create a law that requires the Falcon (and Commodore) be RWD.
[Reply to this comment]
Comment by Alan Li
27 August 2008
Also, people the world over are enamoured with RWD. That’s why all the premium European sedans, seen the world over as the best-of-breed, still send the power to the back.
Its only the cheap-as-chips, “buy it only because its all I can afford”, family hacks that drag their bums.
[Reply to this comment]
Comment by Dan Fewster
27 August 2008
The Commodore is already a better seller than the Falcon and a switch to FWD will not help bridge the gap. Ford already have the Mondeo for FWD family duties as it is and while this type of move may make sense on a global scale, it will hurt local Falcon sales immensely. There’s always the option of a AWD setup similar to the Mazda6 MPS and Tribute. FWD until traction is lost and torque is transferred to the rears for an even 50/50 split as required. The MPS in particular was a pretty sweet drive in my opinion.
[Reply to this comment]
Comment by Alan Li
27 August 2008
If you’re going to have a part-time AWD system, I’d rather have it as RWD up until it detects slip, and then switches to AWD (hello, GT-R).
If half your drivetrain is going to be ballast under “normal” driving, you may as well retain your RWD driving characteristics, which is a Falcon selling point. A car that’s FWD will understeer as its default setting, which is not something Falcon drivers want (even if they never experience over or understeer in their cars). Making it go AWD with only a 50:50 split won’t neutralise the attitude in the case of wheelspin.
The Falcon is meant to be a sports sedan. If it wants to keep that title and differentiate it from the rather excellent Mondeo, then keeping the RWD dynamics is a must. Have it go with a neutral to touch of oversteer, at which point the front starts getting torque and pulls the nose out of the slide and straightens the car up.
An RWD / AWD FPV F6 would also truly be a “4 door GT-R”, which is what the XR6 Turbo and its derivatives were originally billed as.
[Reply to this comment]
Comment by Dan Fewster
28 August 2008
I’m just saying it’s an option is all. You already know of my unwavering love for GT-R’s so don’t pull that one on me
[Reply to this comment]
Comment by Alan Li
28 August 2008
I know, which is why I mentioned an ATTESSA setup rather than the arse-backwards one that most FWD-converted-to-AWD cars use.
Its an option, but just not a good one for the brand as far as I’m concerned. They should make an AWD Mondeo XR5T based on the Mazda6 MPS’ drivetrain style, but an AWD Falcon should be a RWD biased one, if its to be part-time only.
[Reply to this comment]
Comment by Adam
28 August 2008
RWD.. pff look at the MPS and other real cars, they’re FWD. Get rid of RWD’s and you get rid of hoons, thank god for that!
[Reply to this comment]
Comment by Godspeed
28 August 2008
WTF?
[Reply to this comment]
Comment by Alan Li
28 August 2008
Right, because hoons don’t roll around in tarted up old Corollas, Excels, Charades, etc.
The MPS is a “real car”, but its not a “real sports car”.
[Reply to this comment]
Comment by Blue
15 October 2008
I am a huge Ford fan who has put his money where his mouth is, since 2004 we have bought 5 new falcons all XRs excect for one of the new cobra’s and I hereby put Ford on notice that if go done the road of front wheel drive bolted, imported crap then you will loose my future buisness
Not Joking
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