The term XR, first coined in 1991 on the EB Falcon, is a term used to describe some high performance Ford vehicles in Australia, having copied the term from Ford Europe

Ford Europe

-History:Ford of Europe was founded in 1967 on the merger of the British and German divisions of the Ford Motor Company. The original Ford Transit range of panel vans launched in 1965, was the first formal co-operation between the two entities, simultaneously developed to replace the German Ford...

 who used XR2 for the Ford Fiesta

Ford Fiesta

The Ford Fiesta is a front wheel drive supermini/subcompact manufactured and marketed by Ford Motor Company and built in Europe, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Venezuela, China, India, Thailand and South Africa...

, XR3 for the Ford Escort and XR4 for the Ford Sierra

Ford Sierra

The Ford Sierra is a large family car that was built by Ford Europe from 1982 until 1993. It was designed by Uwe Bahnsen, Robert Lutz and Patrick le Quément. The code used during development was "Project Toni"....

from the mid 80s. XR stands for Experimental Research . The first XR's were the XR6, S-XR6 and XR8 (these names were applied to the more performance oriented Ford Falcons) and the XR2 (Ford Capri). The number after the "XR" is used on Falcons to designate the amount of cylinders the cars engine has. Showed following are the cars that the XR name has been applied to.

Falcon Sedan	Falcon Utility	Falcon Wagon	Mondeo Mk VI	Focus Mk II	Fiesta	Capri
XR6	XR6	XR6 *	XR5 Turbo	XR5 Turbo	XR4	XR2 Turbo *
S - XR6 *	XR6 VCT *	XR6 VCT *				XR2 *
XR6 VCT *	XR6 HP *	XR6 HP *			-
XR6 HP *	XR6 Turbo	XR8 *
XR6 Turbo	XR8
XR8

^{(*) Denotes a discontinued model}

Turbo

Since 2002 the term Turbo has been applied to some high performance Ford vehicles. The Turbo moniker is used to signal the presence of Forced Induction. The Turbo sixes are notorious for out-accelerating Ford's eight cylinder engines and in some cases beating competitors more powerful engines with higher displacement. The other Turbo variants (Mondeo and Focus) are imported from Ford Europe and are otherwise named the ST variants.

Encouragement

Since the Boss engines used for V8 Falcons have been continually criticised it has been suggested by Wheels Magazine that Ford Australia turn to Forced Induction for its V8s.

Engines

Falcon	Focus/Mondeo	Fiesta	Capri
OHV, SOHC and DOHC inline six/turbo	Duratec ST	Duratec Four	Mazda B6/ B6T
Windsor OHV/Boss DOHC V8

FG Falcon

According to publications, including Wheels Magazine, the XR variants of the FG Falcon are among the best and most dynamic cars Ford has ever produced. The new Turbo engine is already being touted as one of the best engines ever produced in Australia.

CAFE Fuel Regulations

Because of the high Fuel Consumption of the V8 and Turbo Sixes Ford Australia has had to look for alternative V8 engines after 2010 (the new Duratec 35 meets consumption regulations). It has been suggested that the all alloy 5.0 Litre V8 from the supercharged Jaguar XF will be used.

Sources

• Wheels Magazine
• Ford Australia