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Ford Australia reveals updated Territory, Falcon via Twitter

Ford may have tied together much of its global lineup under the One Ford campaign, but one market where it still offers unique products is Australia. That will soon draw to a close as well, but before it does, the Blue Oval's Aussie operations are rolling out refreshed versions of its two unique products. For the moment, Ford isn't revealing much in the way of powertrain details, but it has shown off a couple of snaps of the revised products on its in-market Twitter feed.
First up is the new Territory. The SUV is neither based on a front-drive crossover platform nor on a truck frame, but shares its rear-drive underpinnings with the Falcon, taking it a step beyond the Falcon wagon alongside which it sits in Ford's Aussie range. Like the outgoing third-generation SZ Territory, the facelifted version is dominated by a narrow grille and larger front air dam, but further punctuates its big-chinned look with more rugged lower cladding and other metallic inserts that bring its look up to date.
And there's the Falcon, which Ford revealed in XR8 trim just last week and is now presenting in G6E spec. If the XR8 is the performance model, the G6E is the luxury version, swapping in more refined trim like a chrome-slat grille (instead of a black honeycomb), chrome foglamp surrounds, less-aggressive multi-spoke wheels (instead of five-spokes) and a flatter hood (instead of a power bulge). Otherwise, it looks essentially the same as the one we saw last week, its facelift bringing it more in line with the smaller, front-drive Mondeo (which we know here as the Fusion) and other members of the Ford family.

Hennessey showcases F-250 VelociRaptor SUV

With automakers embracing smaller and smaller crossovers with each passing year, it'd be all too easy to forget about the Ford Excursion. Bigger than the Expedition (or just about anything else on or off the road), the Excursion was based on Ford's Super Duty truck chassis to put even the likes of the Chevy Suburban, Nissan Armada, and Toyota Sequoia to shame. It ceased production ten years ago now, but Hennessey is bringing it back – sort of. Feast your eyes on the Hennessey VelociRaptor SUV. The design calls for a very fullsize, truck-based sport-ute based on the Ford F-250. Only instead of a pickup bed, it's got four proper side doors and a covered cargo bay with a pair of barn doors at the back. Hennessey will fit it with three rows of seats to accommodate seven or eight passengers, and of course it'll offer a range of upgraded engines as well. What starts out with a 6.2-liter V8 producing 411 horsepower can be supercharged all the way up to 600 or even 650 horses. For those who don't want to spend their life's savings at the pump... well, this probably isn't the right choice of automobile, but Hennessey will offer an enhanced 6.7-liter PowerStroke diesel with 440 hp and 880 pound-feet of stump-pullin' muscle. Naturally there'll be other visual and mechanical upgrades on offer as well, but none of this will come cheap – or fast for that matter. Hennessey will take six months to put one together, and demand nearly $160,000 for the conversion.

FCA, Ford idle plants due to semiconductor shortage

DETROIT (Reuters) - Ford and FCA will become the latest automakers to idle production facilities due to a semiconductor shortage. Ford's Louisville Assembly Plant in Kentucky will idle for a week, borrowing a down period from later in the year to compensate. Per Automotive News, FCA is idling its Brampton facility in Ontario, Canada, and one other site which has not yet been identified.  Louisville Assembly is the production site for the Ford Escape and Lincoln Corsair SUVs; Brampton Assembly produces the Chrysler 300, Dodge Charger and Dodge Challenger for FCA.  A Ford spokeswoman, who declined to identify the semiconductor supplier, confirmed the temporary shutdown to Reuters. In this, FCA and Ford join Nissan and potentially Honda in idling production in the wake of the shortage, which also hit Volkswagen late last year. The shortages are being blamed on consumer demand for silicon after production slowdowns resulting from the coronavirus pandemic. Volkswagen said it had to adjust production schedules in China, Europe and North America to compensate.  Nissan said it planned to reduce production of the Note, a hybrid electric car, at its Oppama Plant in Kanagawa prefecture, Japan, but did not give details of the scale of the output cut. The Nikkei newspaper reported that Nissan would slash its Note production at Oppama to about 5,000 units in January, from an initially planned 15,000 units. "A global shortage of semiconductors has affected parts procurement in the auto sector. As a result of this shortage, the Oppama Plant in Japan will adjust production in January, reducing production of the Nissan NOTE," Nissan said in a statement. (This article contains reporting from Reuters.)     Auto News Plants/Manufacturing UAW/Unions Chrysler Dodge Ford