Death of the Falcon and Territory

[Risky]

I remember that article & I kept thinking what drugs the Ford designers were on to make such an ugly looking car. You see them advertised so cheap that you could get one for a case of beer even though the beer has more value.

 

[Forg]

I remember that article & I kept thinking what drugs the Ford designers were on to make such an ugly looking car.

Apparently it was forced upon them.

They were supposed to be following the New Edge design language ... you can see it if you compare the Ka or the first Focus to the AU:

But somebody came along & said "you can't do that, you have to do this", and made them change their design to some half-arsed hybrid.
In fact once the artsy-fartsy crayon-sniffing designers had their styling dictated by accountants from Dearborn, they probably just gave up ... the original AU is probably just the end-result of their despair.

 

[Risky]

Still looks bloody ugly!

 

[Forg]

I think it'd be hard for anyone to argue against that, at least with a straight face.

 

[Towcar]

We got an AU Falcon for $1500 that has not needed any major work in the 8 years it has been owned, now with well over 270,000km, got to love a fugly car! Makes them cheap!

 

[commodore665]

Apparently it was forced upon them.

They were supposed to be following the New Edge design language ... you can see it if you compare the Ka or the first Focus to the AU:

But somebody came along & said "you can't do that, you have to do this", and made them change their design to some half-arsed hybrid.
In fact once the artsy-fartsy crayon-sniffing designers had their styling dictated by accountants from Dearborn, they probably just gave up ... the original AU is probably just the end-result of their despair.

They took the Ford Taurus and just stretched it a bit , it's what happens when accountants design cars .

 

[mpower]

We got an AU Falcon for $1500 that has not needed any major work in the 8 years it has been owned, now with well over 270,000km, got to love a fugly car! Makes them cheap!

I'd rather drive a pretty car that broke down all the time.

But I don't have to - it's called owning a Holden.

 

[Risky]

Could you imagine what the Territory would have looked like with that 'New Edge' design if it came out in the AU.

My mind does not want to fathom it.

 

[figjam]

If Ford had more bosses like the late Geoff Polites and Jac Nasser, the Falcon and Territory would not be gone. They were the ones who turned the ugly AU into the good looking BA/BF and got the Terri through the cement heads in the US.
The Terri (let's just forget the penny pinching short comings of some of its engineering design) is the best looking, most practical SUV around even though it is geting close to 20 years old.
This is from a Terri owner, and a very long-time Holden owner/driver.

 

[DanielSS-V]

Look to the thug unionist if you really want to assign blame. They made manufacturing in Australia unrealistic and you have reaped what you sow.

Yes because a succession of incompetent CEO's at Ford Australia, a complete misunderstanding of the Australian market, a poor corporate attitude to quality and customer service, a lack of export opportunities, a poor product mix and various governments who kept changing the rules around the Button plan and signing free trade agreements without a care in the world about what it did to manufacturing in this country are all the unions fault.

Not saying the unions didn't do themselves a disservice, particularly in the 70's but it is grossly over simplistic to lay the blame solely on them. Like most things in life, its a lot more complicated.