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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.

Ford exec reveals new F-150 Raptor packs 450 horsepower

Between the new GT supercar, Shelby GT350R muscle car and F-150 Raptor off-roader, Ford had quite the array of performance machinery on display at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this month. One thing it didn't reveal about any of the three, however, is how much power they'd pack, but a senior executive at the Blue Oval automaker has reportedly let the cat out of the bag when it comes to the Raptor. During a televised interview during the Rolex 24 at Daytona this past weekend, Ford's product development chief Raj Nair is said to have revealed that the new F-150 Raptor will offer 450 horsepower. That's pretty impressive from a 3.5-liter turbocharged V6, and would put the new Raptor out ahead of the 411 hp produced by the 6.2-liter naturally aspirated V8 in the previous SVT Raptor. That doesn't give us the whole picture, though, because in a vehicle this big especially, torque will play a huge factor. The outgoing Raptor offered 424 pound-feet of twist, and the existing 3.5-liter EcoBoost engine is already producing 420 lb-ft – so it seems fairly safe to assume the new Raptor will eclipse those figures as well, but we'll have to wait for official word to find out for sure. Related Video:

Hands on with Ford Sync 3

It's kind of funny (not funny) how the infotainment systems in our vehicles seem to lag behind the consumer products in our pockets. Long after we had easy-to-use touchscreens on our phones, the glass panels in the center stack of our cars remained obstinately mired in the muck of technology past. We are happy to report it's getting better. We had a chance to go hands-on with the new Sync 3 system from Ford at a technology event. Not once were we struck by the urge to reach out and offer a bit of knuckled encouragement. The processors kept swiping smooth, and the voice recognition could understand even our mumbly mouthings. The voice prompts were certainly fewer and less frustrating than in times past. Ask for the nearest Indian restaurant, and it quickly brought up a list to choose from, ready to offer directions. Want to listen to NPR, just say the word. Sync 3 also improved its ability to get along with others, by which we mean it nicely integrates a range of apps from your phone and can incorporate their individual areas of expertise. With Pandora installed, we could ask for a particular playlist and it would begin streaming. If we wanted a certain artist, it would pull it from the phone's memory upon request. To get a sense of what how the new system functions, check out the video above for a quick look at the improved layout and a demonstration of its smoothness and smarts. To get a look at how it integrates with music streaming services, scroll down for a Pandora-centered Short Cut below.