Aussie Falcon

From todays Australian newspaper:



MORE `VISUAL HORSEPOWER' FOR EMBATTLED FALCONS
Terry Martin The Australian.

FORD Australia's design director Simon Butterworth has vowed to toughen up the appearance of the embattled Falcon, starting with the revised T-Series sports sedans due for release next month and following up a year later with the new AV Falcon range. The former Jaguar designer, who joined Ford Australia in February, said the T-Series will "have a lot more visual horsepower" when it returns with a performance advantage over the Falcon XR8 and the ability to go doorhandle-to-doorhandle with the HSV ClubSport.

"(The new look) is trying to give it some steroids -- building on it and strengthening it and putting the tenacity in the right places," he said.

It is a theme Butterworth confirmed would be reinforced with the entire AV Falcon line-up when the substantial mid-life facelift of the current model hits the streets next year.

Budget constraints have meant Mr Butterworth and the chief architect of the AV Falcon, his predecessor Scott Strong, were forced to retain the current model's passenger cell, doors and heavily curved roofline.

However, the new car will have a completely new front and rear end and is expected to draw significantly from the new-generation Mondeo (not sold here ), which Mr Butterworth said embodies the design direction Ford is taking with its medium-large sedans.

"This Falcon is going to be a car which won't have any excuses," he said. "It 's going to be very well accepted by a lot of people. "

MADXF

Thats some strong words there.
I hope it looks as good as it sounds on paper.

FM

Droool... now we're talking.. :D Be interesting to see how the T's look in October. If the Rebel is anything to go by they should be pretty good..

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HSE2

Like to know why these guys are so confident.
If that red commodore in wheels is close there won't be any easy sales to gain.:(

DR XR

Sounds good. I hope they make the EB and ELGTs look like girls cars and more importantly HSVs :p. Great to see theyve realised that some well executed agressive looks are needed as much as power. Should'nt have long to wait before we see them?

TheKing

The Commodore VY in Wheels is pretty much a VX anyways, hardly any changes worth note.
And call me crazy, but I was surprised how similar the AU/VX look in the photo on the bottom right hand side of page 43.

Hobbes

they are just CG images overlaid on current photos ...

Brendan

There probably is a market for more aggressive styling, HSV's VX series seem to be selling well.

I think the first thing that needs to be done to both the SS and XR8 is lower them some or bigger rims. The both sit too high.

I actually prefer the styling of say the VTII GTS to the current HSV's but that's only because it is more subtle (except for the red interior)

THE DOCTOR

FORD Australia's design director Simon Butterworth has vowed to toughen up the appearance of the embattled Falcon, starting with the revised T-Series sports sedans due for release next month

a year later with the new AV Falcon range.

"have a lot more visual horsepower" when it returns with a performance advantage over the Falcon XR8 and the ability to go doorhandle-to-doorhandle with the HSV ClubSport.

"(The new look) is trying to give it some steroids -- building on it and strengthening it and putting the tenacity in the right places," he said.

AV Falcon line-up when the substantial mid-life facelift of the current model hits the streets next year.

However, the new car will have a completely new front and rear end

[/COLOR] [/B][/QUOTE]

What does all that mean...does that mean we wont see the AV until 2002-3.
Also what does visual horsepower mean

HSE2

Visual horse power means it will look as though it might be fast!

I don't care if the red commodore in wheels is a CG mock up. It was meant to be based on supposed inside sources.
I like it. Personally I hope the commodore doesn't look like that for Ford sake.


And again personally I hope they don't go too far overboard with these new kits for the T series. I maintain it wasn't the original look that was the problem. Had Ford put the stroker in this model from day one it think it would have sold in numbers.