2011 Australian International Motor Show Photo

Even though it’s not as famous as its Frankfurt, Paris, Tokyo or Detroit counterparts, this year’s edition of the Australian Motor Show, which takes place in Melbourne from July 1 to 10, has some interesting debuts including the Mad Max Concepts pictured above as well as a number of new production and prototype models from the local divisions of General Motors (aka Holden) and Ford.

You can take a look at all the vehicles in our comprehensive photo gallery right after the break. For those of you interested in learning more about the Ford-badged Mad Max Interceptor prototypes

PHOTO GALLERY

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Ford Kills American Ranger after 2011, New Global Ranger Still a Go

Due to the impending death of the American compact truck market, Ford has officially decided to not sell the next generation Ford Ranger in the States after 2011. Instead, the Blue Oval will concentrate on making its half-ton F-150 an all-around contender with a broader engine range. Apparently Ford doesn't think the compact pickup truck market in the States is too important (and at 2%, it really isn't).

Ford's decision to kill its American compact pickup has a couple reasons behind it: competitors offer better options that would cost too much to compete against, and more importantly, the segment is simply dying and not worth investing in. By canceling the US Ranger, Ford will be shutting down its St. Paul, Minnesota assembly plant.

The bottom line is that Ford can and has justified spending its money elsewhere. One example is moving some of its former Ranger fleet purchases to Transit Connects, which makes a lot of sense.

For all those compact pickup fans, there is an upside: markets that make use of small trucks will be getting a new Ranger very soon. The next, more efficient compact pickup will debut at Sydney's Australian International Motor Show. The truck was designed in Australia, which has been on a roll lately with great designs and ideas (e.g. the new Falcon GT and Cruze Hatchback).

The world's next Ranger should come with EcoBoost power and four and six-cylinder gasoline and diesel engines. As soon as we get some more info closer to its debut, you know where to come.

By Phil Alex

Source: USA Today

Ford to Unveil All-New Ranger Pickup Truck and FPV Falcon with Supercharged V8 at Sydney Motor Show

This year's Australian International Motor Show in Sydney, which runs October 15 -24, will see Ford taking the wraps off an all-new generation of its Ranger compact pickup truck. The new Ranger will be joined by Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) first-ever supercharged V8 Falcons, and the Aussie debuts of the current Focus RS and Fiesta Sedan.

The new Ranger, which has been developed in Australia and will go on sale in 180 global markets, is a sister model to the new Mazda BT-50 (also set to make its world premiere in Sydney). Ford said that the new compact pickup truck will be offered with a new family of engines with "impressive gains in power and fuel economy". More intel and photos will be released closer to the Sydney motor show.

Continuing with the rest of Ford's debuts, the 305HP Focus RS will be offered in the country in a limited number of 315 units, while the new Fiesta four-door sedan will be available in both diesel and petrol versions.

As for FPV's Falcon-based performance models, both the GT and GS cars get a new supercharged engine based on the Mustang's 5.0-liter V8 unit kicking out 449HP and 422HP respectively (read more here). According to Ford, albeit the base of the new FPV V8 engine is imported from the USA in component form, each unit is hand-assembled locally by FPV in Melbourne, using Australian-made components.