THE days of producing a home-grown Falcon for the Australian market are over, says Ford’s world president and chief executive, Alan Mulally.
The Falcon has been designed and engineered in Australia since the 1960s, but Mr Mulally said at the Detroit motor show that under the new “One Ford” program there would be only one large-car platform for all markets.
Who will be the winner from this? Do Australians care enough about local design for this to matter? If they do, does Holden pick up the slack? And what, then, of local vehicles like the ute and trayback?
Australia must be a small blip on the map for Ford world-wide, but on a local scale this is going to have some rather serious ramifications for the industry.