If the Falcon dies, I wonder if FORD will attempt to compete in the V8 supercars with a Taurus or drop out altogether

i will say im like fords new radio adverts like the one that makes a LPG ute sound tough.

i cant see why people wont by them they are good cars. but even my dad said he has had falcons all his life and now looking at a territory for something different its not that he does not like the FG he said he is just over falcons. still appreciates them just had not want for them anymore.

i think the XT needs to go down in price or offer the new XT 4cly diesel at a lower price to encourage fleet buyers.

At the end of the day there are only so many people in Australia with a car and with japanese marked filling it up for a lower cost GM and FORD sales have to drop. i mean 32k for a accord euro have you guys ever driven one of those its fkn heaven. ok its not RWD but if you dont want to peel up sideways at every corner there is no reason not to buy one

my first car was a 87 xf 6cyl then and now i am in a v8 falcon after reading this i wanna go out and buy a new falcon :'(

I am a huge fan of the Falcon, the proud owner of two XR6s. I'm from a staunch Mopar family (Canada), grew up with Chrysler products (and still have a soft spot for them), so owning Fords is almost sacrilege. But when I show family what Ford Australia have done with the old 250 six, the jaws drop and they "get it". 260HP from an N/A 4.0 straight 6, 360HP in turbo form, and 415HP ex FPV - straight off the showroom floor and with full warranty. Respect, dude!

But the days of oil at $20-30 a barrel are gone forever. The sad reality is that for most people a car is just a means of transport. It's basically only enthusiasts who will choose to spend an extra $2000-3000 a year on fuel - and there aren't enough of us around to justify the cost of tooling up a car just for us.

In a sense, the Falcon has been on life support for a while already. Australia's high import duties and restrictions (basically no used car imports) have given Aussie-made cars a head start for a long time. When visiting Melbourne, I'm always amazed that half the cars on the road seem to be Falcons or Commodores. Today, a new XR6 costs 13% more in Melbourne, where it is made, than it does here in New Zealand (even after the cost of shipping it across). Without this financial assistance, the Falcon would already be gone.

All good things must come to an end. So, I say, enjoy the great Aussie Falcon while it lasts. And I'm sure enthusiasts will keep some awesome examples alive for decades to come, even when petrol's $5 a litre, and everyone else is running their cars on hydrogen fuel cells or fairy dust.

i cant say i have been the biggest ford fan all my life, but it would be sad to see the falcon go. i have come to have quite a soft patch for the falcon over the last couple of years. something that could keep them afloat for a while longer though is bring out an aniversery edition, something based of one of their great cars through the years, like th xc or something. and not just roughly i mean bring back those defined lines that made older cars so darn sexy

is it any wonder the ford falcon could be fading away?
what have they done to be innovative lately? it took the asian cars entering the market to make things we take for granted today like carpet and a stereo as stock items. ever since the falcon and commodore has done almost the bare minimum of user friendly upgrades to keep it afloat. for instance the fg is the first falcon with a stock mp3 decoding cd player. it took them till 2009 to make this standard. when did mp3 usage take off, with things like napster and ipods? i can bet you it was long before 2009. ive seen that the new ford focus platinum has the ability to parallel park on its own. vw already has this tecnology, and i saw a demo of this in a lexus about 5 years ago. how long did ford and holden lag behind the main asian players in making airbags standard? or even seat belts?

on the other hand you have a big heavy car, with a large motor that sucks down petrol like a fat kid with cake. we have consumers with less money and soaring oil prices. you do the math. buy a new fg xt that runs approx 10.5L to 100km, or a mazda 3 at 7.9L to 100km. unless your a ford fan like you and i, or a bogan rev head with no clue, the mazda wins out.

also look at price. buy a mazda 3 for $21990 or a fg xt for about $36000. hmmmm buy a car that does what i want, or pay $14000 more for an oversized goliath that costs me extra in petrol and servicing costs to do the same job.

lastly look at marketing. as anyone with half an ounce of brain tissue is aware, ford marketing sucks more anus than a bloke in a pink singlet and denim shorts. how much exposure has the mazda "zoom zoom zoom" camapaign had vs whatever ford is doing. (i actually have no idea what they are doing currently, thats how bad they are) couple this up with what people are seeing on tv and in movies. non descript people have a ford or gmc/holden. all the hip happening people are driving a hotted up rice burner. (fast and furious anyone?)

so in conclusion ford is peddling a car that is offering a low level of creature comforts at an inflated price with a gas guzzling motor which is barely being advertised. yeah i can see how that strategy will reap economic divedends.

In defence of the engineering side of the falcon:

My BF was produced with a 5star ANCAP safety rating, full of things that open and shut, like adjustable pedals dual zone climate etc. Plenty of room cabin and boot and a 190kw twin cam 6 that returns 700kms to a 70litre tank. Have you been in a commodore lately ? Ford always has been that one step ahead of Holden in almost every facet for eons, and that's all they needed to be, untill now. True it has some structual/rust related issues that falcons had over 20 years ago but that obviously isn't their concern in this day and age, either is it for any other manufacturer.

To comment on a focus is a bit out of line as it's based on a multi manufacturer platform and more german than australian, we're talking about aussie born and bred 'saloons' here. Someone also mentioned before that the Falcon has been financially backed by Ford all the way, unlike the 'GM' (government money) commodores.

Unfortunately the bottom has fallen out of the large car market and to stay afloat they have to loose some ballast. It's perfect business sense and they are actually pioneering the death of the family car to stay alive so to say they aren't innovative is also incorrect I feel. If the goverment hadn't backed Holden for so long this would've happened sooner and Holden would've stopped selling it's family car. I imagine they would keep producing the pontiac/monaro coupe though, this is what Ford needs if anything.

It s**t me that ford and ford australia are dictating to me what i can and can't buy. I am married with two kids live in regional victoria and dont drink latte's. So what good, Ford Australia , is a focus or a festiva to me? I dont drive around toorak or carlton visiting my friends and eat bread dipped in olive oil ! I know you will be screaming buy a territory if you want to fit the kids and the dog and everything else to go on a long trip but why should i change to an even bigger vehicle that my wife will drive anyway. She now drives a ba futura wagon that ford in thier wisdom discontinued when the fg came out, all but ruining the massive contract they have with TELSTRA as almost all telstra vehicles that technicians use ( apart from toyota vans ) is the ford falcon wagon. Another wonderful business decision. A good friend of mine who is a massive holden fan asked me why on earth i would drive a falcon and i told him that i will drive them until they let me down. I am onto my 7th falcon in various shapes and models and it seems that the only thing that has let me down is Ford NOT their products.