Ford, GM, mulling future of Australian muscle cars
Australian muscle cars like the glorious Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon, may become sedater and less raucous in coming years. Photo Credit: Bidgee/Wikimedia Commons/CC-BY-SA
Unbeknownst to some, Australia has just as much of a tradition enjoying muscle cars as Yankees, who believe everything they do is unique despite evidence to the contrary. However, Australian muscle cars might not be in production for much longer, as Ford and GM are mulling the end of the breed.
No plans for stalwart models of Australian muscle cars beyond a few years
Chevrolet and Ford have continually made the Corvette, the Mustang and the Camaro for decades, such is the American demand for muscle cars. As it turns out, the people of Australia likewise have a fondness for the breed. Not only that, but it turns out the same two primary companies are involved, General Motors and Ford.
GM’s primary brand in that area is Holden Motors. Ford is just Ford.
Just like the darned Yankees, Aussies have continuously been buying muscle cars since the glory days of the 1950s into the early 1970s. The flagship examples of Australian muscle cars in the past couple decades have been the Ford Falcon and the Holden Commodore. Unfortunately, they may not be long for the world, according to Automobile magazine.
Slump means Aussie icons may be dumped
Despite Australian muscle cars being beloved, that doesn’t mean they sell. According to News.com.au, the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore enjoyed good sales through the 1990s, hitting a peak in the early 2000s. The Commodore peaked with just under 90,000 units sold in 2002 and the Falcon hit a sales peak the next year with almost 75,000 units.
Sales for both models dropped every consecutive year since, except for 2007, when the Commodore got a bump of around 1,000 units. In 2012, Holden managed to move about 30,000 Commodore units. Ford sold less than half that number of Falcons.
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Ford has been stating for some time the Falcon isn’t guaranteed a future when the current version comes to an end in 2016. Holden recently disclosed the same was true of the Commodore. Part and parcel to the issue is that gasoline is quite expensive, at $6 USD per gallon, according to Automobile, which is causing Australians to buy more fuel-efficient compacts. Ford might just ship knock-down kits from plants in Thailand as the Australian dollar’s strength makes imports cheaper than domestic production.
What this might mean
While the car industry in Australia might not be scintillating elsewhere, that’s where some current American cars come from.
The Caprice PPV, the Chevrolet police cruiser, is a knock-down kit from Holden, meaning American workers bolt on a body kit and sell it to Johnny Law. The PPV is based on the Commodore, as was the Pontiac G8 and the 2004 to 2006 Pontiac GT, as is the upcoming Chevrolet SS.
The successors to the Falcon and Commodore are slated to be front-wheel-drive architectures, meaning the next versions of Australian muscle cars might be American sedans. MotorAuthority reports the next Falcon may share underpinnings from the Ford Taurus. The Ford Mondeo, sold in most international markets including Australia, is already a re-badged Ford Fusion, according to CarAdvice.com.au, just like the kind one might find at, say, a dealer of Ford in Spokane, Wa., or anywhere else.
Sources
CarAdvice.com.au: http://www.caradvice.com.au/196212/2013-ford-mondeo-makes-australian-debut/