Ford Australia’s history is rich and storied, with racecar glory and salesroom successes in the form of Falcon and Territory. While now the closest thing we have to a new Aussie Ford is the locally-developed Ranger, we wanted to speculate about what could have been with the assistance of AI.
Here, in no particular order, are our top 10 hypothetical Fords that we’d like to see happen in the future – some Australian, some global. Obviously these are just a pipe dream and are not likely to ever materialise officially.
2024 Ford Capri
The release of the ill-fated Australian Capri was unfortunate enough to coincide with the introduction of the Mazda MX-5, which overshadowed it in sales and performance. While the Capri’s journey ended in 1994, a clay model of a successor sat at the Ford Discovery Centre for decades.
This ideation imagines if the lineage continued to the modern era, with a more curvaceous design than the Italdesign-derived wedge of the 1990s. Oh, and it’s rear-wheel drive.
We’d envision power coming from a 1.5-litre EcoBoost three-cylinder producing around 134kW/290Nm, paired to a six-speed manual or DCT. Acceleration from 0-100km/h would take around 6.9 seconds for the circa-1185kg sports car.
2025 Ford baby SUV
Everyone knows SUVs are all the rage and automakers are seeking to proliferate into every size category possible. Presently, the smallest SUV Ford produces is the Puma, but as Hyundai and Kia will tell you, there is a yawning market for an A-segment SUV.
Aimed at congested urban centres such as Beijing or Mumbai, this tiny tyke applies Ford’s design language to a tall and upright micro-SUV. We imagine power from a 1.0 EcoBoost three-cylinder developing around 100kW/200Nm, matched to a six-speed manual or DCT. The 0-100km/h sprint would take around 9.1 seconds for the 1090kg lightweight.
2025 Ford Falcon GTHO
The roaring legend itself, which FPV did not have the opportunity to release before Ford Australia’s demise (until the Premcar Holy Grail upgrade program years later). It would be underpinned by Ford’s rear-drive CD6 platform – which is presently being wasted on SUVs.
It’d be powered by a 5.2-litre twin-turbo V8 based on the Voodoo unit, producing around 700kW and 900Nm, paired with a Hollinger six-speed sequential or 10-speed auto. It’d have to set records, be the fastest production car in Australia and have a homologated racing version to do justice to the nameplate.
2023 Ford Fairlane
There was a time when the Ford Fairlane and Holden Statesman/Caprice were the dominant force in the Australia’s luxury segment. Compared with imports, which were still subject to tariffs at the time, these two offered a metal-for-money proposition that couldn’t be matched.
This revival clearly borrows a few cues from the past, as well as some modern Lincoln styling to create a modern yet stately limousine worthy of the nameplate. Power comes from a 3.0-litre EcoBoost twin-turbo V6 twin-turbo hybrid developing around 331kW/841Nm, sent through a 10-speed automatic. Expect 0-100km/h in around 4.4 seconds.
2024 Ford Mustang Electric Convertible/ Mach-E V8
Mustang fans were up in arms when Ford applied the pony title to its latest electric SUV: the Mustang Mach-E. This got us wondering, what if the electric drivetrain were to be installed in the coupe/convertible and what if the Mach-E spawned a combustion-engine twin?
The former may be inevitable, as all automakers are being forced to adopt full-scale electrification in the not-too-distant future. A V8-powered Mach-E, pictured here in Bullitt guise in Dark Highland Green, might be a different proposition. If it was launched like this, perhaps fans would have been more amenable to it borrowing the Mustang name?
2025 Ford Cortina XR6 Turbo
Many people cite the large-car size as one of the key reasons Aussie buyers eventually turned their back on Falcon and Commodore. While it is known Holden was developing a Torana in the late 2000s, what if Ford had an equivalent in the form of a new Cortina?
This highly-evolved specimen would be available in either electric or with a futuristic evolution of the Barra turbo, featuring a camless inline-six. We’d envision it producing around 350kW-400kW, with 0-100km/h coming up in around 4.0 seconds.
2012 Ford Cortina
Winding back the clock a few years, a retro-styled 2012 Cortina would utilise a combination of Falcon platform and parts and Focus C1 to create a rear-drive performance sedan. Being smaller and lighter than its bigger brother, it would no doubt be quicker point-to-point and significantly more agile.
In reality, Ford pandered to the overwhelming majority of NPCs who are content with front-wheel drive, but in fairness to the Blue Oval, the Focus RS was a pretty desirable machine and genuinely quick. Our new version would use the 4.0-litre Barra turbo producing 270kW/530Nm, capable of dispatching 0-100km/h in around 4.3 seconds.
2025 Ford SuperDuty F-250 Lightning/ F-350 Lightning
To mixed reception, Ford electrified America’s best-selling vehicle in the form of the F-150 Lightning. While, out of the big three, only Stellantis has confirmed an electric super-duty pickup truck, we thought we’d apply the Lightning treatment to the more utilitarian and muscular styling of the F-250 and F-350 to see how well the styling translates to a bigger unit.
Propulsion would come from two electric motors that generate a combined 433kW, with a single reduction gear and a 4500kg towing capacity.
2024 Ford Bantam/Courier
The Ford Maverick ute is one of the forbidden fruits denied to us in Australia, but some of you may not be aware Ford used to sell an even smaller ute in developing countries. Based on the Fiesta platform, the Bantam or Courier was a plucky little ute in a similar vein to the Proton Jumbuck.
As we can see, Ford’s commercial vehicle styling works well on a smaller-than-Maverick package, using Ford’s B platform. Power comes from the company’s 1.0-litre EcoBoost three-cylinder developing 100kW/200Nm, sent through a six-speed manual or DCT, with 0-100km/h requiring around 10.1 seconds.
2005 and 2012 Ford Esperance SUV
By combining elements of the Territory with the first- and second-generation EcoSport, a sporting rear-drive competitor to the BMW X1 is created, giving scalability and flexibility to meet changing customer demand.
This is philosophically similar to what Nissan did in the USA, engineering a small SUV from the large Pathfinder platform. It enjoyed a superior power-to-weight ratio and appealed to customers who didn’t want the full-size SUV.
Esperance seemed to be a nice name, paying homage to one of Western Australia’s nicest tourist spots. We imagine power from a 4.0-litre straight-six producing 195kW/391Nm, sent through the BTR four-speed, or ZF 6HP26, or Tremec TR6060. Expect 0-100km/h in around 7.2 seconds.
Bonus: FG Falcon Convertible
OK, we went a bit over our top 10 allotment, but I’m sure you can forgive us as this FG Falcon convertible turned out alright. While coupe versions of the FG Falcon were drawn up by the local designers, it wasn’t to be as the beancounters were flat out justifying a 2.0-litre turbo engine without government assistance. Tell us what you think, would you consider a factory Falcon convertible?
