Ford Territory announcement looming

FORD will reveal future Territory powertrain options – including whether a V6 turbo-diesel will be part of the package – about June, according to Ford Australia president Marin Burela.

Speaking to the media at the opening of the Advanced Centre for Automotive Research and Testing (ACART) facility in Victoria last week, Mr Burela declined to say if the future Territory powertrain announcement would include details of a long-rumoured diesel-powered FG Falcon or possible turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine, saying only that every model made in Australia was under review.

“The Territory segment – the medium SUV business – is a business that is pulling fifty-fifty between diesel and petrol, and the real challenge here is which way do you go in fact to be able to meet the consumer’s needs,” Mr Burela said.

“Because the consumer one month goes out there and says ‘I’m going to buy petrol’ because petrol prices go down, and then the next month when prices go up they go out and buy a diesel, so we’re kind of evaluating that right now.

“We will not be in any position to be able to make an announcement on the powertrain line-up on the Territory for about another month and a half."

Left: Ford Territory petrol inline six-cylinder petrol engine.

Mr Burela said that once Ford was clear on its direction, it would announce its plans to the media.

“And we will look at the whole portfolio, to make sure that we have got the right balance between the right power pack for the right car,” he said.

“You have to be careful that you are playing in the segment that is growing the fastest – that is the most important thing.”

Meanwhile, a Ford insider has revealed that next year’s Territory facelift was due to be released much earlier, but fell behind as the company reorganised after Ford’s global reshuffle in 2006 in the wake of Alan Mulally’s appointment as CEO.

“We simply had more important priorities than to do Territory at the time,” our source revealed, adding that any proposed changes fell well down the ‘things to do’ list.

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