Ford Australia has long been known for delivering big on performance, from fast Falcons to the Mustang of today, and even the likes of the Ranger Raptor that’s built on an Aussie-developed platform.
With the Blue Oval brand recently celebrating its 100th anniversary Down Under, its representatives took the time to speak to media including Retro Rides at an event in Melbourne, and the message was clear – performance cars are still a core part of its focus moving ahead.
“100 years of trust is not built in one day,” explains Fadi Mawal, president and CEO of Ford Australia.
“Australians and Kiwis deserve the peace of mind of a local legacy, a global footprint and a service network that is not easy to replicate.
“Our plan [is to be] a more resilient, profitable, customer-obsessed business built on what we do best: trucks and vans for work, performance cars for thrill, SUVs and off-roaders for adventure, and a dealer and service network to back it all up.”
A key element of this announcement was the public unveiling of the upcoming Mustang Dark Horse T8-Spec Pack, a strictly limited version of the Dark Horse designed in conjunction with Triple Eight Race Engineering as an Australian exclusive.
Seven-time Supercars champion and four-time Bathurst winner Jamie Whincup played a central role in honing this special variant, noting that it draws heavily on Triple Eight and Ford’s racing know-how.
“Triple Eight’s history with Ford goes way back to 2003; Ford is where a lot of my own story in the sport was written both as a driver, and now as leading director of the team,” Whincup says.
“To have our name on a Ford road car – it’s something different again [and] it means a lot.
“Every part of this Mustang, from the suspension tune to the tires to the badge on the back, reflects what we do on the racetrack.
“When a customer drives this car, they’re feeling real race engineering. For me personally, it’s a point of pride.
“We’ve spent two decades building a reputation of performance and precision; putting that into a car that Australians can actually own and drive, that’s a pretty special way to bring the two worlds together.”
Leaning on the brand’s motorsport pedigree is something you can expect to see more of, too, when it comes to both engineering great driver’s cars and as a marketing channel that expands its audience beyond traditional advertising measures.
“Why does Ford go racing? We race to win; we’re competitive,” explains Justin Capicchiano, Ford Racing program director.
“But it pays off everywhere else in our business, too. It introduces new customers to Mustang and off-road, and it’s great for building brand awareness more efficiently than some traditional channels.
“And most importantly, it’s good for our customers, as lessons learned from racing flow straight into the vehicles that they buy.”
Capicchiano notes that this isn’t limited to track-bred cars, either, with the Ranger Raptor serving as a prime example of other forms of motorsport informing the brand’s product portfolio.
“A perfect example of that is Raptor, which celebrates its 15th anniversary this year,” Capicchiano says.
This clear commitment to performance – made alongside announcements around other areas of Ford’s local brand including trade-focused vehicles, electrification, its off-road portfolio, and a range-wide seven-year warranty – is something that the company’s local boss believes will ensure that Ford remains competitive in what is currently one of the toughest, most hotly-contested markets in the world.
“More than 30 years ago, I joined Ford as an hourly employee driving a forklift; I’ve been on the factory floor and I’ve been in executive boardrooms, and I can tell you Ford is here to win,” Mawal notes.
“We will be here for the next 100 years no matter what the challenges are in front of us, but we know we need to evolve to win.
“All of [the products and changes announced] help us to compete aggressively with both new and legacy automakers alike. Ford’s best days are ahead of us – I am sure of that.”
