The Ford Falcon was first launched in 2014 by Ford Australia. It has undergone comprehensive changes over its predecessor that are both cosmetic as well as functional. And there are some pretty interesting facts about it that a petrol head would be keen on. This article lists twelve of them.
- The Falcon FG-X and was developed along with the MkII Territory on a reported 103.5 million dollar budget. This includes investments from both the Federal government as well as the government of Victoria that amounted to $34 million. Production was set to last until October of 2016.
- A MEGA racing Australia version of the FG-X will be driven by renowned Australian racer Jason Bright in 2017’s Supercar Championship. Bright has recently shifted his contract from Brad Jones Racing to Prodrive Racing and officially unveiled it at the team’s headquarters in Melbourne.
- The FG-X is the only Ford Falcon to have been given a three letter designation. The X at the end is a nod to some of the notable Falcon models of the past such as the XB, XR, and XY.
- The building components of the Falcon FG-X are mostly from Australia, 70 percent, in fact, which is a bit less than before. The headlamps and tail lamps which used to be sourced from Hella, Australia, now come from Thailand and Taiwan respectively.
- The number of prototype vehicles built by Ford prior to finally signing off for the Falcon and Territory amount to 97 units. Those prototypes have been driven a total of 835,846 kilometers in the three months preceding the official launch.
- The Falcon FG-X is powered by a 4 liter 6 cylinder power plant that boasts 28% more efficiency over the BA MKII Much of this is due to some clever tweaking such as the use of low resistance tyres. On the XR8 model, there is an over boost function that has been claimed to improve the power output of the engine by up to 15%.
- Improvements have also been made to some of the body panels. For instance, the front bumper has been shaped so now the aerodynamic drag it generates is improved by 6.7%. That means the 0.312 drag coefficient has been reduced to 0.291 making it more slippery through the air and therefore, more economical to drive as well.
- Both the Falcon and the Territory have been equipped with the SYNC2 program by Ford. It is quite an advanced software capable of understanding over 10,000 voice commands and the ergonomic design helps drivers focus on the road while giving instructions.
- There are two aerial antennas on the Falcon. One is located just behind the front bumper and the other is set on the roof. It is always the better signal of the two that is picked by the system giving it enhanced FM radio reception.
- However, the budget set aside for development has not been enough to include a two-way one-touch driver’s window.
- Both the Falcon and Territory have been programmed to dial up emergency services as well send a pre-recorded message and GPS location in case of a crash. The call will wait 10 seconds in order to give the driver time to cancel it if necessary.
- The Falcon FG-X is the first production car from Ford to have automatic windscreen wipers.
Conclusion
So there you have it, twelve lesser known fun facts about the Ford Falcon FG-X.
