Ford Stubborness with engine choices?

[Venomous1]

Why is it that Ford don't seem to respond to all the vocal Ford Enthusiasts that know they have some great engines but don't deem them necessary for our market.

Australia seems to gravitate towards American style drive trains bigger displacements more cylinders!

I wonder why we crave them too is it because we have always had access to powerful falcons? [Sarcasm].

All the exciting options that would indeed do well here are left for USA and we are lumped with the limp wrist EU.

They seem to have the attitude we don't need it. Australia is a big country with challenging terrain we want bigger more powerful!

Examples:
TTV6 Endura?
TTV6 Fusion/Mondeo? (XR6 type car)
Ecoboost Ranger Petrol?
F150?

[Poetic Justice]

Have they been engineered for RHD?

Does the business model for the production and logistics of having them delivered to Australia stack up to a point where the car can be sold for a competitive price?

Generally these are things that stop those cars from making it here.

[minheim]

We are a small market and RHD at that and have our own ADRs. Ford do a pretty good job with their mix of ecoboost and diesels engines and we get the v8 in the mustang. they also make a small allotment of high performance models available at times. I don't think we can complain too much.

[Junkyard-Dog]

A lot of people care about the price of fuel. I suggest that this may be the reason we are being given the "ecoboost" type engines.

[simon varley]

most people who buy simply don't care about engines or performance. we are an exception

[Nikked]

If we are gravitating towards bigger engines, why do car sales show the opposite?

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by simon varley

most people who buy simply don't care about engines or performance. we are an exception

Limp wristed, hipster society. Can’t wait to leave this place that modern Australia has become

[Junkyard-Dog]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Limp wristed, hipster society. Can’t wait to leave this place that modern Australia has become

Where are you headed?

[jpd80]

The simple answer is that we get lumped in with RHD UK and get what is already
earmarked for them because Americans think that we all like the same thing and
it's just easy to give us off the shelf stuff that doesn't quite jibe with our tastes.

[simon varley]

wouldn't mind if we did get UK stuff, but we only get a small subset of that! no manuals, no high power diesels. ffs we only just got a focus wagon after 20 years!

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by Junkyard-Dog

Where are you headed?

Asia or the states, whichever place I can make a living

[Windsor220]

That's what happens when you have a small population

[Crazy Dazz]

The problem with Focus and similar can be summed up in two words. Power Shift.

Ford took the best small/medium cars in the world and ruined them. Now they are stuck trying to worm their way back into a Saturated market.

For us to get a model, it must first be available. Simply being available in the USA in LHD, or even in Europe is not enough. It needs to be something they can knock out in Thailand or maybe SA, or something the Seppos are already building in RHD. Some models may stand the cost of importing from Europe, but there's no point offering a Manual variant from Belgium, when the equivalent Auto from Thailand is landed $5k cheaper.

Then its got to be economically viable to stock the car nationwide, and provide technical, service, and parts support for a period of years. We're the first to complain when dealers don't have cars, don't know how to fix them, or can't get the parts.

Then there's the marketing to consider. Ford Australia has a terrible record of producing great cars and failing to market them.

You also have to understand that the world has changed. 60 years ago we were an important market for US and UK makers, because most of the world was too busy saving for a new donkey. And/or was completely closed to the West. And even the emerging markets couldn't afford much more than a 2-stroke Honda. Now, in a global sense, we are an afterthought.

Back in the 60's, when America was developing the F111, and Britain the TSR2, the Australian order was actively pursued. We even got our own version, the F111C with bigger wings, and the loss of Australian interest triggered the cancellation of the British program. Now days, they probably sell more aircraft to the UAE.

[Junkyard-Dog]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Asia or the states, whichever place I can make a living

Texas would be an interesting place to live.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by Junkyard-Dog

Texas would be an interesting place to live.

Anywhere in the States apart from California. It seems California is hipster capital of the US, and has similar laws to Australia in terms of speeding penalties, vehicle modification laws, hoon laws, impounds, etc

[Junkyard-Dog]

New York wouldn't be much fun either as far as I'm concerned.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by Junkyard-Dog

New York wouldn't be much fun either as far as I'm concerned.

Well, i was touring NYC, was near the WTC One building. High police presence, and some biker popped a wheelie right in front of them. Not a single officer even bothered looking or pursuing. Had this been Melbourne or Sydney CBD, all the cops would have abandoned post to pursue the evil hoon biker and footage would have made the 6pm news I guess the yanks have bigger fish to fry than pursuing stupid trivial offences, unlike in Australia..

[Ben73]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Anywhere in the States apart from California. It seems California is hipster capital of the US, and has similar laws to Australia in terms of speeding penalties, vehicle modification laws, hoon laws, impounds, etc

I hear parts of Oregon are heading the same way as California. The scenery is amazing though.

I know of someone who moved from California to Florida as a sea change. He is into cars and said one of the reasons he wanted to leave his home state is because the police harass car enthusiasts and the laws are ridiculous relating to mods.

[OzJavelin]

O/T but ..

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Well, i was touring NYC, was near the WTC One building. High police presence, and some biker popped a wheelie right in front of them. Not a single officer even bothered looking or pursuing. Had this been Melbourne or Sydney CBD, all the cops would have abandoned post to pursue the evil hoon biker and footage would have made the 6pm news I guess the yanks have bigger fish to fry than pursuing stupid trivial offences, unlike in Australia..

Probably have ..
Firearm-related death rate per 100,000 population per year
Australia 0.16
USA 4.62

Personally I feel very fortunate I live in a country where society is stable enough that police can spend some time on traffic enforcement ...

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Well, i was touring NYC, was near the WTC One building. High police presence, and some biker popped a wheelie right in front of them. Not a single officer even bothered looking or pursuing. Had this been Melbourne or Sydney CBD, all the cops would have abandoned post to pursue the evil hoon biker and footage would have made the 6pm news I guess the yanks have bigger fish to fry than pursuing stupid trivial offences, unlike in Australia..

Trival offence? what if they mowed down a tourist visiting the WTC

rough stats from googling 120 pedestrians die and 200 motorists die annually in NYC.
Ive head the cops are pretty tough, so i'm quite surprised they let stuff like that go.

but I've never been there so.

[Bossxr8]

We unfortunately get lumped in with the fuel economy conscious Euro's.

If we had more pull via larger sales numbers we could probably get the higher performance petrol engines. Would be good to offer people the choice though. Petrol is reasonably "cheap" atm. And not everyone wants a bloody diesel.

[DJR-351]

Honest question:

What other countries outside of the US receive all or some of these High Performance Ford engines that Australia misses out on.....?

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by DJR-351

Honest question:

What other countries outside of the US receive all or some of these High Performance Ford engines that Australia misses out on.....?

Canada

Possibly some middle east markets where petrol is 20 cents a litre and they are LHD.

Can't think of any RHD markets that get them. If another RHD country got them we would most likely get them too.

[roKWiz]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Asia or the states, whichever place I can make a living

Originally Posted by Windsor220

That's what happens when you have a small population

And getting smaller.

[IanC]

People here are not even buying Mondeo sized cars. Look at last months sales figures. The reason they stopped selling big cars is that people were not buying them. They are buying SUVs and crew cab pickups. Ford would sell bigger cars with bigger engines if they thought they could make a profit out of them. Enthusiasts like you guys are not a big enough market to make it worth while.

[Junkyard-Dog]

Seems like everyone wants one of these ugly "SUV" type vehicles. Bloody annoying as far as I'm concerned. Good luck seeing past one of these monstrosities in traffic if you're in a normal car.