Ford confirms FPV brand will stay around, for now

[jpd80]

Has anyone seen just how few I-6 Turbos are actually sold these days?
I think it would make scary viewing and I'm beginning to wonder whether the effort
to build them is not worth the return anymore, it may be cheaper/easier for Ford to
source and build their own NA 5.0 V8s on the existing mini line to replace the I-6

In fact,
I recon Ford should replace the I-6 with a short stroke 4.0 litre version of the 5.0 V8,
changing Falcon's image by giving it 250 Kw and 430 nm on a corporate engine design.
By making the basic version of Falcon Ecoboost, Ford can continue sub $40K product
whilst all the 4.0 V8s become +$40,000 sales because the 4.0 becomes more desirable to own...
G8, G8E XR8 with 4.0 & 5.0 V8s all sitting where they should while GS and GT remain unchanged.

It may sound insanely stupid but now that the Falcon no longer serves as a mostly fleet vehicle,
perhaps it's time to offer options that both attract and differentiate Falcon for mid sized alternatives.

[rdmr]

I-6Ts still make up a sizeable portion of the daily build. They are a halo model/engine and are a source of pride within the plant. Dropping it would be a great mistake. There is still a market for them so we should cater for it.
If anything it is the body of the XR6T that should change to make it more distinct/desirable from the everyday XR6.

[Orangejuicepony]

While I glad they are keeping the name and brand, they need to stop the models feeling like a taxi from 15 years ago when you sit in them. Because the market isn't warming to the them they'll never invest $1 billion dollars to build an all new RWD car like Holden did so this out of date feeling you get when you sit in the all too familiar cabin will continue, as will the public's shun for cheaper imported fresher models.

I know lots of middle aged family men and women who when they have $70-$80k to spend on a new family car would prefer a TDV8 cruiser (or some derivative thereof) then an HSV or FPV, its just what people want. Sad, but it's no the 70s anymore.

Ford and FPV should put the money in a Territory and Ranger lineup with shared engines and transmissions and just import a comparable sedan/wagon for the Government and Fleets.

[FGII-XR6]

many of you are saying rename the GS to the XR8 and drop the price. the reason the GS is so expensive is the engine used is a highly developed supercharged V8 ( a detuned GT engine) not because they are saying "it's an FPV lets rip them off" . these are a far cry from the 5.4 boss that was in the XR8 they cost a lot more to build so command a higher price.
I often read the comparison to the SS pricing but bear this in mind, the SS has a NA pushrod tractor engine not a supercharged quad cam multivalve high tech engine

[sbutler]

430nm of torque?? My mower puts out more than that!!! Not really.. :>)

[4.0i OHC]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Has anyone seen just how few I-6 Turbos are actually sold these days?
I think it would make scary viewing and I'm beginning to wonder whether the effort
to build them is not worth the return anymore, it may be cheaper/easier for Ford to
source and build their own NA 5.0 V8s on the existing mini line to replace the I-6

In fact,
I recon Ford should replace the I-6 with a short stroke 4.0 litre version of the 5.0 V8,
changing Falcon's image by giving it 250 Kw and 430 nm on a corporate engine design.
By making the basic version of Falcon Ecoboost, Ford can continue sub $40K product
whilst all the 4.0 V8s become +$40,000 sales because the 4.0 becomes more desirable to own...
G8, G8E XR8 with 4.0 & 5.0 V8s all sitting where they should while GS and GT remain unchanged.

It may sound insanely stupid but now that the Falcon no longer serves as a mostly fleet vehicle,
perhaps it's time to offer options that both attract and differentiate Falcon for mid sized alternatives.

You're right. It does sound insanely stupid.

What other mid sized car offers a turbocharged inline six? BMW 335i? Why replace it with an engine that performs worse, sounds worse, and doesn't differentiate itself from the hordes of V8s out there? It will cost a heap of money to re-engineer the car, therefore increasing the price of the end product (to not much less than the GS currently is, for a much worse performing car). I just can't see sales increasing at all.

There is a small subset of people who just have to have a V8, even if the turbo I6 is better, but these are mainly older people who would be more likely to own an XB or similar. There is the supercharged GS which actually delivers some decent performance. Most people (especially younger people who went through P plate restrictions) don't feel this way at all, and would be much more inclined to go for the quicker, torquier, more easily tunable inline six, which would be able to deliver much better times for a smaller outlay. Just look at FG XR6 turbo vs. FG XR8 sales up to the point when the XR8 was dropped. The sales of this new 4.0 XR8 replacement would be even worse.

You know, just because Holden does something, doesn't mean Ford has to copy it exactly.