Endangered Falcon turns 50

A 1971 GTHO Ford Falcon.

Ford Australia will celebrate 50 years of Falcon production in June - and it has released an anniversary nameplate to mark the milestone.

The new logo was unveiled at Ford's Melbourne headquarters last week - 85 years after the Ford Motor Company of Australia was officially established on March 31, 1925.

"There is no doubt that Falcon has been a true icon of the Australian motoring scene since 1960," Ford Australia marketing, sales and service vice-president Beth Donovan told website GoAuto.

Ford says the 50th anniversary Falcon logo was inspired by the original Falcon bird logo from the early 1960s.

"We wanted to recognise the heritage in the original Falcon motifs of the early 60s, but it was also imperative we created a new design that reflects the contemporary and dynamic vehicle Falcon represents today and will tomorrow," said Ford Australia design manager Todd Willing.

The logo will appear on a range of products in the Falcon's 50th year. Included among them will be facelifted models powered by upgraded six-cylinder and 5-litre V8 engines that meet the tighter new Euro 4 emissions standard in place across the ditch on July 1.

Ford's new liquid-injection LPG Falcon will appear early next year along with its first-ever four-cylinder Falcon, which will use the parent company's new direct-injection turbocharged EcoBoost unit. It will be the first time the EcoBoost four is used in a rear-drive role. The Territory diesel is expected in 2011, too.

Falcon's 50th plans come soon after Ford announced it will eliminate the longest-running Falcon model ever, the 1998 AU Falcon-based BFIII wagon. It also follows increased speculation about the future of the Falcon, which Ford said would not be decided before 2012.

It has, however, said as part of its new "One Ford" global model strategy, the current seventh-generation Falcon would be the last to be designed and engineered exclusively in and for Australia, which means the next all-new Falcon - due by 2015 - is likely to be based on either Ford's next-generation (rear-drive) Mustang or (front/all-wheel drive) Taurus.

The first Aussie Falcon - like the model of the same name produced by the Ford Motor Company of Argentina between 1962 and 1991 - was itself based on an American design, but the Falcon model name only lasted a decade in the US, where it was discontinued in 1970.

Australia's inaugural XK Falcon went into production in Melbourne on April 28, 1960, almost exactly two months after Ford Australia's first straight-six was produced at Ford's engine plant (April 29, 1960), and went on sale on September 14 that year.

Apart from its Melbourne assembly plant and Geelong engine factory, 2010 will also mark 85 years since Ford Australia started production of the Model T (on July 4, 1925), although Ford vehicles have been sold in Australia since 1904.

Ford's Fairlane nameplate, which was killed off in Australia in December 2007, dates back even longer than the Falcon, to 1959.

While it was originally also based on a US model of the same name, some versions were imported, handing the title of "longest-running nameplate in Australian motoring history" to the Falcon.

Meantime, Ford's now arch-rival General Motors bought Holden Motor Builders to form General Motors-Holden's Ltd (GM-H) in 1931 and the company produced the first "all-Australian" car in 1948 - the 48-215 "FX" Holden.

While that was 12 years before the Falcon, the first (VB) Commodore did not roll off Holden's production line for another three decades, in 1978.