Hmmm...could be a grain of truth in a rumor like that...anyone remember the "Nissan Ute" (falcon ute), or the "Ford Maverick" (Nissan Patrol)?
The main thing I recall about them was the warrantee...when you bought a Nissan Patrol, you got the standard Nissan 2 year-40,000km warrantee...but when you bought the same vehicle with "Ford Maverick" badges, you only got the Ford standard (at the time) 12 month-20,000km warrantee...:whistling
It also worked the opposite way too...I read of a plumber who bought a "Nissan Ute", which was only a Falcon ute with a massive vinyl "NISSAN" across the tailgate and "Ute" badges on the guards, being laughed at by his mates for being so gullible...but then he pointed out that if he bought the Ford version, he would only get a one year warrantee, but buying the one with Nissan badges, he got the Nissan 2 year warrantee instead...not so stupid after all... :thumbsup: :yeah:
Anyway, I would bet it would be more like a model-swap and good old badge-engineering deal...though what well-made vehicles like Nissan would do with a Falcon, I don't know...:whistling
For Ford to do this however, they would have to drop the deal with Mazda, one would think. That would create a place to replace the Ford Escape (Mazda Tribute), for one.