Ford celebrates rare Falcon victory

FORD Australia is celebrating a rare victory, with the Falcon sedan outselling the Commodore sedan for the first time since early 2006.

VFACTS figures for October show Holden sold 3455 Commodores, while Ford sold 2841 Falcons.

However, that figure includes both sedan and wagon variants of both models.

Ford Australia president and CEO Marin Burela said Ford sold 2460 Falcon sedans in October compared with Holden’s 2426 Commodore sedans.

“We outsold them by 35 or 36 cars, but I have to tell you, one would have been enough,” he said.

Mr Burela said that while it had come close several times this year, the Falcon sedan had not managed to outsell the Commodore sedan in any month since early 2006, before the launch of the VE Commodore.

“I can’t tell you what a great celebration and a great delight that we were able to do this,” he said.

“We know it (the Falcon) is a great car and we are starting to see that the Australian consumers are really rallying behind it.”

Left: Holden Commodore.

Mr Burela said Ford was now selling more Falcons to private customers rather than fleets and as result was selling far fewer base model XTs than in the past.

“The XT is now a very small part of our business,” he said. “We tend to build XTs only on the basis of orders that have been placed.

“We do not build them to go out there and fill production requirements.”

While the Falcon sedan performed well against the Commodore sedan, the same cannot be said of the Falcon wagon.

Ford sold just 381 Falcon wagons in October, while Holden sold 1029 Sportwagons.

Mr Burela has raised the prospect that the Falcon wagon could be killed off early next year (see separate story).

Although the Falcon sedan and wagon are different vehicles, built on different platforms, the Commodore sedan and Sportwagon are much more similar.

Holden has reported many Commodore sedan buyers making the switch to the wagon.

Holden’s 3455-unit sedan/wagon sales result last month is down on October 2008’s 3810, while Ford’s sedan/wagon total of 2841 sales is up from 2747 in October last year.

Ford Falcon sedan and wagon managed 2841 – up from 2747 in October 2008.

Year to date, Holden has sold 36,085 Commodore sedans and wagons, down 5230 units or 12.7 per cent on the same period last year.

Ford has sold 25,411 Falcon sedans and wagons so far this year, 1396 down or 5.2 per cent.

Ford and Holden are neck to neck in ute sales, with the Commodore Ute just 46 units ahead so far this year.

Holden sold 1127 utes in October for a total of 9411 so far this year compared with Ford’s 978 Falcon Utes in October, for a year-to-date total of 9365.

Mr Burela said the Holden versus Ford ute contest was tight.

“We are nose to nose heading towards the finish line,” he said.

“What a great battle. One month we beat them and then they beat us.”