Fans of the rear-wheel drive Ford Falcon can breath easy, at least until 2016. According to Australia’s CarAdvice.com, Ford has announced that automaker will invest 3 million to sustain both the Falcon and Territory SUV through the next five years. The news came courtesy of Ford Australia president Bo Graziano and Ford Asia Pacific president Joe Hinrichs at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show. Ford is expected to unveil refreshed versions of both the Falcon and the Territory in 2014. The automaker is expected to use the investment to improve the vehicles’ efficiency and safety. The cash injection should add around 300 jobs, as well.

Ford Australia will likely focus on aerodynamics, tire adjustments and transmission improvements to eke out better fuel economy and reduced CO2 emissions. A new six-speed automatic gearbox is expected to debut with the new models.

And what happens after 2016? Ford isn’t saying, though the company has made it clear Australia will receive a new large car based on a global platform. That vehicle will likely offer buyers both front and all-wheel drive configurations, thereby putting an end to the long-standing rear-wheel drive Falcon lineage.

Rear-wheel drive Falcon gets five-year committment from Ford originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Honda has whipped the sheets off of its EV-STER, a rear-wheel drive electric roadster not dissimilar in size and scope to the late, lamented Beat kei car. If you’re looking for a successor to Honda’s S2000 or a Mazda MX-5 Miata rival, this isn’t it – the EV-STER is significantly smaller than those cars, and with a pure electric drivetrain, this showcar is more suited to top-down fun in the city than the open road.

Purely a concept for the moment, the EV-STER offers a 160-kilometer range, a 0-37 mph (60kph) time of 5.0 seconds and a top speed of 99 mph, though Honda isn’t offering much in the way of hardware specifications.

Attractive in both general form and detail, we could admittedly do without the yoke-style steering interface employed here and in Honda’s other Tokyo Motor Show concepts. Steering wheel aside, we hope Honda finds a way to bring something like the EV-STER to market… and we wouldn’t mind if it weren’t a EV, either.

Continue reading EV-STER rear-wheel drive electric sports car looks to recapture Honda’s sporting spirit

EV-STER rear-wheel drive electric sports car looks to recapture Honda’s sporting spirit originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 30 Nov 2011 09:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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