Ford Falcon dead by 2016

It's official – The Ford Falcon, one of Australia's oldest and most iconic nameplates, will die in 2016.

Ford Australia CEO Bob Graziano today confirmed the Falcon name, which began in 1960, will be ‘retired’ when Ford closes its Australian factories in October 2016.

“The Falcon name is inextricably linked to Australia,” said Graziano. “We will retire that name when we retire the vehicle.”

In doing so, Graziano confirmed the new Falcon, set to be released in 2014 as planned, will be the last.

A similar fate awaits the locally-built Ford Territory, whose nameplate also faces extinction.

Sales of both models have struggled in recent years, with the Falcon in particular suffering as Australian buyers moved away from large family sedans.

Once Australia’s most popular best-selling car throughout the 1980s and early-‘90s, sales of the Falcon fell to less than 20,000 last year, from a high of 93,432 only 10 years ago.

Things have worsened in 2013, with sales of both the Falcon sedan and Falcon utility down more than 20 percent on 2012’s disastrous numbers.

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