Intown - Geelong - Ford FG Falcon

Geelong's FG Ford Falcon

Back in 1925 Ford started it's manufacturing facilities on Geelong's waterfront close to where the Ford Discovery Centre is housed today, a few years later they moved to Norlane where today their huge manufacturing and research and design facilities are housed.

The Iconic Ford Falcon now in its 8th Generation has Geelong to thank for much of its design, development and manufacturing.

Geelong is home to the Engine Plant which makes the 6 cylinder engines which power the new FG model range. Most of the panels are produced at the Geelong Stamping plant at the Norlane facility also.

Ford Australia's brand new Research and Development Centre is also housed in Geelong and on Geelong's outskirts at the You Yang's is Ford Australia's huge Proving Ground Complex.

The Ford Motor Company is currently in the middle of investing about 1.8 million dollars into their Australian Operations and Geelong has been one of the biggest winners with huge investment and modernization preparing for the FG Falcon and the 2010 Focus which will be also stamped in the Geelong facility.

Ford Geelong isn't only designing vehicles for the Australian market, they have huge programs testing and engineering vehicles for Asia Pacific region and the world.

Recently Ford has commissioned a huge press line which is capable of producing a whole body side out of a single panel, the press and facilities to house it have cost Ford in excess of 55 million dollars.

Their state of the art Research and Development Centre which has just opened houses over 300 engineers and testing facilities, working on both future Falcon and Territory ranges and global vehicles.

The top secret proving ground on Geelong's northern fringe is now home to Australia's only Semi Anechoic Chamber. This huge high tech laboratory is a sterile environment where special sound analysis equipment can hear minute sounds and vibrations from the vehicle in the hope of making future models even more refined. The testing facility can simulate real driving conditions and also be modified to take account of weather conditions.

The Proving Ground has also opened a new high speed driving centre where vehicles are tested at high speed in a controlled laboratory with robots driving and refueling them 24 hours a day. This eliminates the need for drivers to test vehicles at high speeds and allows tests to run in a without environmental changes altering test results.

Soon to be commissioned is the ACART or Advanced Centre for Automotive Research this huge facility is a jointly funded centre between Ford, the State Government and the University of Melbourne. It includes a huge environmental wind tunnel and emission test cell which will help Ford engineers make even more refined and fuel efficient vehicles in the years to come.

So as you can see Geelong has played a big role in the brand new FG Falcon

See more of the new FG Falcon at www.transeum.com