The first fully Ford-built FPV has rolled off the production line at the company’s Broadmeadows assembly plant, returing the famous GT badge to the line for the first time in 37 years.
The FPV GT sedan in Silhouette black paint became the first completed GT to leave the Broadmeadows factory since the Ford Falcon XB GT in 1976, and follows last year’s restructure that saw the high-performance division move in-house after then co-owner Prodrive severed ties with the brand.
Ford Australia president and CEO Bob Graziano said the team was very excited to take over assembly of “the ultimate version of the Falcon”.
“Ford’s history with performance vehicles goes back a very long way and nameplates such as GS and GT are warmly welcomed back in-house,” Graziano said.
“Even though these cars have previously been assembled by FPV, I feel the FPV brand is returning to its natural home.
“Today, we are very proud to be assembling these hand-crafted performance machines right here for our FPV customers.”
Before being brought in-house, FPV assembled vehicles at its Glenbarry Rd facility in Victoria, just around the corner from Ford Australia’s Broadmeadows plant.
FPV bodies were always welded and paineted on the same production line as Falcons and Territorys and built to a rolling state before being delivered to FPV for final assembly.
To facilitate a seamless production transition, Ford has constructed a dedicated FPV assembly facility within the Broadmeadows plant where the cars are now hand-finished by the company’s “best technicians”, who have all been specially trained to build the high-performance models.
The first GT to be produced at the Broadmeadows plant was a 1967 Falcon XR GT. A total of 596 of the 168kW Bathurst-winning models were sold, with a starting price of $3890.
