Ford Labels Rival Australian Tuning Insignificant

Ford has fired a pointed shot at rivals including GWM and Kia, with its marketing director dismissing their Australian suspension and steering tuning programs as "insignificant" and a "marketing ploy." The comments are unusually direct for a brand press briefing, and they deserve unpacking for buyers currently comparing a Ford Ranger or Everest against Chinese or Korean alternatives that claim local development credentials.

Ambrose Henderson, Ford Australia's marketing director, made the remarks at a media preview of the updated Ranger and Everest held at Ford's You Yangs Proving Ground in Victoria, a 900-hectare facility that forms the centrepiece of Ford's claimed $5 billion investment in Australian engineering over the past decade.

What Ford Actually Said

Henderson did not hedge his language. "While others, who may be Chinese OEMs or other OEMs, talk about Australian tuned, as a marketing ploy..." he told media at the event.

"Let's be honest, right? How much is Australian tuning, how much can you really change on the dynamics of a vehicle? I'd argue, if it's any more than five per cent, we should have a really big debate about it. It's really insignificant in terms of how a whole vehicle comes together."

Mario Brandini, Ford Australia's vehicle program director, expanded on the technical argument. "Tuning is the last end of it. If you're not designing it here from scratch, put the right hardware into it at the start, you can't get the tune that you want. Ford can go full circle. For the life of the car. You put the right hardware in at the start, that gives it a long life."

Henderson framed Ford's 1500-person Australian engineering workforce as a sustainable competitive advantage that rivals simply cannot replicate by running test vehicles on local roads for a few weeks each year.

Who Ford Is Talking About

The targets of Ford's comments are not named directly, but the context is clear.

GWM ran a long-term residency at Holden's former Lang Lang proving ground south-east of Melbourne before that site was sold to a defence contractor. GWM's AT-1 program, which calibrates suspension, steering, and software settings for Australian roads, will continue elsewhere. The program has been a marketing cornerstone for the Cannon Alpha and Tank 500 in Australia.

Kia has run an Australian suspension calibration program for 15 years, covering models including the Sportage, Sorento, and Tasman ute. Hyundai has scaled back its equivalent program to less frequent adjustments combined with global development feedback.

JAC also makes occasional Australian-market calibration changes on an ad-hoc basis for its locally sold models.

Is Ford Right?

The honest answer is: partly.

Ford's argument has substance at the engineering extreme. The current-generation Ranger was designed from the ground up in Australia, using local engineers who specified suspension geometry, chassis tuning, and hardware at the start of the development cycle, not the end. That is categorically different from a brand that designs a vehicle for global markets and then adjusts damper settings and steering weight at the end of the process.

The distinction matters for durability and behaviour on Australian roads. A vehicle whose suspension was specced for Australian corrugated dirt tracks from the start will handle those conditions differently from one that had its rebound rates adjusted after the fact.

But Ford's dismissal of rival tuning programs as uniformly insignificant is also self-serving. Kia's 15-year Australian calibration program has produced measurably different driving dynamics compared to global-spec vehicles. Engineers who worked on the Sportage and Sorento Australian tunes have described adjustments that go well beyond token damper tweaks. The degree of local adaptation varies significantly by brand and model, and Ford's broad dismissal does not capture that nuance.

What This Means for Buyers

For buyers choosing between a Ranger and a GWM or Kia rival, the engineering credentials argument is real but easy to overweight.

Ford's Australian development depth is genuine and represents a long-term investment that rivals cannot replicate quickly. That investment is most evident in high-stress use cases: heavy towing on rough roads, repeated corrugated dirt track work, and sustained high-load commercial applications. Buyers who do those things regularly will notice the difference.

For buyers who mostly drive on sealed roads with occasional gravel, the engineering distinction matters less. In that use case, the Kia Tasman's chassis calibration or GWM Cannon Alpha's AT-1 tune produces a vehicle that feels appropriately suited to Australian conditions, regardless of whether it was designed here from the start.

The broader context is also relevant. Ford CEO Jim Farley has separately warned that Ford's Australian engineering operations may be cut if the Federal Government does not act to reduce the cost differential between engineering locally and doing the same work in China or Vietnam. That warning is a significant one: if Ford's Australian engineering presence shrinks, the gap between Ford's local development and rivals' tuning programs narrows considerably.

For now, the Ranger and Everest carry a genuine engineering advantage that is worth understanding before making a large purchase decision. Whether that advantage justifies the premium over rivals is a question each buyer needs to answer based on how they actually use their vehicle. Carseekers can help you compare the full cost picture before you commit.

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