New Falcon to Take Artistic Turn

Ford Australia will stage the unveiling of its ’14 Falcon XR8 at a Melbourne art gallery next month.

The XR8 will be the halo vehicle at a gallery event called “Outside the Oval,” an exhibition of art and design created by the employees at the Ford Design Center, which will open to the public over the Oct. 4-5 weekend.

It will be the first official appearance of the Falcon XR8 ahead of its market launch later this year, making history as the blue oval’s last locally built model before it quits manufacturing in 2016.

Ford Design Director Todd Willing says the gallery event is the perfect way to celebrate the arrival of the new Falcon.

The debut of the XR8 showcases Ford’s global design DNA with a signature trapezoidal grille, chiseled headlamp treatment and smoother, wraparound LED taillamps. These features accentuate the high levels of design refinement that will appear across the refreshed Falcon range.

As a mark of distinction among the sporty XR series, the XR8 features strong exterior graphics with a distinct sporty front-end treatment, as well as a signature power bulge on the hood that has been enhanced for the new model. This is complemented by a specific exhaust system tuned to deliver a sporty note.

Willing says unveiling the performance-oriented XR8 at a gallery event is something most people would not expect Ford to do.

“But we’re challenging and changing perceptions,” he says in a statement. “As we enhance our vehicle portfolio over the next few years with cars like the all-new Mondeo, Mustang and Australian-designed and -engineered Everest; customers will appreciate the role of good design.”

The model lineup includes six sedans, the Falcon, Falcon G6E, Falcon G6E Turbo and the performance-oriented Falcon XR6, XR6 Turbo and XR8.

The five pickups include the Falcon Cab Chassis, Falcon Styleside, Falcon XR6 Cab Chassis, Falcon XR6 Styleside and Falcon XR6 Turbo Styleside.

The Falcon sedan is the only locally built large car available with 4-, 6- and 8-cyl. powertrains, including a turbocharged gasoline 6-cyl. and EcoLPi 6-cyl.

As part of the upgrades across the Falcon range, Ford has added new customer-focused content. Included is emergency assistance (all models); front and rear parking sensors (all sedan models); rear reversing camera (all sedan models); rain-sensing wipers (G6E, XR series); SYNC2 with 8-in. (20-cm) integrated color touchscreen (all models); voice control system developed in partnership with Nuance (all models); digital radio (all models); dual antenna system (all models) and Wi-Fi hotspot (all models).

The Falcon-based Territory SZ Mk II SUV range will offer a choice of three variants – TX, TS and Titanium – in either rear- or all-wheel drive. The 4.0L gasoline straight-6 and 2.7L V-6 TDCi engines carry over in the Territory lineup.