Ford Australia started by assembling Model Ts. As Ford introduced new models, they were assembled in Australia. During World War II, Ford Australia ceased producing cars to commence military production to support the war effort.
Hatchback
The Ford Laser was produced in Ford's plant at Flemington in Sydney, from 1981 until September 1994 when the plant closed, after which they were fully imported from Japan. The Laser was replaced by the Ford Focus in 2002. It is currently offered in sedan and hatchback variants with a 2.0L engine, which is one of the market leaders in sales. The Fiesta, a global Ford product, has also been offered between 2004 and 2022.
Mid-size
Mid-size cars formerly assembled in Australia included the Ford Cortina, Capri and Escort, from the UK. These were adapted for the Australian market: for example, from 1972, the Cortina was available with the option of either a 3.3-litre or 4.1-litre six-cylinder engine, and the Escort could be offered across the range with the Cortina's 2.0-litre motor. In 1977, lack of capacity required the Cortina wagon to be assembled in Renault's (now long since closed) Australian factory in Heidelberg, Victoria.
The Cortina's replacement, the Mazda 626-based Telstar, was initially assembled in Australia. In 1989 the Telstar sedan was replaced by the locally assembled Ford Corsair which was essentially a rebadged Nissan Pintara. When Nissan shut down its Australian manufacturing operations in 1992 the Telstar nameplate was reintroduced, and as before it was a rebadged and respecced Mazda 626. In 1995 the Telstar was dropped in favour of the Mondeo, imported from Belgium.
Ford Australia dropped the Mondeo in 2001, arguing at the time that the segment of the market in which it competed was in decline, but in 2007, it announced that it would introduce the new Mk IV model in Australia.[11]
Large car
The Ford Falcon was manufactured in Australia to a North American design, with the first model rolling off the production line at Ford's Broadmeadows plant on 28 June 1960. It differed little from the American design apart from conversion to right hand drive, and the Falcon soon proved unable to cope on harsh Australian roads, sparking a major effort to introduce improvements to its reliability. By the mid-1960s, the car was substantially different from its North American cousin and was offered in sedan, wagon, coupé, utility and panel van styles.
Production of the North American Falcon, on which the Falcon was by then loosely based, ended in 1970, obliging Ford Australia to pursue its design independently. The first true all-Australian Ford Falcon was launched as the XA model in June 1972. The XD and XE generation Falcons (1979-1984) followed the styling trends of Ford Europe's Granada II model, but were still purely an Australian design from an engineering standpoint and had virtually no parts commonality with the European product.
The Falcon had been an Australian "automotive icon" for most of its 56 years in production, playing a prominent part in Australian popular culture and motor racing. Falcons have served as taxis, police cars, family runabouts, and transport for tradespeople. They have been winners many times in the Australian Touring Car Championship and at the annual Bathurst 1000 touring car race, where the Falcon's reputation for engineering excellence was cemented by the early 1970s through the Falcon GT and GTHO "muscle car" variants.
Ford manufactured more than four million units between 1960 and 2016, and topped sales charts on many occasions. By 2016 the Falcon line-up was offered only in sedan and utility body styles; in the past, panel vans, station wagons and hardtops had been offered. Falcons had been prominent as taxis in Australia and New Zealand, along with sister car, the Ford Fairlane. Performance variants of the Falcon were used extensively for pursuit work for many years.
Luxury car
Ford Australia produced a range of full-size luxury cars alongside the Falcon for most of its production history. These models were named the Fairlane and the LTD. The first Fairlane, released in 1959, was an Australian-assembled version of the US Fairlane. Assembly of US cars continued until 1967, when Ford Australia designed its own luxury car, the ZA Fairlane. Heavily based on the existing XR Falcon, it had an extended wheelbase, longer boot and modest styling changes.
Ford Fairlanes were often preferred vehicles among politicians and businessmen. In 1972 a new model – the LTD – joined the second generation of Fairlanes the LTD. It was in effect a Fairlane with more features such as retractable headlights, a vinyl roof and an even longer wheelbase. From the third generation of Fairlane onwards, the LTD shared the same wheelbase and body as the Fairlane, being marketed as a more luxurious version of the Fairlane rather than being a completely different car.
The Fairlane topped Australian luxury car sales for two decades before its gradual downfall started in the late 1980s with the rising importation of European models such as BMW and Mercedes Benz. By the turn of the millennium, the Fairlane had been overtaken by the Holden Statesman in sales. In 2007, Ford Australia announced it would be cancelling further production of the Fairlane and LTD beyond the 2007 model year, citing falling sales and an uncertain future in the full-size luxury market. With the backing of large-volume exports to overseas markets, the Holden Statesman and Caprice then became the sole full-size extended wheelbase luxury models until their demise in 2017.
SUV
Between 2004 and 2016, the Ford Territory had been built on the same production line as the Falcon. The Territory (technically a crossover) had regularly been the most popular SUV in Australia.[12]
