THE AUTOMOTIVE YEAR: Disappointment of 2014

Ford Australia's reluctance to draw attention to the fact the FG X is its last homegrown Falcon ever is understandable, given its commitment to producing the car for two more years at Broadmeadows.

But the total omission of this significant detail became more than just an elephant in the room at the final Falcon launch earlier this month.

Call us sentimental, but we think the release of Ford Australia's last Falcon – one of the world's longest current Blue Oval nameplates and the backbone of Ford manufacturing in this country for 55 years, having attracted millions of Australian sedan, ute and wagon buyers since 1960 – is cause for celebration.

More than that, the Falcon helped define Australia as nation of can-do innovation and never-say-die perseverance, surviving against all odds and without export markets in a small outpost on the other side of the world, for another 45 years after the axe of the North American model that spawned it.

So it was with shock and disbelief there was no mention of any of this, or the fact the Falcon remains the centrepiece of Ford's Australian engineering heritage that dates back to 1925, has been the heart and soul of Geelong for almost 90 years and made the nation one of just four in the Ford world that remains capable of designing and engineering a vehicle from scratch – a fact it consistently boasts about.

Ford says the future of its Australian manufacturing operations has been raked over by the media enough already, and that everything we the media and you the customer needs to know about the final Falcon and Territory was released prior to the national media launch, where it was all about the driving.

But that's no excuse for Ford Australia President and CEO Bob Graziano appearing without making a speech at the event, leaving former Ford Australia and now Asia Pacific product development chief Trevor Worthington to make the only fleeting mention of Ford's proud Falcon history.

Nor is it an excuse not to produce a Falcon or Territory media kit, or even a USB containing vital model statistics, as is common practice for even the most minor of running changes for the most slow-selling of niche models.

Nor it is an excuse for not spending the money on decent photography of the final Territory or Falcon, which will now be remembered by generations of future Australians by a handful of computer-generated images and another handful of action and detail shots that we could have snapped on an iPhone.

Ford did attempt to build up the Falcon launch with the staggered release of information including teaser shots, model codes, SYNC infotainment details, fuel economy and then pricing.

But more often than not these announcements were overshadowed by a sea of releases heralding its new wave of imported models that will pick up where the Falcon leaves off.

In stark contrast to the dearth of publicity for its homegrown models, Ford issued no fewer than five press releases for the Mustang and three for the new Mondeo (which also arrives here next year) in December alone – the same month it launched the Falcon.

But for proof of Ford Australia's preoccupation with its imported product portfolio, look no further than the total lack of advertising for its final Falcon.

The icing on this depressing cake was Ford's quiet announcement that it will quit V8 Supercar racing from 2016 (before Falcon production ceases, raising the prospect that the FG X may only grace race tracks in 2015) on December 1 -- the same day the final Falcon officially went on sale.

And the sad irony is Ford admits it will pull out of Australia's premier motorsport series to instead fund the marketing of new imports like the Mondeo, Mustang, Everest and probably the Edge, which will collectively and effectively replace Ford's two indigenous models.

Sure, we're delighted to see a clever new TVC for the SZII Territory, but Ford Australia hasn't advertised the slow-selling Falcon for years and it looks like that won't change before it's gone.

We commend Ford for creating a born-again FPV GT-spec 335kW XR8 sedan at an accessible $50,490 and giving the Falcon the send-off it deserves next year with an F6-spec 310kW XR6 Turbo – hopefully this time in both sedan and ute form -- powered by the finest six-cylinder engine Australia has ever produced.

But we won't forgive it for not producing a final V8 version of the coupe-utility it invented in 1934, and for turning its back on Australia's long and illustrious Falcon legacy.

Of course, it has two years to rectify this oversight. We wait with bated breath.