Weight-loss programme for hungry Falcon

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

Ford Australia is expected to trim some of the weight from the BA Falcon to improve fuel consumption.

The base model BA Falcon weighs 1672kg, about 150kg more than the rival Holden Commodore.

It put on around 170kg during its $525 million upgrade from AU to BA, and the extra weight is penalising it at the fuel pumps.

Tests show it is consuming 11.5 litres/100km in the city and 7.4 litres/100km in the country, compared with the Commodore's 11 and 6.6.

The new Falcon is a better car all round than the AU and is selling well in Australia and New Zealand against market leader and long-time rival the Commodore.

But Ford executives agree that the extra weight blunts the vehicle's performance and economy.

The company's global head of product development, Richard Parry-Jones, said the weight-loss programme would be based around the use of lightweight metals in component castings and thinner, high-strength steels in place of mild steels.

But Parry-Jones, in Australia for the grand prix, ruled out the use of lightweight aluminium as too expensive in a mass-market car. He would not say what other cut-and-tuck ideas Ford had in mind.

It has been confirmed, however, that the next Falcon will get a six-speed ZF automatic gearbox in place of the present model's four-speed automatic.