Quote:
Originally Posted by mountainstar
We will see how the new versions of the Falcon do in the marketplace. I don't think Ford will abandon the Falcon nameplate too quickly, but I think with the next "Falcon", it's going to have to get with the program. Ford is a global company and a huge error was made not engineering the car for left hand drive and due to that it has hugely restricted it's market where it can be sold.
The Commodore platform on the other hand sells well in China as a Buick and the car is sold elsewhere from Brazil to South Africa to the Middle East as a Chevy Lumina. It's also sold in the USA as a police car.
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It was too expensive to engineer the Falcon for left hand drive and given how the Australian dollar now is, it was the best decision in hindsight. Holden's overseas markets have dried up. The US police car project is in ruin too. They have sold very few cars indeed, due to the Australian dollar.
The high Australian dollar is not going to go down any time soon and both Holden and Toyota have moved towards not relying on exports and following the Ford Australia model of focusing on the local market.
We've got the Falcon until 2016. After that I live in hope that they re-badge something as a Falcon.
The Commodore is expected to go the same way.