Ford Falcon (Australia)

The Ford Falcon is a full-sized car which has been manufactured by the Ford Motor Company of Australia since 1960. From the XA series of 1972 onward, each Falcon and range of derivates have been designed, developed, and built in Australia, following the phasing out of the American-influenced Falcon of 1960 to 1971, which had been re-engineered locally as the XK to XY series for the harsher Australian conditions. The luxury-oriented Ford Fairmont model joined the range from 1965. Luxury long-wheelbase derivative versions called the Ford Fairlane and LTD arrived in 1967 and 1973, respectively (with production ending in 2007).

The Ford Falcon and its derivates have been Australian-made best-sellers, with over 3,000,000 sales in seven generations to 2003, almost exclusively in Australia and New Zealand, but also South Africa. Along with its closest Australian-made rival, the Holden Commodore, the Falcon has dominated the ranks of taxis in Australia and New Zealand, as well as police car and company fleets.

Ford Falcon

Ford Falcon is an automobile nameplate applied to several vehicles worldwide.

Ford Falcon (FG)

The Ford Falcon (FG) is a full-size car that was produced by Ford Australia from 2008 to 2014. It was the first iteration of the seventh and last generation of this Australian-made model. Its range no longer featured the Fairmont luxury badge, replaced instead by the G Series.

Introduction and changes

The FG series Falcon was first previewed at a press event on 17 February 2008 and sold until October 2014.

In order to make a fresh start, Ford Australia decided to revolutionize the designation of all models within the range. In particular, the long-standing Futura, Fairmont and Fairmont Ghia models were replaced by the more contemporary G6 and G6E models respectively. The FG moniker references the now discontinued Fairmont Ghia. The FG was superseded in December 2014, by the FG X series.

The standard FG Falcon engine is a 24-Valve 4.0 Litre in-line-six with VCT; which produces peak power of 195 kW (261 hp) at 6000 rpm and class-leading peak torque of 391 N·m (288 lb·ft) at 3250 rpm. From July 2010 production all I6 engines (excluding E-Gas models) meet Euro 4 emission standards. The ZF six-speed auto is the only transmission available (excluding XR models which feature a six-speed manual transmission standard, with the option of the auto). This combined with hardware updates has improved fuel consumption to 9.9 L/100 km (29 mpg_-imp; 24 mpg_-US) for all entry level naturally aspirated petrol sedans and 10.7 L/100 km (26 mpg_-imp; 22 mpg_-US) for the equivalent utility variants. The high-performance turbocharged version of the in-line-six produces 270 kW (362 hp) at 5250 rpm and 533 N·m (393 lb·ft) of torque from 1950 rpm; this engine is available in the XR6 Turbo and G6E Turbo.

Trademark

A trademark, trade mark, or trade-mark is a recognizable sign, design, or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others, although trademarks used to identify services are usually called service marks. The trademark owner can be an individual, business organization, or any legal entity. A trademark may be located on a package, a label, a voucher, or on the product itself. For the sake of corporate identity, trademarks are being displayed on company buildings.

Usage

A trademark identifies the brand owner of a particular product or service. Trademarks can be licensed to others; for example, Bullyland obtained a license to produce Smurf figurines; the Lego Group purchased a license from Lucasfilm in order to be allowed to launch Lego Star Wars; TT Toys Toys is a manufacturer of licensed ride-on replica cars for children. The unauthorized usage of trademarks by producing and trading counterfeit consumer goods is known as brand piracy.

The owner of a trademark may pursue legal action against trademark infringement. Most countries require formal registration of a trademark as a precondition for pursuing this type of action. The United States, Canada and other countries also recognize common law trademark rights, which means action can be taken to protect an unregistered trademark if it is in use. Still common law trademarks offer the holder in general less legal protection than registered trademarks.

Falcon

A falcon (/ˈfɔːlkən, ˈfæl-/) is any one of 37 species of raptors in the genus Falco, widely distributed on all continents of the world except Antarctica.

Adult falcons have thin, tapered wings, which enable them to fly at high speed and to change direction rapidly. Fledgling falcons, in their first year of flying, have longer flight feathers, which make their configuration more like that of a general-purpose bird such as a broadwing. This makes it easier to fly while learning the exceptional skills required to be effective hunters as adults.

The falcons are the largest genus in the Falconinae subfamily of Falconidae, which itself also includes another subfamily comprising caracaras and a few other species. All these birds kill with their beaks, using a "tooth" on the side of their beaks — unlike the hawks, eagles, and other birds of prey in Accipitridae, which use their feet.

Peregrine falcons have been recorded diving at speeds of 200 miles per hour (320 km/h), making them the fastest-moving creatures on Earth. Other falcons include the gyrfalcon, lanner falcon, and merlin. Some small falcons with long, narrow wings are called hobbies, and some which hover while hunting are called kestrels.