Ford assumes sole responsibility for FPV

[Resurrection]

Originally Posted by Pepscobra

I've always found the idea of building a complete donar car, driving it 500m down the road to FPV, stripping it of its unnecessary parts and then building a GT rediculous anyways!

Building it on the Ford production line sounds more efficient anyways, both in time and money. That's how they did it in the hey days.

HSV have been doing it for decades and a lot more succesfully than Tickford/FPV. Plus Holden need to send their cars all the way from Elizabeth to Clayton.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by ESP

They ( FORD ) have had plenty of opportunity to Import performance USA engines over the last 20 years and provide Tickford / Prodrive - or their own staff ample opportunity to enhance them - or just drop them straight in..........have they ??

Yep, eight years of sourcing parts for the Boss 5.4 at the right price...?

[flappist]

Well I see this as a good thing.

The whole ethos of Falcon GT and other performance Falcons is a very AUSTRALIAN thing like AFL, NRL, cold beer & prawns, vegemite and the Melbourne Cup.

Now there is no outside company dictating the direction of FPV we may see all sorts of things that we may have wished for appearing.

Glass half empty, glass half full or maybe time to have another drink from the glass.......

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by Polyal

They would have done the smart thing and got something from the US a long time ago instead of developing an orphan engine for an orphan car. GMH have been doing it successfully for ages.

Your giving "FPV"..which is to actually say prodrive to much credit.

Ford does the bulk, and the only difference between a FPV employee and a Ford one is the portable they sit in at the PG.

for me its been a value adding part of ownership.. having a unique for oz developed donk..

[Nikked]

Im glad that a Ford representive brought the news to us, thats good PR there :-)

[XRtowcar]

Isn't there some thing recently about Ford being unable to produce a vehicle that FPV could produce because it didn't comply with Ford durability standards.
Hope that dosen't mean a drop in power or less tech engines.

[I6DOHC]

Originally Posted by flappist

The whole ethos of Falcon GT and other performance Falcons is a very AUSTRALIAN thing like AFL, NRL, cold beer & prawns, vegemite and the Melbourne Cup.

Couldn't agree more with this.

Having the flagship Falcon GT actually rubs off on the whole Falcon range, gives them an edge.

I hope we do see them developing further on the GT RSpec.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by XRtowcar

Isn't there some thing recently about Ford being unable to produce a vehicle that FPV could produce because it didn't comply with Ford durability standards.
Hope that dosen't mean a drop in power or less tech engines.

Yes, it was unqualified drivel from Drivel with no source or reference to back up the comment:

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/f...814-2462a.html

Currently, Ford owns 49 per cent of FPV while Prodrive owns 51 per cent – but Ford has a stronger influence in the partnership because FPV cannot engineer a vehicle that does not meet Ford’s global quality, durability and engineering standards.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by XRtowcar

Isn't there some thing recently about Ford being unable to produce a vehicle that FPV could produce because it didn't comply with Ford durability standards.
Hope that dosen't mean a drop in power or less tech engines.

FPV's have to pass the same durability tests as all Ford vehicles do.

Good to see the Ford V8 returning to the Geelong Engine Plant, 30 years after the last Clevo left.

I'll be putting my hand up to work on the V8 line, fingers crossed I can get a gig.

[Pepscobra]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

HSV have been doing it for decades and a lot more succesfully than Tickford/FPV. Plus Holden need to send their cars all the way from Elizabeth to Clayton.

Doesnt mean its good business practice, especially in these tough times.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by EgoFG

I See this as very positive !

FPV will now be able to use names from ford History (like XR8).
It explains the decrease in Ford workforce (economies of scale)
If Ford had no faith in the local market, they would have been better off financially to let FPV wither and die.

You don't think Ford is in enough trouble trying to spin the stories around Falcons death and the wall of silence on post 2016 manufacturing plans, to let out in the middle of the media storm, "oh by the way Prodrive walked because of poor sales and we are closing FPV down". Yeah that wouldn't hurt with every media outlet talking about Falcons death.


Ford are no doubt getting the Prodrive stuff at a fire sale price. FPV doesn't sell much, not enough apparently for a sustainable business model anymore, but it does sell some Falcons. The tooling is done and paid for, just like FG and like I said, you can bet Ford got it for much less than the R&D owes Prodrive.

Might as well keep churning them out till the end. If the end comes sooner than 2016, no partner to worry about in dissolving the FPV brand and business.

[DJM83]

Originally Posted by Luke Plaizier

Perhaps they want the FPV brand to go worldwide? That acronym seems to make more direct sense to what it is and does and for what base brand than the somewhat obscure SVT and RS Division names.


Lukeyson

Do a bit of research on the Rallye Sport name and then come back. I dont want to see an FPV badge on a Euro or vice versa. Keep them separate, there is no correlation
One thing id like to see as many have said Falcon GT on the rear.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

From a GoAuto article on the subject.

If the business was unsustainable long term, why would Ford take it over if they were supposedly shutting up shop in 4 years?

Because Prodrive probably sold the business to Ford at a substantial loss. Thus making the business case add up for Ford. I doubt Miami is close to being paid off.

[4.0i OHC]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

HSV have been doing it for decades and a lot more succesfully than Tickford/FPV. Plus Holden need to send their cars all the way from Elizabeth to Clayton.

So what? Holden has also been selling cars with rubbish steering and V6s more 'successfully' as well. Doesn't stop it from being a horrible idea. I will never get this obsession with becoming more like Holden. The introduction of a separate 'FPV' brand (and the BA in general as a matter of fact) was evidence of this.

[4.0i OHC]

I'd love to see the return of a Falcon GT. I don't understand why some think that it's a good idea to 'distance' the hero models from the base models of the Falcon range. In my opinion, having the hero car badged as a 'Ford Falcon' makes the more affordable models more desirable.

As well as this, it's what they did in the 70s

[Thunder]

If for a moment, everyone ignored the media's dome and gloom about the Falcon's (and thus Ford Australia's) future, and we all read-between-the-lines of this centralisation of Ford and FPV: Then perhaps it is very possible that Ford Australia will lead the Global RWD division of Ford?

Australia developed the Ranger and Figo, we all know how capable Ford Australia is, and America has been talking about developing an "international" Mustang, and a search on the internet of American Mustang forums highlight how many Yanks want our GT and XR !!!!............could it be at all possible?

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by 4.0i OHC

I'd love to see the return of a Falcon GT. I don't understand why some think that it's a good idea to 'distance' the hero models from the base models of the Falcon range. In my opinion, having the hero car badged as a 'Ford Falcon' makes the more affordable models more desirable.

As well as this, it's what they did in the 70s

More desirable to who ?

The mums and dads which are the bread and butter sales for Falcon ( and have been for 30+ years ) have moved on and have their bums in Mid sized smaller cars and SUV's.

You could whack a VEYRON badge on the Falcon and it still won't save it from the inevitable.

If FORD have any brains at all....they will retain the FPV lineage and start applying it to other non Falcon based models now. Build a following and reputation with other platforms so they have something to fall back on when Falcon dies off.

It's the same reason that BMW have M division / Mercedes have AMG/ Toyota have Lexus / Nissan have Infiniti......the slight separation from the family makes for the uniqueness that makes it oh so much more desirable and unique and allows for projects like supercharged V8's where the parent company may never have entertained that idea here locally. FPV may not re engineer the cars to the extent the EURO's do......but at the price point we all expect to pay for our local performance cars....they don't have to.

It's the way we roll here in AU.....we want everything for $1.50

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by ESP

....It's the same reason that BMW have M division / Mercedes have AMG/ Toyota have Lexus / Nissan have Infiniti......

Lexus is not a performance division, but a separate luxury marque to Toyota. Same also for Infinity. If you are looking for this type of off-shoot......then Ford already have that. It is called Lincoln. They also had Mercury.

[SteveJH]

The problem is that Ford Globally have three different performance brands, FPV being the odd one out in that the other two have been merged.

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by Thunder

Lexus is not a performance division, but a separate luxury marque to Toyota. Same also for Infinity. If you are looking for this type of off-shoot......then Ford already have that. It is called Lincoln. They also had Mercury.

No...I understand that....my point is that there are advantages to having a separate division handling unique products.....luxury or performance.

[Dave R]

Originally Posted by Thunder

Lexus is not a performance division, but a separate luxury marque to Toyota. Same also for Infinity. If you are looking for this type of off-shoot......then Ford already have that. It is called Lincoln. They also had Mercury.

Lexus have their F division now. And nobody aspires to buy a Lincoln.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by ESP

They ( FORD ) have had plenty of opportunity to Import performance USA engines over the last 20 years and provide Tickford / Prodrive - or their own staff ample opportunity to enhance them - or just drop them straight in..........have they ??
My point is that without Prodrive - would FORD have provided us with the Supercharged version of the COYOTE we have now - or would they have just imported the N/A 5.0 version - as good as it is - which would have left the GT lacking or just on par against the HSV .....or worse still - as they have demonstrated back in the 80's - pulled the pin altogether and just given us 6 cylinder S packs.

I give Kudos to Prodrive because they deserve it........the 5.0 Supercharged engine is a spanker............some people around here have such short memories.

Time will tell i guess..........

Can you imagine what could have been done with the left over funds if we went to modular during AU?

I agree coyote is not a fpv product (except for the boss302), but if fpv was more in sync with ford globally as fair as drivetrain is concerned then they would benefit greatly...it wouldnt be so bad to have the 5.8 sitting in there!

The issue afaik was generally timing...but now pehaps foa can talk to the us more and tie in programs and engine more effeciently.

Whats done is done, but I dont see the powertrin of fpv vechiles as a success as such, both performance orientated to begin with and financially now. We are still yet to hear of miami being used anywhere else yet like it was spruked to be.

Im hopeful of more global synergies.

[tomygun_123]

now whatever this means..

I wanna see some FPV coupes..

I'd kill for a 2 door I6 turbo with all the bells and whistles, how many cars on Earth could compete with that value.

[Thunder]

Originally Posted by ESP

No...I understand that....my point is that there are advantages to having a separate division handling unique products.....luxury or performance.

Fair enough, but not all performance divisions are worthy or worthwhile. Toyota, the significantly dominant manufacturer tried but also failed with TRD here. Personally speaking, the Ford brand is not in the same league as Mercedes or BMW.

I myself would buy a Ford XR8 or GT over an FPV GS or GT. Whilst the FPV range was (still is) awesome, the business man in me did not agree with its value versus price. A Ford GT would convince me better..........and probably will.

[Romulus]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

FPV's have to pass the same durability tests as all Ford vehicles do.

Good to see the Ford V8 returning to the Geelong Engine Plant, 30 years after the last Clevo left.

I'll be putting my hand up to work on the V8 line, fingers crossed I can get a gig.

That being the case, what do you think Ford will do with the V8 engine. Limit it's usage to FPV's only, or do you think the XR8 will return?

[imugli]

OK so now that FPV is back in house, is there a possibility that we'll see

XR6 (the Fleet Hack) changed to Zetec
XR6T **
XR8 ** The "Performance Falcons"
GT ** The HALO model.

[Nikked]

Originally Posted by tomygun_123

now whatever this means..

I wanna see some FPV coupes..

I'd kill for a 2 door I6 turbo with all the bells and whistles, how many cars on Earth could compete with that value.

FPV already make coupes, with a huge boot.

[Whitey-AMG]

Originally Posted by Thunder

I myself would buy a Ford XR8 or GT over an FPV GS or GT. Whilst the FPV range was (still is) awesome, the business man in me did not agree with its value versus price. A Ford GT would convince me better..........and probably will.

I'm interested to see why you think Ford will offer better value for money. What makes you think Ford will make the same product and slash 15k off the price.
The bean counters at Ford will certainly make sure that THEY get value for their money. I can't see Ford offering the current GS as a XR8 with a price tag less than 55k.......if they do....it will be sold without doors or wheels......

I'll be keen to see how this pans out.....my last performance car from "FORD" was the XE ESP..... A beautiful car ..... But no match for the more focused stuff from Brocky / HDT at the time. The SS group3 was a nice bit of kit at the time.....VK blue meanie in 85 was astounding........Groundhog day methinks.

[tomygun_123]

Originally Posted by Nikked

FPV already make coupes, with a huge boot.

sedan is quicker than ute

i'm talking about a real coupe, not the thing designed to carry around hay

[davocol]

[QUOTE=Nikked]Im glad that a Ford representive brought the news to us, thats good PR there :-)[/

It's about bloody time too, Ford must have finally hired a social media expert who sees the benefits in talking directly with their customers. This forum has been an untapped gold mine for ages let's hope they continue the two way conversation.

I see this decision purely as a cost saving exercise which could not be executed fully due to the goodwill in the FPV brand. I can not see any positive from this.