Aaand Drive is at it again.

[Road_Warrior]

http://news.drive.com.au/drive/motor...0303-pikb.html

Ford’s global product development chief Derrick Kuzak says the company’s Melbourne-based Australian operations are a crucial part of the new One Ford world, which aims to develop a single vehicle to suit the world.

But amid speculation the future of the Falcon is under a cloud following recent comments by senior executives in the US suggesting it could make way for the US-made Taurus he is still refusing to shed light on the fate of the locally made large car.

However, Kuzak again hinted that the rear-wheel-drive formula that’s been a foundation of the Falcon over five decades could make way for the more efficient front-drive configuration used by most family sedans. He also reiterated comments by Ford’s global boss, Alan Mulally, that a Subaru-like all-wheel-drive set-up could make sense for large cars like the Falcon.

“Clearly we’ve gotten really, really good at front-wheel-drive (and) all-wheel-drive cars, their design proportions, how they drive,” said Kuzak. “Where we are doing front-wheel-drive on [large cars] they also always have all-wheel-drive.”

He said the Mustang – an American muscle car classic that relies on rear-drive performance – and Ford Australia’s top-selling Falcon were vehicles that could still make sense as a rear-wheel-drive model.

“There still is room for rear-wheel-drive cars; Australia is the perfect example but we haven’t finalised our decision.”

Ford’s much publicised One Ford policy means the Falcon cannot exist as a specific model just for Australia.

Rumours continue about options, which range from taking the Taurus and rebadging as a Falcon to a General Motors-style option of using Australia as the development centre for rear-drive two- and four-door vehicles, such as the Mustang.

With the current Falcon expected to continue until at least 2014, Kuzak said time was on Ford’s side.

“We just did the Falcon, it’s a very successful product. We just did the Taurus, it’s a very successful product. We don’t have to make that decision yet, so we’re going to do the analysis and will see what the markets do.”

But Kuzak refused to speculate on options, instead reaffirming Ford’s position as a significant engineering base for the Asia Pacific region.

“Ford Australia is fundamentally a major piece of One Ford,” he said.

“Our global compact pickup is being led by the Australian team. The Australian team provides core engineering foundation for all of our Asia Pacific team and all of our Asia Pacific products so they are today a fundamental piece of the One Ford product development team and it will stay that way.”

Great glass-half-empty crap there Drive. Or is that Drivel?