The Ford Falcon ute could be reborn – in spirit at least.
Blue Oval is hoping to strengthen its ute ranks in Australia with a new take on the load-lugger that looks more about performance and everyday driveability rather than load lugging and extreme off-road capability.
Speaking exclusively to childcareman.xyz during his Australian visit this week, outspoken Ford CEO Jim Farley said he can see the value in a monocoque ute that “in some ways revives the legend of the Falcon uter”.
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But Mr Farley said Australia’s long history with car-based utes ‘from the classic Falcons line and rival Holden Commodore to cult classics like the Subaru Brumby, it’ shows there’re still so much love for the formula.
Mr Farley, referring to Ford’s 1934 Coupe Utility which invented the car-based ute, said ‘I think this country gave the globe the utter. It is a very serious thing to say, so I’m pretty serious about it. Paraphrast.
It’s proving popular around the world, and Mr Farley sees such a vehicle as an attempt to further stamp the brand as being ‘an authority on commercial cars’.
Maverick
He also clearly sees it as a way to steal a march on arch rival Toyota.
“Even today, there’s no Toyota unibody pickup in the US,” he said.
While Ford already sells the mid-size Maverick ute in the United States, Mr Farley indicated Australia would likely get something different rather than simply importing the Escape-based model.
Maverick Lobo
He said ‘We have really worked with Maverick (in the US) as we do. Then we sell 200,000 Mavericks a year,’ he said, before saying that the Aussie monocoque ute solution would probably be more appropriate for local needs.
But I don’t think it should be the same, necessarily (as Maverick),’ he said. I’m not going to be specific,’ . Aussies would love – on paper – all I’m saying is, ‘unibody, efficient and even performance [ute] because they have [previously]]. – ’.
Mr Farley, defending, said any new car would have to be engineered specifically with Australian usage in mind rather than just adapting a model developed for other markets.
Mr Farley said ‘I’m a car person, I would like it not to just stamp – and force the market to take its solution.’ To do so right here is what makes this an international thing.
It is different from the US to solve it for here,’ . It’s more extreme here, the cost… the use is much higher than in-law for . Here [from a sales point] the commercial space would be larger than it is for this . ” , ‘I’m sure it is worth reading.
But he declined to describe where such an ute would come from, other than to say the details had been discussed internally.
One potential pathway could involve China, where Ford already builds several models tailored to regional markets.
The China-built Ford Territory is an example of the kind of global collaboration the company could leverage.
A mid-size SUV, called the Equator Sport – is already sold in several right-hand-drive markets including South Africa and has been launched as the latest Territory which was released in China.
Territory
It’s a turbocharged 1 and is used as . It’s a kind of electrified powertrain Ford is pushing globally, with 5-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder petrol engine and recently introduced.
A brand new unibody ute would probably have to be sold in multiple markets for development costs, with South Africa clearly being the preferred country along with Australia.
Not that Mr Farley was giving any clues.
, I’m not saying where it’s from, what does it look like. he said ‘We’re talking and discussing it [more] because we’ll be saying that, I’m going to say this.
Wherever it comes from, expect it to be more than just another vehicle.
He hinted that whatever Ford builds for Australia would need to respect the country’s strong performance heritage.
He cited the high performance versions of the Falcon that were in many ways “the closest thing to an Australian sports car”.
It’s been a long history [with Australian utes] and so there’s. lot of performance expectations here,’ – “We have… He added that people would be asking ‘can I get it with a V8’.
That’s when he referenced the government’s strict New Vehicle Efficiency Standard (NVES), which limits CO2 emissions, something that might prevent a V8-powered version.
Such a unibody ute could have an unlikely ally in the race to make it production: Mr Farley’s son.
I have my kid in the U.S, his world’s best car is a high-performance Falcon ute,” Ford boss Steve McDonnell said. he can see the value of the car just by looking at it,’ . Paraphrast.
But Mr Farley is in Australia until Friday and says he will decide on the unibody ute before leaving as part of the company’s US$9 billion-plus (A$12) ‘I am going to make a decision about it’. The next 12 months will see a product development pipeline of 8bn) for the next 1 month.
In Australia, Mr Farley is in the country until Friday with advanced product development vice president Sam Basile and COO Kumar Galhotra who says he will decide on the unibody ute before leaving his home.
Ford is busily expanding its ute/pickup lineup, confirming two affordable new models for the US market.
In addition to a mid-size electric model due in 2027, based on the new Universal EV platform and starting at under US$30,000 (A$42,800), Ford has confirmed it’ll launch a new combustion-powered model.
In 2029, it’s expected to be built in the US and will cost US$40,000 (A$56,000) as its base price. Details of this combustion-powered pickup are still scarce, but further details remain rare.
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