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April 4th, 2006 09:40 AM #1
What is it with the Australian car market that they have this? http://www.fpv.com.au/
They even have pick-up/trucks with muscle car power.
Is this available anywhere else?
I've always associated Ford with big SUVs and no-nonsense, almost boring sedans (except maybe the sporty Focus from the UK).Last edited by the_wildthing; April 4th, 2006 at 09:44 AM.
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April 4th, 2006 11:47 AM #2Ford - Australia, though a subsidiary of Global Ford, has a different marketing strategy from Ford - US. Ford - Australia has its own R&D and car manufacturing facilities (based in Melbourne) that caters specifically to the Australian market.
Prior to the 2005 petrol price increases, the largest segment of the Australian new car sales has always been the family car, a full-size sedan (or station-wagon variant). These cars are the big cars with 6- or 8-cyl engines. Ford - Australia's entry in this segment is the RWD-only Falcon with is basic configuration having a 4.0l straight-six engine. Its rival in the segment is Holden's (a GM subsidiary) Commodore (also RWD only) whose basic configuration has a 3.6l V6 engine.
It is only logical that in such a large segment there will be a market for people who wants high performance variants of their favorite full-size cars. Thus, Ford - Australia has a unit, FPV (Ford Performance Vehicles) that caters to this need. Think Toyota's TRD or Mitsubishi's Ralliart or Nissan's NISMO. Holden also has its own called the HSV (Holden Special Vehicles).
As for that pickup truck/car hybrid, its called a utility vehicle (or 'ute' for short). Born out of people who wants car handling/comfort and a pickup's cargo capability. Think a normal full-size sedan that has a pickup's cargo bay behind the cabin instead of a rear seat and a trunk. A vehicle that handles like a car, drives like a car but can carry loads like a truck. An Australian workhorse favoured by tradesmen (plumbers, carpenters, etc). Since its virtually the same platform as the full-size sedans, high performance variants of utes are also made for those who wants a lot of oomph out of their ute.
Sorry about the long post but I can't explain it without getting into details.
HTH.
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April 4th, 2006 04:45 PM #3What is it with the Australian car market that they have this? http://www.fpv.com.au/
They even have pick-up/trucks with muscle car power.
Is this available anywhere else?
Its only now that the muscle cars are being revived again in the US, currently Ford's only affordable performance car in the US is the Ford Mustang.
The American equivalent of FPV is SVT(Special Vehicle Team), but they no longer exist, the 2007 475hp Shelby Cobra GT500 is the last high performance Ford to carry the SVT badge, future high performance Mustangs will no longer carry the SVT badge, while other SVT models like the Focus SVT, F-150 Lightning along with the planned SVT version of the Explorer Sport Trac(Adrenalin) and Fusion SVT were killed-off. One of the reasons? They said that too much development went to the Ford GT exotic car and development for future models stalled and were eventually cancelled.
Now with the Australian Ford Falcon based cars, all models including the pickup version(ute) have no LHD version because of the location of some mechanical components in the engine bay(it really was engineered to be a RHD car), it was never intended to be sold outside its main market which is Australia and New Zealand. The Falcon's 245hp 4.0-liter inline-6 base engine might also seem too large for Asian and European markets.
Unlike Ford Australia, Holden's role is becoming more global, since they are the ones heading the development of GM's new RWD large car platform(Zeta).
Some cars that will be built on the Zeta platform:
2007 VE Holden Commodore
2008/09 Pontiac GTO coupe
2008/09 Chevrolet Camaro
2008 Chevrolet Impala
2009 Chevrolet Monte Carlo
2009 Buick sedan/coupe (inspired by the Velite concept)
Cadillac will continue with its RWD/AWD "Sigma" luxury car platform.
PS:In the past few years Holden has been exporting RHD and LHD models to other countries as Buicks(China), Pontiac GTO(North America) and under GM's global Chevy brand(Thailand, South Africa and Middle East).
I guess one of the other reasons they have limited export markets is because eveb their base engines are large.Last edited by AG4; April 4th, 2006 at 05:49 PM.
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April 5th, 2006 09:17 AM #4Originally Posted by AG4
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April 4th, 2006 06:18 PM #5
Ford Australia and Holden, as far as I can remember, have more or less the same engine technology as their US parent companies. Falcon is to Commodore as Mustang is to Camaro, something like that. Also, take note that the current Pontiac GTO is a twin of the Holden Monaro.
Last edited by squala; April 4th, 2006 at 06:20 PM.
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April 4th, 2006 06:50 PM #6Originally Posted by squala
The base DOHC inline-6 of the Falcon was developed in Australia while the Commodore's 3.6 liter Alloytec V6(HFV6) is a joint venture between Holden and GM of North America with the help of Opel and Ricardo PLC of England, it was first introduced in the 2004 Cadillac CTS.
The Next gen GTO and Camaro will use the GM-Holden developed Global RWD Zeta platform, unlike the current GTO, they will have their own unique body and will be built in North America.Last edited by AG4; April 4th, 2006 at 07:18 PM.
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April 5th, 2006 05:09 PM #7
Hi... currently in Melbourne, Australia... I've seen those sedan based pickup vehicles on the streets either in service vehicle form or street racer form. I have just one comment: "I want one!"
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April 6th, 2006 10:32 AM #9Originally Posted by mfo
Holden has its own unit called HSV (Holden Special Vehicles) that does the same thing to Commodore sedans and utes. They thinking of doing an HSV Astra too. They've released a concept HSV Astra coupe last year at motorshows.
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April 5th, 2006 11:00 PM #10
sa australia ata dapat yun mga vehicles nila can withstand a kangaroo impact lalo na pag gamit pang-byahe
pwede na daw https://x.com/inquirerdotnet/status/1790547672526397755
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