FPV’s Murdered-Out Falcon GT Concept with Supercharged Boss 5.0 V8 Debuts in Melbourn

[LTC8K6]

I keep reading that the Falcon in Oz is going to go to the FWD Taurus platform. Falcon fans are disgusted.

Anyway, right now it's a decent car with RWD, a turbocharged straight 6, and a 6 speed manual...what's not to like?

It could come over here with an updated engine. Ford's 3.7L V6 would probably move it nicely, and get great economy.

 

[Arkaign]

I keep reading that the Falcon in Oz is going to go to the FWD Taurus platform. Falcon fans are disgusted.

That was dismissed a looooooong time ago by none other than Mulally himself.

http://www.carsguide.com.au/site/news-and-reviews/car-news/falcon_to_fly_on_mustang_platform

He also effectively dismissed suggestions that the Falcon, a traditional rear-wheel drive design, would be replaced by the front-drive Taurus built for the USA. The Taurus has already failed once in Australia, in the 1990s. "We're going to have a large sedan. The whole thing about rear-wheel drive? We're going to have a rear-wheel drive car," Mulally said.

Making a FWD Falcon would be like Making a FWD i4 Ferrari or Vette. It would be laughed out of the country.

 

[LTC8K6]

That was dismissed a looooooong time ago by none other than Mulally himself.

http://www.carsguide.com.au/site/news-and-reviews/car-news/falcon_to_fly_on_mustang_platform

He also effectively dismissed suggestions that the Falcon, a traditional rear-wheel drive design, would be replaced by the front-drive Taurus built for the USA. The Taurus has already failed once in Australia, in the 1990s. "We're going to have a large sedan. The whole thing about rear-wheel drive? We're going to have a rear-wheel drive car," Mulally said.

Making a FWD Falcon would be like Making a FWD i4 Ferrari or Vette. It would be laughed out of the country.

Good. At least real cars will survive somewhere.

 

[Arkaign]

Good. At least real cars will survive somewhere.

True, and with the global platform idea taking off with Ford and the planned merge of the Mustang/Falcon, it looks like we'll get it as well.

All you have to look at is the extra capacity at the Mustang plant and the ~100k annual sales of the Charger that I'm sure Ford is eyeballing this one pretty well.

 

[senseamp]

*WHOOOOOOOSH*

I guess Dodge doesn't sell 70k-90k Chargers annually? And they get such GREAT fuel economy

Sounds like the small penis redneck contingent is already well served.

 

[LTC8K6]

The 2011 Charger is really a completely different car from the previous version in terms of handling, braking, and interior.

 

[Arkaign]

Sounds like the small penis redneck contingent is already well served.

Really? That's your response to logic?

I don't care all that much for the Charger, but that's a biased ignorant statement if I've ever seen one. Way to generalize. I suppose all trucks are small penis redneck vehicles as well

Consider the Challenger, basically a 2-door version of the Charger. It doesn't sell all that well, I wonder why that is? Oh, perhaps it's because Ford and Chevy have competing 2-door RWD coupes that are more appealing. The same could easily happen with a better vehicle from Ford. They could also take some CTS/3/5 series sales with a decent Lincoln variant.

Everyone has biases, but I think you're letting yours get in the way of a logical discussion on this topic.

 

[senseamp]

Really? That's your response to logic?

I don't care all that much for the Charger, but that's a biased ignorant statement if I've ever seen one. Way to generalize. I suppose all trucks are small penis redneck vehicles as well

Consider the Challenger, basically a 2-door version of the Charger. It doesn't sell all that well, I wonder why that is? Oh, perhaps it's because Ford and Chevy have competing 2-door RWD coupes that are more appealing. The same could easily happen with a better vehicle from Ford. They could also take some CTS/3/5 series sales with a decent Lincoln variant.

Everyone has biases, but I think you're letting yours get in the way of a logical discussion on this topic.

Taurus is selling fine for Ford. 6600 in June. Charger sold 7200.
If it's not broken, don't fix it. Ford is probably developing a new global RWD car. Good for them, means Mustang will get IRS soon. My argument is they shouldn't just grab an Australian platform and bring it in now. It would be an unnecessary distraction.

 

[Throckmorton]

I agree that it makes no sense. That platform is about to be replaced, and the Falcon looks frumpy by modern standards, just like GM's Monaro when they brought it here as the GTO. In Australia it's a respectable family car, but a RWD car in America NEEDS to look like a musclecar.

 

[Pariah]

Taurus is selling fine for Ford. 6600 in June. Charger sold 7200.

Taken a step further.
2010
Charger: 75,397
Taurus: 68,859

Ford isn't exactly getting killed in this one. I don't see 75k as ~100k either. Especially not when that is a 25% improvement from 2009.

I don't really see what the Dodge Charger has to do with the Ford Falcon either. Where is any evidence at all that Charger sales have in any way been impacted by the fact it is RWD. A classic example of correlation does not imply causation.

The crowd that has money to burn is not going to buy a Ford, they'll get a BMW.

I agree with you completely. Which makes the irony of the following even more stark:

80 percent of BMW 1-Series drivers think the car is a front-wheel drive

There is this belief among some posters on this board, that the general public gives a crap, or even knows, which wheels are propelling their car. Guess what, you're wrong. It may be on the mind of someone shopping for the top rung SRT8 (of which only 688 out of the 75k chargers sold in 2010 were), but certainly not on the masses who buy the sloth SE which constitutes the majority of the sales.

 

[Throckmorton]

Considering the Taurus is a FWD family sedan and the Charger is a musclecar, yes Ford IS getting killed because they're selling zero 4 door musclecars and their family car is being outsold by one.


In 2010, Honda sold 279000 Accords and Toyota sold 296000 Camrys. Those are the numbers an A-B FWD family car is supposed to sell in. Not less than a Charger.

 

[LTC8K6]

I agree that it makes no sense. That platform is about to be replaced, and the Falcon looks frumpy by modern standards, just like GM's Monaro when they brought it here as the GTO. In Australia it's a respectable family car, but a RWD car in America NEEDS to look like a musclecar.

Which platform is about to be replaced?

We have the CTS and other RWD cars that don't look like muscle cars. Just because the GTO and G8 failed, that doesn't mean there's no market.

Expect the Charger to increase it's lead over the Taurus, now that it's a much better car than it was.

 

[JJ650]

It would be the Ford G8. Why would they be stupid enough to follow in the footsteps of a failed Pontiac product? Even Chevrolet refused to take the G8 from Pontiac. In case you haven't noticed, it's not the 60s. Performance RWD sedans are a niche product, especially from non-luxury brands. The middle class is getting squeezed by high gas prices. They want efficient cars. The crowd that has money to burn is not going to buy a Ford, they'll get a BMW.

How is it a failed Pontiac product? Pontiac failed, not the G8.

 

[ballmode]

STi's and Evo are bought by Boy Racer wannabe's. They hear it's awd and has a turbo from the factory and they think it's so "tight". They somehow think it's going to be on par with the rally versions of the car.

Or they get it because its fast out the box for a daily driver, seats 4, cheap to mod, cheap to maintain, and is affordable out the gate.

fits my family, fits the car seats, has a manual transmission, has Limited Slip Diffs, can handle the winter with snow, handles rain just fine.

Sure the handling is vague, the shifter in stock form is clunky, but I'd rather deal with that than put my kids in the trunk.

When the kids are dropped off at school, i drive hard to work and take the twisty roads. Could I do that in a BMW 335 or Audi A4? Yes, but I'd have 10k less in my pocket which I could have used to feed/clothe/entertain my kids let alone save some money for their college (unless I roll over my GI Bill to one of them)

 

[Pariah]

Considering the Taurus is a FWD family sedan and the Charger is a musclecar, yes Ford IS getting killed because they're selling zero 4 door musclecars and their family car is being outsold by one.

Ok, and what is Dodge's entry in the large family sedan market? Oh wait, it's the same car, the Charger. Changing the skin of a Chrysler 300 and stripping it of features doesn't magically transform the Charger SE into a muscle car.

In 2010, Honda sold 279000 Accords and Toyota sold 296000 Camrys. Those are the numbers an A-B FWD family car is supposed to sell in. Not less than a Charger.

That's what happens when you try to kill off a nameplate and then bring it back after you realize it was a dumb idea. Taurus sales have increased every year since they tried to kill it in 2006. Which isn't bad for a car that is basically an afterthought for Ford at this point. Their focus, no pun intended, has completely shifted to smaller cars like the Focus and Fiesta. Look at Ford's homepage if you think otherwise.

 

[LTC8K6]

Taurus sales have increased every year since they tried to kill it in 2006.

Not quite. They dropped about 10-15% in 2009.

 

[senseamp]

Considering the Taurus is a FWD family sedan and the Charger is a musclecar, yes Ford IS getting killed because they're selling zero 4 door musclecars and their family car is being outsold by one.


In 2010, Honda sold 279000 Accords and Toyota sold 296000 Camrys. Those are the numbers an A-B FWD family car is supposed to sell in. Not less than a Charger.

Accord & Camry compete with Fusion. Toyota Avalon, which competes with the Taurus, sold 28,390 in 2010. I think Ford is OK with getting "killed" in the 4 door muscle car market. Just like pretty much every automaker aside from Chrysler is OK with it. It's a niche market.

 

[senseamp]

How is it a failed Pontiac product? Pontiac failed, not the G8.

G8 sold 40K over the whole US run. It's a sales flop.

 

[Pariah]

Not quite. They dropped about 10-15% in 2009.

Yea, I'm retarded and can't read numbers. The point still stands though, that Ford is moving away from pushing the larger vehicles and moving towards the smaller more efficient vehicle platforms. Ford sold about 69k Taurus' in 2010. They also sold over 219,000 Ford Fusion's. The first Ford car over 200,000 since the Taurus, coincidently, in 2004.

In 2010, Honda sold 279000 Accords and Toyota sold 296000 Camrys.

Both FWD vehicles. So, now Ford should replace the Taurus with a RWD platform so they can go after the 75k Chargers Dodge sold? That looks like a real sound business decision.

 

[Throckmorton]

Yea, I'm retarded and can't read numbers. The point still stands though, that Ford is moving away from pushing the larger vehicles and moving towards the smaller more efficient vehicle platforms. Ford sold about 69k Taurus' in 2010. They also sold over 219,000 Ford Fusion's. The first Ford car over 200,000 since the Taurus, coincidently, in 2004.



Both FWD vehicles. So, now Ford should replace the Taurus with a RWD platform so they can go after the 75k Chargers Dodge sold? That looks like a real sound business decision.

Now. What they should do is sell a RWD 4 door car in addition to the Taurus, which they might do when they combine the Mustang and Falcon platforms in a couple years.

 

[LTC8K6]

Well, the new Taurus looks more like the Falcon anyway. Perhaps it will pick up sales with the new look and the turbo 4 cylinder?

http://www.ford.com/cars/thenewtaurus/

 

[Pariah]

G8 sold 40K over the whole US run. It's a sales flop.

Couple of things here. The G8 was only produced for 18 months. And for a large portion of that time, the economy stunk and GM was is danger of financial collapse, leading up to the June 2009 bankruptcy filing which officially killed off Pontiac and the G8. With a base price of over $28k it was quite a bit more expensive than the base versions of the American competition. Secondly, because the G8 was really an import with a Pontiac badge, GM had to negotiate with the wonderful UAW how many they were actually allowed to import into the country. The UAW would never have allowed even a number as low as 50k annual let alone 75-100k if they could have sold that many.

 

[senseamp]

Couple of things here. The G8 was only produced for 18 months. And for a large portion of that time, the economy stunk and GM was is danger of financial collapse, leading up to the June 2009 bankruptcy filing which officially killed off Pontiac and the G8. With a base price of over $28k it was quite a bit more expensive than the base versions of the American competition. Secondly, because the G8 was really an import with a Pontiac badge, GM had to negotiate with the wonderful UAW how many they were actually allowed to import into the country. The UAW would never have allowed even a number as low as 50k annual let alone 75-100k if they could have sold that many.

Excuses, excuses.

 

[Howard]

Excuses, excuses.

lol

 

[JJ650]

Excuses, excuses.

Pretty good reasons. They were never going to import them in large numbers to begin with. It was a niche vehicle.