Bring Back The Taxi Pack?

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Polyal

I think a few are missing the point here, Ford need sales, they have a kick **** new LPG system coming out which obviously is perfect, if they "made" a XT just for fleets/taxi's, ie NO private people can buy them (well maybe with an ABN) then it shouldn't effect resales.

There's not going to be a lot of money for Ford in those sorts of sales.

[Polyal]

I think at the moment they have lost the luxury to be picky. Dont do it at a loss, but a small profit is better than nothing.

[Mr Hardware]

So a few things here:

In the brisbane taxi market, Fords still outnumber other brands by at least 2:1.

Gobes32 is correct, the taxipak was killed in the height of the BA sales. Ford are now beggars not choosers.
The best idea of the thread is for ford to make a BG: a BFIII wagoon with an FG-ish front and a half BF/half FG interior, similar to the XG/XH. I'm sure plenty of people in the past lamented the XG/XH as being old tech and old style, but I don't really think anyone gives a damn now, they are just known as damn good utes - just as an BG would be remembered as a damn good wagoon.
But yes, with the loss of BTR/ION and the 4-speed really did decide its fate.

And yes, it is true that most taxis are not bought new. Most cabs are ex-fleet egassers that already have 6 digits on the clock.

[Road_Warrior]

How about then instead of making it look like an FG (and hence get Ford all ****** about taxis 'devaluing' the FG look) the so-called taxi wagon be given its own look, like say the Transit Connect. At the end of the day it doesn't have to be a looker, it just has to do its job (and do it well).

[Mr Hardware]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

How about then instead of making it look like an FG (and hence get Ford all ****** about taxis 'devaluing' the FG look) the so-called taxi wagon be given its own look, like say the Transit Connect. At the end of the day it doesn't have to be a looker, it just has to do its job (and do it well).

Thats actually a really good idea.
There we go cosby kids, we saved the day

[DFB FGXR6]

The wagons tooling was 12 years old when retired, could it be that it was worn out by this stage and Ford couldnt see value in re-tooling to maintain quality?

[Mr Hardware]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

The wagons tooling was 12 years old when retired, could it be that it was worn out by this stage and Ford couldnt see value in re-tooling to maintain quality?

Surely on-going replacement of componentry as it got worn wouldn't cost that much, in the scheme of things

[atec77]

Originally Posted by Brent

I bet Ford can't wait for the day when the last Falcon taxi eventually retires from service. Taxis are a shocking advertisement for Falcons......whining transmissions, rattling suspension, clunking diffs, completely worn-out interiors. Most cabs are attrocious, and why any manufacturer would want their "brand" represented by the lowest common denominator of vehicles on the road is beyond me.

Taxis are as good an advertisement for a Falcon as Tony Mokbel is an advertisement for gentleman's wigs.

Having owned cab licenses for decades I know you are wrong in the majority of cases , when I was operating them I always bought Fords due to them being cheap to run very tough and incredibly reliablel over 700k in just a few years , none of the hybrids have that economy of operationa lthough they use a little less fual it's not enough and when we catch a cab I always order a full size car as I am well over 6 ft and hate the sqyashed feeling in the prius

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by atec77

Having owned cab licenses for decades I know you are wrong in the majority of cases , when I was operating them I always bought Fords due to them being cheap to run very tough and incredibly reliablel over 700k in just a few years , none of the hybrids have that economy of operationa lthough they use a little less fual it's not enough and when we catch a cab I always order a full size car as I am well over 6 ft and hate the sqyashed feeling in the prius

He's talking from Ford's perspective in protecting the brand image of the Falcon, not the perspective of a private operator wanting a clean reliable ride. I don't doubt any of your points, its the reason I buy Falcons as well, but Ford obviously have other factors in play when they made the decision to stop supporting taxis.

[dylancox]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

How about then instead of making it look like an FG (and hence get Ford all ****** about taxis 'devaluing' the FG look) the so-called taxi wagon be given its own look, like say the Transit Connect. At the end of the day it doesn't have to be a looker, it just has to do its job (and do it well).

Put back the AU face on the Wagon. A Taxi is all about functionality, not style. Make it super cheap to fix in a 5km/h shunt.

[janddbone]

Anyone who thinks it is good that Taxi's are now XR6's is delusional, Ford has dropped the ball again! Also what better quality testing than cab service... Sad they rarely bother to learn form it.

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by Mr Hardware

amen brother
4-speed, egas, leaf springs
if only they'd gotten rid of pesky additions like abs and airbags then it'd be a dream cab
now if only they could bring it back with a hose-out interior and a bench seat
in fact, even better
just bring back the AUIII egas, best taxis there ever was.

Amen +1. Wagon, with vinyl seats, column auto and bench up front. Use that width that Falcon has an advantage over mid size cars, rather than put a styled console in there. Vinyl floor covering. Spin off a 'private' taxi wagon variant with the airbags and ABS. Absolute Surf Beast.

Serious! I tried to buy one (demo, not used) with these features in 2002!

[Bobman]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

He's talking from Ford's perspective in protecting the brand image of the Falcon, not the perspective of a private operator wanting a clean reliable ride. I don't doubt any of your points, its the reason I buy Falcons as well, but Ford obviously have other factors in play when they made the decision to stop supporting taxis.

Toyota offered a factory taxi pack (ala Avalon). Didn't ruin Toyotas brand image nor did it really make Avalon sales worse than they already were nor did it affect Camry.

Besides, even when the BA taxi pack was still available (in 2002-2003), most cab operators had started seeing the light and were scouring auctions for 2nd hand egas Falcons (some replaced their ELs with AUIIIs instead of BAs in those early years). Cars started becoming cheaper into 2004-2005 and the market was awash with XTs, so there wasn't a big market for taxi operators who wanted the cheapest car possible (2nd hand) that would still serve at least 4-5 years before being retired.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Bobman

Toyota offered a factory taxi pack (ala Avalon). Didn't ruin Toyotas brand image nor did it really make Avalon sales worse than they already were nor did it affect Camry.

Besides, even when the BA taxi pack was still available (in 2002-2003), most cab operators had started seeing the light and were scouring auctions for 2nd hand egas Falcons (some replaced their ELs with AUIIIs instead of BAs in those early years). Cars started becoming cheaper into 2004-2005 and the market was awash with XTs, so there wasn't a big market for taxi operators who wanted the cheapest car possible (2nd hand) that would still serve at least 4-5 years before being retired.

You're a bit young to remember but back in the 1990s Holden was offering Telstra
and other large fleets up to 40% discount, Ford was doing similar with Taxi fleets
but when they decided to pull back to 25% all hell broke loose and there were all kinds
of threats coming for the taxi lobby but in the end I think Ford decided that they
just didn't want all of those low profit, volume filling sales and pulled the taxi pack.

[Ford_The_Win]

Why was there such a change of attitude in Ford towards the taxi market?

[phillyc]

I wouldn't want the FG front end on the BF3. The FG is light years ahead of the B series. Don't devalue the FG. People will see the new interior/exterior and associate that with the 'new Falcon' when it is a generation behind.

I agreed with the decision to can the BF3 wagon last year. Expecting that to free capacity and increase output. But, at that point when the decision was announced, they had been doing overtime every 2nd Saturday for 6mths.

Right now, I wish BF3 was turned into BF4 / BG with the new EcoLPi and ZF6spd auto. Sell it for a fleet price of $31k with 5yr/200,000km warranty. Maybe 3 colours.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by phillyc

I agreed with the decision to can the BF3 wagon last year. Expecting that to free capacity and increase output. But, at that point when the decision was announced, they had been doing overtime every 2nd Saturday for 6mths.

Another quality Burela decision.

"Ford of course"

Meanwhile at the time my dealer was giving XR6s away, and every second rental car was a Falcon...

[Brent]

Originally Posted by atec77

Having owned cab licenses for decades I know you are wrong in the majority of cases , when I was operating them I always bought Fords due to them being cheap to run very tough and incredibly reliablel over 700k in just a few years , none of the hybrids have that economy of operationa lthough they use a little less fual it's not enough and when we catch a cab I always order a full size car as I am well over 6 ft and hate the sqyashed feeling in the prius

Road Warrior is correct in that I was looking at things from Ford's perspective, or more particularly, from a product image viewpoint. If you're a taxi owner/operator I have no doubt that the Falcon's are reliable, so no argument there. However, as Mr or Mrs Average who jumps into a taxi as a customer, the average cab is a pretty ordinary experience. Well, in Melbourne at least anyway.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by Brent

Road Warrior is correct in that I was looking at things from Ford's perspective, or more particularly, from a product image viewpoint. If you're a taxi owner/operator I have no doubt that the Falcon's are reliable, so no argument there. However, as Mr or Mrs Average who jumps into a taxi as a customer, the average cab is a pretty ordinary experience. Well, in Melbourne at least anyway.

But if those taxi drivers are just going out and buy second-hand G6s and XR6s instead, you are actually doing more damage to the brand than by having brand-new Taxi pack Falcons available which are at least removed somewhat from the retail versions.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Brazen

But if those taxi drivers are just going out and buy second-hand G6s and XR6s instead, you are actually doing more damage to the brand than by having brand-new Taxi pack Falcons available which are at least removed somewhat from the retail versions.

No, because excess second hand XR6s are taken out of the market
at wholesalers which then actually keeps the retail price up.....

It's a funny situation I know but it seems to devalue falcon prices less than selling new XTs to taxi fleets....

[Brent]

Originally Posted by Brazen

But if those taxi drivers are just going out and buy second-hand G6s and XR6s instead, you are actually doing more damage to the brand than by having brand-new Taxi pack Falcons available which are at least removed somewhat from the retail versions.

Fair call, but bringing back the taxi pack is sort of a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" aproach by Ford. I know what you mean though. The government seems to be good at legislating everything in life, so maybe a ban on any cabbie buying a Falcon is an idea? All the cabbies can use Commodores instead and the kids who catch a cab at 3am after a night of clubbing can sober-up whilst pushing their broken down Commodore cab home.....

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by jpd80

No, because excess second hand XR6s are taken out of the market
at wholesalers which then actually keeps the retail price up.....

It's a funny situation I know but it seems to devalue falcon prices less than selling new XTs to taxi fleets....

Yeah I wonder about that, with the sheer amount of lease XR6s coming up on auction every week, I think the taxi market would be a tiny buyer in the scheme of things.

Whats more important is to get the mums and dads and dealers to buy the XR6s from the auctions, will they do this when they see the XR6s used as taxis - maybe not as much....

[Elks]

To my way of seeing things Ford Global & Aus, seem to have there planning for the medium & long term under control. The short term stuff is completely lost.

To have a medium term you must survive the short term. All of those little niches they have pulled out of have come back to bite them. A sort of product range Emperors new clothes.

People keep talking about the wagon, a 12 year old design but try and buy an BFIII LPG wagon. $39K wtf that's dearer than a base Territory for less car. The wagon should be fleet priced into the Late 20"s and they would be selling like hot cakes. The tooling was paid for years ago. Yes no new groovy LPG at the moment, no problem just sell petrol versions. Its all about amortisation. spreading the costs through the most vehicles to keep the factory viable.