Well here’s some interesting news for fans and owners of Ford’s Falcon sedan: the RWD vehicle could be heading for the great parking lot in the sky.
“I wouldn’t be holding my breath for a rear-wheel drive Falcon. I think the chances are we will be all-wheel-drive,” said Ford global design chief J Mays. “… we are pretty confident we can find the right answers. It’s the same things that appeal on a rear-wheel-drive car in Australia that appeal for a rear-wheel-drive car here in the USA.”
The move seems to stem from the dismal sales of the Falcon and its G (read: luxury) variants, with the car recording its worst year of sales in 2010. According to The Blue Oval’s “One Ford” plan — which, among other things calls for a unified product portfolio all over the globe — large vehicles such as the Falcon and Territory would move to a FWD/AWD platform.
“When we started this process [One Ford] we had many people internally saying it would not work. But guess what? It has. So we feel very confident we are going to be able to deliver a car that everyone around the world will be happy with,” Mays said. He went on to to say that a final decision on the Falcon’s underpinnings will be made within the next six months.
The Motrolix Take
Whether you’re a fan of the One Ford program or not, there’s no denying that the plan has done wonders for The Blue Oval, which has the best vehicles on the market at this point in time. And if the Falcon were to — all of a sudden — move to the all-wheel-drive D3 architecture that underpins the Ford Taurus and Lincoln MKS, we don’t think that anyone would vehemently complain. In fact, the addition of AWD may make it a better-handling vehicle in the twisties!
What do you think? Talk to us in the comments below.
Source: Drive.com.au
Comments