VE to benefit next Falcon; BFII this October...

[adrenaline]

VE Commodore to benefit next Falcon

Originally Posted by www.goauto.com.au

Ford to scrutinise Holden's forthcoming VE Commodore before next Falcon is locked in

By MARTON PETTENDY 30 June 2006


FORD Australia executives have revealed that the next-generation Falcon, due in March 2008, will be benchmarked against Holden’s forthcoming VE Commodore and that engineering "on tooling" work for the large sedan will not be locked in until this Christmas.

Codenamed Orion, the next Falcon’s fundamental design and chassis "hard points" are already locked in, but Ford executives have confirmed the longer gap between model releases will allow the next Falcon’s chassis, features and specifications to be further developed in response to Holden’s new Commodore (as well as Mitsubishi’s nine-month-old 380 and Toyota’s all-new Aurion sedan due in November), if required.

"The basic design was locked in two years out (from the next Falcon’s release), but the cars won’t be off-tooling until 15 months out," a Ford source told GoAuto.

"That gives us the luxury of a sizeable window to benchmark our product against theirs."

The Blue Oval therefore appears to have until the end of this year to ensure its next-generation Falcon is competitive with The General’s keenly anticipated VE Commodore, which Holden confirmed last week will be Australia’s first locally-built model range to come standard with ESP stability control.

Ford is keen to avoid the situation that saw the fall from grace of its redesigned $750 million AU Falcon, which did not benefit from the luxury of extensive benchmarking against Holden’s new-for-1997 VT Commodore when it was released a year later in September 1998.

The result was and far more expensive and extensive midlife makeover than planned, resulting in the $500 million BA Falcon facelift revealed in September 2002.

This time round, when launched in March 2008 the new Orion Falcon will be the product of extensive testing against Holden’s new VE, which will have been on the market for almost 20 months.

Before then, however, Ford Australia has confirmed it will upgrade its volume-selling model to better combat Holden’s all-new VE Commodore, due on sale in August, via changes that should constitute a Series II update for the BF Falcon around October this year.

"We do have a few tricks up our sleeve for Falcon later this year, which in time will become more apparent," said Ford Australia president Tom Gorman at last week’s Territory Turbo launch.

Ford is believed to be working on a number of fuel consumption reduction strategies as part of the final upgrade to the current Falcon before it’s replaced.

One possibility is the fitment, as standard across the range, of the ZF-supplied six-speed automatic transmission that helped realise fuel economy gains of up to 11 per cent on some Falcon variants in the BF model released last October.

Not very surprising that they would benchmark against the VE...It gives them a HUGE advantage though. I wonder what's happening with the product cycles though. Holden said they wanted to aim for 5 year cycles in the future...

Ford have tricks up their sleeve for BFII....I cant wait

[2ndclasscitizen]

Originally Posted by ADRENALINE

Ford have tricks up their sleeve for BFII....I cant wait

Such as...?

[fpv_gtho]

I was about to raise that point. With Ford launching 18 months after the VE, and the VE having a potentially shorter life span its entirely possible that the next all new Commodore is out closer to the mid life Orion update, than the next all new Falcon after Orion.

[fpv_gtho]

Originally Posted by 2ndclasscitizen

Such as...?

Monotube shocks are a certainty, as they didnt make it for BF.

New bonnet, headlights and bumpers are 90% certain.

Its possible that the ZF auto will be optional across the whole range.

Ford might also react to VE by putting ESP and side airbags standard across the range.

[2ndclasscitizen]

Originally Posted by fpv_gtho

Monotube shocks are a certainty, as they didnt make it for BF

What are they?

[fpv_gtho]

No idea, but theyre said to be a vast improvement over the current shocks

http://www.zf-trading.com/direkt.php...000000000.html

Thats from the ZF website. I cant make any definite sense out of it however

[fpv_gtho]

Also here: http://www.whiteline.com.au/faqshocks01.htm

Gives a bit more indepth thought into it.

[SlickHolden]

Bit like the magna shito thingo shocks thing HSV might use forgot the name

I wish for one thing on a new update, Taillights got to change them turn them upside down or something, The Ghia's new fog lamps look is nice it's something my brother would love on his BA, But when it comes to the rear they are all very similar and even he is at a lose back there what to do??
Typhoon it maybe? It's not like when he went out and bought EL Taillights for his EF.

Actually he was telling me only last week of how Holden and Ford send each other a couple of cars to keep pretty much close by, I thought he was having me on, He says it's so both can pretty much keep it within 10-15% of each other with options etc, Anyway i thought he was drinking till i was told Ford had a crewman and 1 tonne Ute at different times before they were on the roads? Maybe it's true?.

[fpv_gtho]

Yeah its true, dont know if extents to Toyota and Mitsubishi as well, but most definately Ford have a new Commodore in pieces before the media sees it officially

[2ndclasscitizen]

Originally Posted by SlickHolden

Bit like the magna shito thingo shocks thing HSV might use forgot the name

MagnaRide

[charged]

Is the new Falcon a brand new chassis etc or is it a rehash of the BF ?, I doubt ford could be changing chassis, body ect. It would be more equipment levels, saftey packages etc.

[adrenaline]

The October update falcon is an overdue facelift to lessen the crushing effect of the VE as well as mechanical surprises such as the Monotube shocks that FPV was talking about. They were originally meant for the BF but an issue with Delphi (Im pretty sure it was Delphi) held them up....The March 2008 Falcon is an all new chassis/ body etc...

[fpv_gtho]

Originally Posted by 2ndclasscitizen

MagnaRide

Pretty sure that was an adaptive ride sort of system adapted from what the C6 'Vette currently has

[2ndclasscitizen]

Originally Posted by fpv_gtho

Pretty sure that was an adaptive ride sort of system adapted from what the C6 'Vette currently has

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

MagnaRide
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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MagnaRide is an active suspension technology from Delphi Corporation. It was first used by General Motors in the Chevrolet Corvette C5 and Cadillac Seville and STS but will also be used in the Ferrari 599 and Audi TT in 2007. It uses ferrofluid to adjust the damping rate of the shock absorbers based on road conditions and vehicle dynamics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MagnaRide

[SlickHolden]

Originally Posted by fpv_gtho

Yeah its true, dont know if extents to Toyota and Mitsubishi as well, but most definately Ford have a new Commodore in pieces before the media sees it officially

I don't want to sound biased but i think i will anyway.
It's more important that Ford and Holden keep with each other more closely so they can be as strong against the imports etc. End the end nothing against the rest it's holden and ford that are the most important cars to Australia's car industry.

Originally Posted by 2ndclasscitizen

MagnaRide

Thats the one sounds like a Mitsub part