If Holden can do an El Camino - why can't Ford do a Ranchero or Torino?

[davistev]

Interesting article about the Holden Ute going to the USA:
http://www.news.com.au/national/hold...-1226531297086

So I was thinking . . ..

The Ford Falcon Ute is such a beautiful vehicle. Is there a reason why we can't market and sell it overseas (Perhaps as the new Ford Ranchero)?

Likewise, why can't we rip that bloody sedan taxi door off and sell a coupe version of the FG (perhaps as the new Ford Torino or Landau)?

Is Ford Australia looking for a way to shut down Australian operations? We have such an incredible rear wheel drive powerhouse and yet Ford Australia's idea of exports is to New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Are our manufacturing facilities so rundown that we can't offer a LHD? Just a few thoughts that I am sure have been shared by many in the past.

[jpd80]

Repost.

This was Joshua Dowling and a lot of others seeing GMNA renewing their patent on the name "El Camino"
and assuming it meant importation of Commodore Ute. All GMNA was doing in fact was protecting El Camino
name with lots of merchandising agreements still in play in North America.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by davistev

Interesting article about the Holden Ute going to the USA:
http://www.news.com.au/national/hold...-1226531297086

So I was thinking . . ..

The Ford Falcon Ute is such a beautiful vehicle. Is there a reason why we can't market and sell it overseas (Perhaps as the new Ford Ranchero)?

Likewise, why can't we rip that bloody sedan taxi door off and sell a coupe version of the FG (perhaps as the new Ford Torino or Landau)?

Is Ford Australia looking for a way to shut down Australian operations? We have such an incredible rear wheel drive powerhouse and yet Ford Australia's idea of exports is to New Zealand, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

Are our manufacturing facilities so rundown that we can't offer a LHD? Just a few thoughts that I am sure have been shared by many in the past.

Dude, really? That article was from December. This is now February, and GM have stated publically the Commodore ute isnt going to America, full stop.

Making Falcon LHD has nothing to do with the assembly plant and everything to do with having the $$$ to do the design, engineering, testing and validation to the E8 platform to make it LHD. It is design protected for LHD, but the work to actually make it so, hasnt been done.

FWIW, Ford may be mulling over the possibility of introducing a unibody utility to the US market but it may either be based on a bum dragger, or be complete pie in the sky stuff dreamt up by an over enthusiastic journo.

That said I'm sure some American Ford fans would love to get their hands on an FPV GS or Pursuit ute...

[davistev]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Dude, really? That article was from December. This is now February, and GM have stated publically the Commodore ute isnt going to America, full stop.

Nevertheless, It was a good idea. Basically Australian manufacturing numbers do not add up. They must increase sales to survive. Our population base is a mere drop in the world bucket hence - exports!

Perhaps Ford is worried the Ute and Couipe idea would take sales away from their Ford Pick up truck and Mustang line. Anyway - It must be profitable to rely on Australian Government handouts then.

[greenfoam]

Ford really need to learn how to protect sheet metal before they think about exports. You can still find fg's and territory's rusting in the seems brand new at the dealers and that's in the driest continent on earth. First things first, because at the moment they would never withstand salted roads and a properly wet and cold climate. Its passable here but just not good enough for exporting. It was such a bad problem in the E series I thought it would be fixed in the AU.. The AU was so bad I thought it would be fixed in the B series.... It just never gets any better.

Its the only thing stopping them from being a decent quality machine so I really wish they would sort it.

[flappist]

It would be a great idea if the rest of the world especially USA was full of Australians.

No country makes unpopular cars, at least not for long. All over the world there are lots of completely different vehicle types which are specifically designed for the local market.

Ford UK has only FWD smaller cars and Ford US, apart from the Mustang, are either FWD or in the case of utes range from bloody huge through ginormous up to "holy snapping duck poop".

Australians like the idea of a ute which is basically just a car with a big boot. Almost no one else does as can be demonstrated by there not being anything else made anywhere in the world like them.
Over the years there have been a few experiments like the camino but they have all pretty well failed as completely as the Taurus and Probe experiments did here.

Despite what you see on television we are not all the same......

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by davistev

Nevertheless, It was a good idea. Basically Australian manufacturing numbers do not add up. They must increase sales to survive. Our population base is a mere drop in the world bucket hence - exports!

Perhaps Ford is worried the Ute and Couipe idea would take sales away from their Ford Pick up truck and Mustang line. Anyway - It must be profitable to rely on Australian Government handouts then.

Add up how much subsidy Holden and Toyota have received compared to Ford, I think you'll be shocked..
And then considr that Ford has spent over a billion dollars in R & D infrastructure and engineering work,
I think you'll agree that taxable revenue and facilities far outweigh those piddling grants..