> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://torquecafe.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Iconic Australian motoring firm turns 30
- URL: https://torquecafe.com/car-news-2026-premcar-30-tickford-fpv/
- Published: 2026-09-11T01:55:04.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-11T01:55:04.000Z
- Description: Premcar – once known as Tickford, Prodrive, and Ford Performance Vehicles – turns 30 today, and has pledged it still has more to give.
- Author: Jordan Mulach
- Tags: News, Performance

The Australian motoring industry has continued to thrive even after the departure of large-scale, local manufacturing, with one of its biggest success stories celebrating a major milestone.

September 11, 2026 represents 30 years since the engineering firm now known as Premcar was officially incorporated, at the time being best known as Tickford Vehicle Engineering, and later becoming Ford Performance Vehicles before its current guise.

“Today marks 30 years of Australian know-how delivering world-class cars,” said Premcar CEO, Bernie Quinn.

“Since 1996, this Australian operation has been the go-to for carmakers looking to create exciting new cars for passionate customers.

“After 30 years, Premcar is busier than ever – and we have big future plans.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/b3/a9b3e204-3117-4792-9a32-46184029df44/content/images/2026/09/Premcar-Sign---Australia.jpg)

Currently, Premcar is best known for its ‘Warrior’ range of Nissan off-road vehicles, such as the Patrol Warrior and – until recently – the Navara Warrior, a new generation of which was previewed late last year.

It has also recently started working with Mitsubishi to deliver the Triton Raider, a more off-road ready version of the popular ute, using lessons learned from its development of the Navara (based on the Triton) suspension to level-up the dual-cab.

“Much more is planned and already underway,” Quinn added.

Having operated in Australia since 1991 as a joint venture with Ford Australia, Tickford oversaw the introduction of the hot Falcon XR range with the EB, which branched out to building higher performance versions of the inline six 4.0-litre engine in other Falcons, Fairmonts and Fairlanes.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/b3/a9b3e204-3117-4792-9a32-46184029df44/content/images/2026/09/mitsubishi-triton-raider-8.jpg)

Mitsubishi Triton Raider

Operating as Tickford from 1991, the official incorporation of the company in September 1996 brought it into a new era, coinciding with the launch of the EL Falcon, to which the firm continued to make improvements, most notably with the launch of the EL GT in 1997.

Tickford’s high point arguably came with the controversial AU Falcon, not only for the XR models – denoted by their quad headlights – but also with the T Series of high-performance models, designed to take on Holden’s growing HSV brand.

Now known as Ford Tickford Engineering (FTE), the brand launched three hot models, the TE50, TS50, and TL50, all of which have gone on to become cult classics.

When Tickford’s global operations were bought out by Prodrive in 2001, its local branding changed to Ford Performance Vehicles (FPV) with the launch of the BA Falcon in 2002, however the Tickford team had already worked on the new model’s key selling point.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/b3/a9b3e204-3117-4792-9a32-46184029df44/content/images/2026/09/2025-nissan-patrol-warrior-7.jpg)

Nissan Patrol Warrior

The Falcon XR6 Turbo has become one of the lasting legacies of Ford’s Australian operations, best known for at the time being a V8 killer, offering similar performance figures from its turbocharged 4.0-litre ‘Barra’ six-cylinder engine to the XR8’s and Holden Commodore SS’s V8s.

With FPV now seen as a subsidiary of Ford, it started to churn out some of the decade’s most iconic performance vehicles locally, from the F6 to GT and the Pursuit utes.

FPV was then bought out by management in 2012, becoming Premcar and still operating as a partner to Ford, though by then the writing was on the wall that the relationship wouldn’t last long, as local production of the Falcon ended in October 2016.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/a9/b3/a9b3e204-3117-4792-9a32-46184029df44/content/images/2026/09/ford_falcon_sprint_xr6_turbo_10.jpeg)

Ford Falcon XR6 Sprint

This didn’t stop Premcar from continuing to work as an engineering business, developing the Ford Falcon XR6 and XR8 Sprint models as a send-off to the sedans, while later launching its own ‘Holy Grail’ package in 2018, showing what could have been if Ford’s purse strings weren’t as tight.

It was at this time Premcar first started to have conversations with Nissan, which eventually resulted in the launch of the Navara Warrior product line, and the opening of its manufacturing and engineering headquarters in Epping, Melbourne.

Premcar has recently confirmed it’s been appointed by Chery to undertake in-market testing and validation of the Stockman locally, while last year it developed a prototype of an off-road Infiniti QX80 (twin to the Nissan Patrol) in the US.