A note for Mr Butterworth & Mr Parks on the '06 Falcon
Been thinking about this for some time & thought I'd put it into a thread for open debate...
If there's one thing I think Ford can learn from the whole AU/BA excercise, I think it comes down to the proportions of the exterior styling.
With the AU, I found the exterior styling to be a miss match of odd lines & too many shapes. While it did grow on me, my initial reaction was "Oh.. fair enough"
With the BA, I find that the lines of the car flow a lot better than AU & seem to "fit" together very well. The guards are in great proportion to the rest of the car & the front & rear treatment (especially the rear) seem to have an excellent "uncluttered" look to them. The lines speak for themselves. My initial reaction of BA was "Class"
What does this have to do with the '06 Falcon? Heaps..
I for one am hoping that the styling of the '06 Falcon is along the lines of the BA & not the AU. AU was a revolution while BA is an evolution.
If the BA turns out to be a sales success then it would seem to be a safe bet to have the '06 Falcon be a revolution of the BA. Much like the new Opel Corsa (Barina) is an evolution of the old.
The '06 Falcon should keep more or less the same dimensions as BA & not drop a size class as has been mooted. Rear wheel drive is obviously the preferred option by 80-90% of the large car buying market. You only need to see the sales of Avalon & Magna to see that. Avalon is an excellent package but the styling & FWD are the big turn offs
The engineers will no doubt do their thing to improve NVH, ride & such, but the big selling point is the first impression.
Good points raised, however i thought Steve Parks went to the states post-AU. I believe he designed the Ford forty-nine. Graham Wadsworth, Trevor Worthington, Nick Hogios and Simon Butterworth were the main designers of BA i think.
On a similar theme, I'd be very surprised if other Ford markets were'nt looking at Falcon very closely. Remember that J Mays and Scott Strong were involved in Barra since day 1, and were highly involved in the design process. I think with BA (and probably BB?) Falcon with adopt the Ford corperate identity.
Originally posted by touchstone001 Good points raised, however i thought Steve Parks went to the states post-AU. I believe he designed the Ford forty-nine. Graham Wadsworth, Trevor Worthington, Nick Hogios and Simon Butterworth were the main designers of BA i think.
Yes Steve went to the states for 3 years (??) but he is now back as Future Product Design Honcho reporting to Simon Butterworth.
Scott Strong was Head of Design for most of the work on BA & Simon Butterworth came in to finesse the details..
Styling is so subjective - I personally liked the AU from day 1 because it was indeed revolutionary and I could see where the Ford designers were coming from - and remember they did hundreds of hours of "clinics" before settling on the design - how could all those ppl (members of the general public like you and I) be so wrong about the looks of the car? Fact is they weren't. So what went wrong? Easy - the press ... Ford forgot to grease someone's palms and the whole press went sour on them. Hence the flogging given to the AU. Remember the power of the press - when they decide it's time to change the Govt. then that's what happens. Let's hope they don't decide to hate the BA.
T3 Man you are soooo right! The AU looks pretty cool but like anything that is new and fresh, it was canned. The VT in profile looks very similar, an elongated oval. What did hurt the AU was the fact that the tail lights and the front indicators sloped down instead of up.
The original Forte looked heaps like a 21st Century XY Falcon. very cool!
It was a crap sales and marketing job that rooted the AU. Whoever was responsible should hang themselves in shame and be confined to driving a Renault Floride for 6 years!
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I think the biggest thing we should really push is the 2006 Falcon HAS to be rear wheel drive. Just imagine how pathetic a FWD car the size of the Falcon will be.
I agree FM. It is amazing when you look at BA and Au at how subtle the changes really are but how much difference they have made to the overall look of the car. To me they are mostly positive changes and when you look at BA you can still see alot of AU looking back at you esp in the side profile but that is still in a positive way.
I too liked the Au in it's last years after the updates but the BA has certainly uplifted the look of it by a long way.
The front headlights of the AU just hurt it so badly it was very tough to come back from that. Don't mention the grilles?
Mind you though, so many people find the AU Fairlane (dunno designation) an ugly duckling and I reckon the BA seems very reminiscent of that. BA looks good in the pics so in a week we will all be able to judge for ourselves.
I can't waith for the Sydney International GT show.
My opinions for Simon Butterworth and his team on the 06 Falcon are what follows...
To me the 06 Falcon must have a futuristic yet aesthetically pleasing interior and exterior design.
It should be sleek yet practical and look in proportion, the detailing should be high yet unique.
Build quality, materials, fit and finish, engine + safety and chassis technology, should all exceed current and future world wide automotive standards.
In fact all aspects of the 06 Falcon should exceed future standards.
To be simple, the 06 Falcon should be the benchmark of all automotive standards - the best in the world.
And last but not least I J-type should be on your design team.
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