USA Falls in Love with the VE

robjh80 · 25-09-2008, 08:44 AM

The Australian Built Pontiac G8 based on the VE Commodore has been shortlisted for "2009 North American Car of the Year Award"

Full Story here

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/news...217304812.html

sfr rob · 25-09-2008, 08:53 AM

Don't blame them, it's a great car.
I have my eyes on the new hsv tourer sportswagon.... it's an awesome looking machine, I wonder if they will be sending them abroad as well?

birdman941 · 25-09-2008, 09:00 AM

The question is,
when will Ford grow a brain and bring the Falcons here.
WE ARE WAITING BILL FORD!!!

Cobra · 25-09-2008, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdman941

The question is,
when will Ford grow a brain and bring the Falcons here.
WE ARE WAITING BILL FORD!!!

If they can make a profit on each vehicle I'd be be happy to see them go to you guys. It wouldn't take many to be sold over to you guys to make a big difference on our production line. But unfortunately if it was going to happen it would have happened by now. They were going to make the FG model compatable to be built in both RHD and LHD on the production line, but canned that idea mid way through the development. The onyl way you'll get a Faclon lob at your shores now is if they are all individually converted to LHD.

csv8 · 25-09-2008, 11:40 AM

The Australian-made Pontiac G8 has been shortlisted for the 2009 North American Car of the Year (NACOTY) award.

The Pontiac G8 is one of 14 semi-finalists with the winner to be determined by a jury of 47 automotive journalists.

The car is an export version of GM Holden's VE Commodore and is built at the company's manufacturing plant in Adelaide's north.

It went on sale in the US early this year.

Holden said the nomination reinforced the global appeal of vehicles designed, engineered and manufactured in Australia.

The 2009 NACOTY will be named at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January.

That shows Americans are just as stupid asaussie car buyers !!!

Wretched · 25-09-2008, 01:47 PM

Good on them. What an achievement it would be if they won.
At least they were nominated well done to the boys and girls at Holden.
Goodluck.

Chopped · 25-09-2008, 04:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdman941

The question is,
when will Ford grow a brain and bring the Falcons here.
WE ARE WAITING BILL FORD!!!

I think the G6E Turbo & F6 would blow plenty of Americans away (pun intended) with their ability.

Ford AUS and Holden are both making the best mix of value & performance sedans in the world IMO.

irlewy86 · 25-09-2008, 04:28 PM

Be a massive wake up call to Ford HQ if the G8 wins North American Car of the Year and Falcon gets Car of the Year here

Paxton · 25-09-2008, 04:33 PM

Cobra - LHD Falcons are expected once Ford make the transition to V6. If you have a look at the inlet side of an I6 Falcon, it would be really difficult to whack a steering column down there. The I6 is also too high for Falcon to pass the US Pedestrian Safety regulations. Again, once we get the V6, things will change.

The thing about the Commodore is, that it is 100% better than 90% of the US made cars. It is miles ahead of the Charger/300c, and Ford have nothing to compete with it. Ford are too busy competing with Toyota.

Auslandau · 25-09-2008, 05:55 PM

Dont know why FORD USA would want the G6ET when they have the Fusion & Taurus!

: Least they have dumped the Crown Victoria and relegated it to taxi and fleet only.

.............. its also a problem with the strong union at the factory (US) hindering attempts for imports coming in which would compete head to head with there wonderful offerings. GM delt with that years ago and fixed it so imports are possible.

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ayeyew · 25-09-2008, 06:02 PM

I still reckon the GTO (monaro) is better

trburnard · 25-09-2008, 06:42 PM

Maybe if FORD Aus could aggressively market it's vehicles the Aussie blue oval could also be recognised globally.

banarcus · 25-09-2008, 06:48 PM

Good result for an Australian manufacturer but not relevant on a Ford forum.

4Vman · 25-09-2008, 07:09 PM

Either exchange rates, CAFE or the US unions will eventually kill this car off in the US...
It has no long term future there.

Jason[98.EL] · 25-09-2008, 07:10 PM

another area G.M has it overFORD

mcnews · 25-09-2008, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banarcus

Good result for an Australian manufacturer but not relevant on a Ford forum.

Maybe not for you, but it is for many of us that have more than one eye.

XR8putts · 25-09-2008, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banarcus

Good result for an Australian manufacturer but not relevant on a Ford forum.

Speak for yourself mate

:

gthofan · 25-09-2008, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by trburnard

Maybe if FORD Aus could aggressively market it's vehicles the Aussie blue oval could also be recognised globally.

We will be waiting a long time for that to ever happen..

Skotty · 25-09-2008, 07:19 PM

I love them, Driven a few G8's they are great cars and look horn... work mate drives basically all the GXP's (we fit the trans coolers before the get on the boat) and yeah... apperantly VERY touchy comperd to the SS

Walt Kowalski · 25-09-2008, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by birdman941

The question is,
when will Ford grow a brain and bring the Falcons here.
WE ARE WAITING BILL FORD!!!

How's Florida this time of year?

We are visiting October 2009.

The new FG Falcon is an awesome car but with Ford's incredibly bad marketing it my well end up a flop saleswise so the chances or it going to the US are practically zero but we live in hope.

My wife is convinced Holden pays money to the people who do the marketing for Ford in Oz.

Great cars.

Pathetic marketing.

uranium_death · 25-09-2008, 10:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banarcus

Good result for an Australian manufacturer but not relevant on a Ford forum.

It is VERY relevant on a Ford forum.
It only justifies the view of many on this forum that the Falcon should be imported, like the Commodore is (successfully).
The FG models have been rating very well in comparison to the VE, and if Holden can export successfully and be nominated for an award in the US, then there is no reason why Ford cannot do likewise, barring engineering difficulties.

If you scratch beneath the surface, the relevance is quite compelling.

Sprint XR8 · 26-09-2008, 12:48 AM

The USA has not fallen in love with the G8.
Sales have been well below the expected 3-4000 mth averaging 1500 mth.
Pontiac are discounting G8's at "employee price to all" to try and clear stock, G8 sedan (SV6) $25500, G8 GT (SS) $27800us.

NIK516 · 26-09-2008, 01:26 AM

that is due to the bad economic state of the country, the VE is a great design visually. mechanically i dont know ive never driven one but all points to good.

as for the FG im sorry but i just dont like the range apart from the wilder FPV range, where as the standard VE looks pritty sweet.

im just not convinced at all with the Ford product any more im sad to say and i dont feel im the only one.

great news for holden and GM and i congratulate all the designers and engineers that put the time and effort into the car.

Falc'man · 26-09-2008, 01:54 AM

If I remember correctly the VE was also nominated for "World Car of the Year" in 2006. Does anybody know how well it finished?

Quote:

Originally Posted by coupex

The USA has not fallen in love with the G8.
Sales have been well below the expected 3-4000 mth averaging 1500 mth.
Pontiac are discounting G8's at "employee price to all" to try and clear stock, G8 sedan (SV6) $25500, G8 GT (SS) $27800us.

Would you (or anyone else here) know if these sales are added on to the total number of monthly Commodore sales?

I personally feel the plan Ford have going at the moment is safer and more robust for the future. Alot of these posts calling for Ford to export to the US asap are very "knee-jerk". Have a read of the new Ford Au CEO's comments and you'll see the issue of survival is far deeper than "monkey see monkey do".

Lets not forget for one moment how close Ford/GM/Chrysler are to shutting shop altogether, thus any hasty decisions made could well and truly mean their end.

Paxton · 26-09-2008, 01:58 AM

Youssef - Ford is in a better position financially (Globally) than GM is in as it is. Ford has had a couple of profitable quarters, where GM hasn't. Ford Australia is also in a better position than Holden is - Holden are going to be hard pressed to make any money at all on a VE that is exported. Ford Australia doesn't have to worry about that.

The best thing Ford can do at the moment is wait. They have Focus and a number of derivatives going live in 2011, which will cement their futures in Australia. Holden has Commodore, and not much else.

Jayden · 26-09-2008, 03:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by irlewy86

Be a massive wake up call to Ford HQ if the G8 wins North American Car of the Year and Falcon gets Car of the Year here

You'd think so, but they've had a lot of other wake up calls. They may have slept through their only window of opportunity to get their foot in the door now.

Bossxr8 · 26-09-2008, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paxton

Cobra - LHD Falcons are expected once Ford make the transition to V6. If you have a look at the inlet side of an I6 Falcon, it would be really difficult to whack a steering column down there. The I6 is also too high for Falcon to pass the US Pedestrian Safety regulations. Again, once we get the V6, things will change.

Word is the bonnet has to be raised slightly to clear the V6 as its quite tall, so that theory is up in the air.

As for the Focus, thats not even definate either. Word is that if sales of Falcon and Territory continue to drop then the Focus may not even make it here.

Either way I don't see how the Focus is going to save Ford Australia if sales of Falcon/Territory continue to drop, because lower sales mean that they will have no development dollars to create an all new version, and that would be the end of it. They will never make back a near billion dollar investment if they are selling less than 2000 a month and that looks like being a real possibility. Ford HQ most likely would not have approved the Orion program based on the number of sales its achieving at the moment. Funding was probably based on 4000 a month, soon it will be around half that if the rot doesn't stop.

Tles · 26-09-2008, 11:44 AM

The Pontiac G8 (VE), the Falcon and the Territory are the perfect combination of power and size for the US market, even better fit than the Taurus (X). Taurus is more similar in size to the Maxima and will apparently continue with 3.5V6 and Front WD. Avalon which continues for Toyota there is soon to be replaced with a 'lengthened tail and nose Camry' so Aurion then, and Highlander (Kluger) sells Ok. The second biggest vehicle in the US now is the new Accord 'Homer' which we get here out of Thailand and it has come close to Falcon G6 in a CarAdvice.com.au
comparison above VE and Aurion.

If Ford Aus was going to be looking at exporting any Falcon variants in the next few years, then they were thinking rightly with South Africa, the Territory AWD is the one. The right spec and variants should slot in nicely to the Mercury brand for one, as it has a much higher appeal to the women buyer demo and will become a "Euro" model brand. As I'm a multiple owner, to me it seems like Territory would be the perfect vehicle for the Soccer mums to downsize to out of their Lincoln Navigators and Escalades or Expeditions, and sit in neatly above the Escape/Mariner. It also makes a great cop car, as the Turbo that pulled me over the other day suggests.

Second vehicle would be the humble Aussie Ford Ute...no explanation even necessary on that F one.
Last cab off the rank would be the Falcon and that would then take it through to the 2012/3 variation which will be a very One Ford vehicle anyway.

irlewy86 · 26-09-2008, 02:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Falc'man

If I remember correctly the VE was also nominated for "World Car of the Year" in 2006. Does anybody know how well it finished?

Certain sectors of the Australian media (guess who) raised the point that if the VE was such a world beater shouldn't it be nominated for World Car of the year. The answer was the excuse that as it wasn't a globally released car the judges hadn't been able to test it therefore no nomination.

LTDterri · 26-09-2008, 02:45 PM

Well done Holden, and no wonder the yanks love them it is a good thing compared to alot of the rubbish built in the US, however get a G6E over there then see what the Yanks think of the VE...I think the Ford will blow it out of the water...am I biased? possibly but I have driven both and I know which I consider better