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Thread: The Future of the Falcon and Commodore

  1. #1
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    The Future of the Falcon and Commodore

    http://www.news.com.au/business/comp...-1226554833139

    http://www.foxsports.com.au/motor-sp...3#.UZ1_mLVmiSp

    Some interesting articles that spell the demise of the iconic AU rivalry. Thoughts?
    Miscommunication seems to be a direct result of misplaced, text based sarcasm.

  2. #2
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    Just because they end production on it doesn't mean they'll stop making RWD sedans, but it does seem frightfully ominous.

    The Falcon and the Commodore to the Austalians are equivalent to the Camaro and the Mustang in the US, I hope they figure something out.

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    It was only a matter of time. The general populace doesn't care anymore, large cheap(ish) sedans are becoming more and more of a niche and the Falcon wasn't platform sharing or getting any love from the mother company, so not surprising at all. The Commode gets to hang around longer because it's sharing components with cars in the US and being exported, so much better economies of scale. For the Falcon to have survived, there'd have to be a new one that shared the Mustang platform and was also exported to/made in the US, but that market slot is I guess covered by the Taurus. Still, I'm sure you'd have an appetite for a Taurus sizes, Mustang based RWD sedan.. but probably not enough to actually build it.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

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    That is very sad.

  5. #5
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    Do the cars that Ford or GM import (the non-Falcodore stuff) suffer from the same tariffs that foreign carmakers have to deal with?

    I was under the impression that a base Golf or something comparable cost as much as a done-up Falcon or Commodore because of those tariffs. It seems as if Ford is shooting itself in the foot and losing its preferred status as a domestic manufacturer by axing the main car it builds in-country.
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  6. #6
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    Falcons start at $41,375 RRP, Golfs start at $25,363.59. The local cars haven't been protected by import tariffs for a long time, that's the issue - there's little reason to buy one unless you want a big sedan, which most people don't and the ones that do want something German. The 3 series starts at $50,900.00 before taxes, for a kick off.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kitdy View Post
    That is very sad.
    Agreed!

    Australian V8 Super Cars will be just Nissan and Commodore and then it'll be just a spec race for Nissan.

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    Quote Originally Posted by NSXType-R View Post
    Agreed!

    Australian V8 Super Cars will be just Nissan and Commodore and then it'll be just a spec race for Nissan.
    You forgot Merc, and it's already a spec race. Ford will likely field something else in there, they'll still need a large car to sell. Maybe we'll get the Taurus or something.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by pimento View Post
    Falcons start at $41,375 RRP, Golfs start at $25,363.59. The local cars haven't been protected by import tariffs for a long time, that's the issue - there's little reason to buy one unless you want a big sedan, which most people don't and the ones that do want something German. The 3 series starts at $50,900.00 before taxes, for a kick off.
    Wow, I was pretty far off the mark. Not sure were I remember hearing that, but that's embarrassing.
    So, in that case, this sounds a lot like what happened here. Rear-wheel drive only seems marketably-feasible in premium applications.
    "Kimi, can you improve on your [race] finish?"
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  10. #10
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    The margins on small everyday cars are super narrow, so you have to go with what's cheapest to produce. Hence the only small RWD cars are the niche models.
    Life's too short to drive bad cars.

  11. #11
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    I read about the demise of the Falcon and Commodore on a motoring news website.

    Rear wheel drive for non-premium applications is pretty much dead. The only place where it will remain for a bit longer is the US where there's the unique combination of a very large market and cheap fuel prices. This encourages large cars with powerful engines, conditions which favour rear wheel drive. And even there most car makers have switched to front wheel drive anyway (the Chevy SS is just an anecdote and most likely gone when the Commodore is terminated).

    Non-premium rear wheel drive cars first disappeared in Europe. Here not only we stopped buying rear wheel drive cars from generalist manufacturers, we simply stopped buying large cars from them. The last mainstream large rear wheel drive cars where also from GM and Ford, the Scorpio and the Omega. Some manufacturers have tried cracking the large car market after them (mainly French companies) but all have failed.

    Basically what happened is that people moved away from them in two directions. First they realised that for the same money as an Omega or an Scorpio you could have a BMW 3 Series or Mercedes-Benz C-Class and if they were spending a significant amount of money they preferred to have a posh badge on the nose. And then the irruption of the SUV was the final nail in their coffin.

    The irony is that the previous mid-size cars (Mondeo, Insignia,...) are now as large as those full-size cars were back in the day.

    There's also something else; front wheel drive has advanced so much these days that there's no need for rear wheel drive in large car application. In the olden days putting large engine with large amounts of power through the front wheels was a challenge. You were most likely to ruin the balance and handling of the car, so the constraints in space packaging and build costs where something that was accepted. But since front wheel drive has been refined to the point of overcoming all those problems you might as well go for the layout that the most space and cost-efficient.

    So, R.I.P rear wheel drive.
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  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by pimento View Post
    The margins on small everyday cars are super narrow, so you have to go with what's cheapest to produce. Hence the only small RWD cars are the niche models.
    The funny thing is that an entry-level 1 Series (110bhp) now retails for about the same as a 135bhp Hyundai.

    In any case, the next generation 1er is going front drive (and the current one can't handle) so who cares...
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
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  13. #13
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    And I bet you get more equipment on that Hyundai. But enough people want the posh badge that it works.
    All about the t-tops

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    The BMW isn't as badly equiped as you might think, actually. IIRC it has parking sensors, bluetooth and climate control as standard.

    My point was that there's a small rear wheel drive hatchback that actually costs the same as an equivalent front wheel drive hatchback.

    It would be interesting to know the actual build costs for both cars.
    Lack of charisma can be fatal.
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  15. #15
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    the falcon may as well be invisible for all that the populace is aware of it, and that ford has attempted to market it- definitely a deliberate strangling of ford AU by dearborn after their attempt to substitute the taurus failed so horribly.. no attempt to integrate the falcon worldwide, holden will hold out a little longer with it's exports of the commodore.
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