Ford tries to upstage new Camira

Press, 3 June 1982, Page 25

Ford tries to upstage new Camira

The Australian Ford Company is thought to be making an all-out effort to get its Japanese-designed Cortina replacement into its dealers' showrooms about the same time as the Camira, the Holden version of the General Motors J-car, appears. That should be about August.

News travels fast in the motor business and once Ford got an inkling that the 1.6-litre. front ; drive Camira was likely to be about a month behind schedule, the company apparently decided to try to take some of the sting out of the G.M.-H. J-car launch by coming up with its Cortina replacement sooner than had been originally planned. Ford attempted to steal a march on General MotorsHolden in 1979 when it launched its XD Falcon immediately after G.M.-H. launched its Holden Commodore. Earlier this year much the same thing happened again when G.M.-H. and Ford announced new Commodore and Falcon versions almost simultaneously. It looks, as though the battle will continue unabated between G.M.-H. and Ford with the next confrontation within a couple of months, whereas originally the front-drive replacement for the Mazda 626 was expected to' reach the streets before Ford's lookalike Cortina replacement. Already Ford is building engines for its new car in its Broadmeadows plant on the outskirts of Melbourne. It is using the part of the factory

that was previously used for building Falcon V 8 engines. Ford is no longer building VBs. but has sufficient stockpiled to cope with a 12month demand. Similarly. Ford ceased production of the Australian Cortina months ago and has been marketing the smaller Toyo Kogyo-designed laser saloon as a stopgap. Ford's Cortina replacement will be offered with 1.6. 1.8 and 2-litre engines. All will be capable of being adapted to operate on LPG or CNG and at least one of them may be produced modified to rim on diesel fuel. It has been generally accepted that where Toyo Kogyo and Ford are involved in a-joint venture, the first of which witnessed the introduction of the Ford Laser. Toyo Kogyo would have first slice of the market, as it did with its front-drive Mazda 323. A similar arrangement was expected when the Mazda 626 replacement came on the market. The. look alike Cortina replacement, like the Laser, was expected to be launched at a suitable interval after the Mazda. The whole process was expected to get under way towards the end of this year, probably with the 626 replacement making its debut at the Tokyo motor show. Now it seems that the position will be reversed, unless inter-company politics dictate otherwise.