MORE Bad news for Ford Aust, another 450 job cuts just announced.

[Mondie]

The new President of Ford Australia, Marin Burela, has just finished a press conference announcing another 450 job cuts in addition to the 350 announced less than 8 weeks ago. l fear that Ford may not survive locally, l am however impressed that Burela understands the local market, has the Worldwide experience within the Ford Empire and thus gives FOA the best chance they have to pull the company through the inevitable difficult times now, and that lay ahead. Thank god FOA is not being run by an American right now!

My thoughts go out to all those loosing their jobs, Geelong must really be feeling the pinch right now.

Cheers,
mondie

[rodderz]

http://www.news.com.au/business/stor...-31037,00.html

[4Vman]

Ford employs about 4700 people at its Victorian plants -- 2300 factory floor workers and 2400 in areas such as engineering, administration, marketing and design.
That's 1400 jobs over the next 3 years, or 30% of their workforce... about right considering their current position.

[Supercharged]

Sad to see, all those people that purchased imported cars will in the end be effected in some way they just don't know it yet.

[SB076]

Originally Posted by FG Turbo Ute

Sad to see, all those people that purchased imported cars will in the end be effected in some way they just don't know it yet.

True and pity the government hasn't recognised this either

[bob^]

Originally Posted by Mondie

My thoughts go out to all those loosing their jobs, Geelong must really be feeling the pinch right now.

I still don't see what the real big fuss is about. No one is being forced to go yet, it's all voluntary, and you get a nice package to go with it.
I've personally had enough of the doom and gloom, I'm surrounded by it every day there. No one has had a gun pointed to their heads..yet.
The only ones that can lose their jobs without a package are the ones that were recently employed on a contract basis anyway!

[dreadly]

Damm straight! Why the %$#& does this government do this?? Hell their should be an import tax on anything other than Aussie cars. Ford, Holden maybe Mitsubishi and toyota because they had manufactures plants (some models only)
Now by slugging all other makers witha high tax lets say at least 20% it'd make you think twice indeed! We need hyundai, daewoo, kia, dihatsu, suzuki, etc banned!!! Why the hell are they here make people save another yr or 2 or buy a quality used car instead!!! If it wasnt for Ford Australia we may be saluting a red sun and be ran by japs?! Ford make those fuel tanks and bommers get to new guinea?
So its just un Australian to be doing so!!! We need a poster saying buy a ford show your not a terrorist ;) lol Hahaha but the problem really lies in that Ford Australia is not that..... We want, need and deserve our own Ford company not a name giving profits to the U.S.... We want it as a registered company on the ASX buy our own shares.. and decide want products, advertising etc we should have, how many employees etc!!!

[irlewy86]

Originally Posted by dreadly

Damm straight! Why the %$#& does this government do this?? Hell their should be an import tax on anything other than Aussie ...........et al

Wow, I'm just blown away. You truely are a master of glovbal ecconomics, business ethics and protectionism.

[RPO83]

Originally Posted by irlewy86

Wow, I'm just blown away. You truely are a master of glovbal ecconomics, business ethics and protectionism.

Protectionism gave us a lack of choice, a lack of quality and a lack of service. There was a damn good reason why the 'Button Plan' was implemented and supported by both sides of government.

Burela told it straight at the press conference today and clearly acknowledged that this move was not taken lightly.

[Supercharged]

Perhaps a sticker on the back of the cars isn't such a bad idea.
Say something like, Australian Built, Australian Jobs, benefits all Australians.

[balthazarr]

Originally Posted by RPO83

Protectionism gave us a lack of choice, a lack of quality and a lack of service. There was a damn good reason why the 'Button Plan' was implemented and supported by both sides of government.

Burela told it straight at the press conference today and clearly acknowledged that this move was not taken lightly.

I understand the principle behind abolishing protectionism. I really do. The problem is, how can we possibly compete on a "level playing field"?

You may argue that tariffs create an uneven playing field, giving an advantage to locally produced goods. My argument is, they restore the balance... how can we possibly compete with cars produced in countries where they pay their workers 5c/day (if they're lucky), have horrific working conditions, etc.?

We can't... unless everyone wants to start working for 5c/day.

[SB076]

Originally Posted by balthazarr

I understand the principle behind abolishing protectionism. I really do. The problem is, how can we possibly compete on a "level playing field"?

You may argue that tariffs create an uneven playing field, giving an advantage to locally produced goods. My argument is, they restore the balance... how can we possibly compete with cars produced in countries where they pay their workers 5c/day (if they're lucky), have horrific working conditions, etc.?

We can't... unless everyone wants to start working for 5c/day.

Correct and its not just the cost of labor, look at all the costs and taxes imposed by governments and then compare them with overseas countries, there needs to be some balance otehrwise we stand the risk of losing a lot of industry and once its gone it wont come back.

The governemnt is talking about reducing tarriffs to 5% in 2010 at the same time, they are on course to implement a carbon trading scheme which will increase manufacturing costs and make it more difficult to compete.

[irlewy86]

Originally Posted by SB076

Correct and its not just the cost of labor, look at all the costs and taxes imposed by governments and then compare them with overseas countries, there needs to be some balance otehrwise we stand the risk of losing a lot of industry and once its gone it wont come back.

The governemnt is talking about reducing tarriffs to 5% in 2010 at the same time, they are on course to implement a carbon trading scheme which will increase manufacturing costs and make it more difficult to compete.

Carbon trading should have just as great effect on the imported product as the local, if not more factoring in the higher transport costs.

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by RPO83

Protectionism gave us a lack of choice, a lack of quality and a lack of service. There was a damn good reason why the 'Button Plan' was implemented and supported by both sides of government.

Couldn't have said it better.
High tariffs will only introduce further inferior products to the public.

While it is bad that people are losing their jobs, a lot of this blame has more to do with the way Ford was managed not the government. Ford had numerous occasions to build cars people wanted but drove their head further into the sand. Bringing the Focus and Fiesta was a good start but simply bringing them here and relying on themselves to sell isn't going to work.

When the BA arrived it was a great leap for Ford Aus, it finally brought them up a step in terms of design and function. Still though lagged too far behind in terms of quality and service. Of course they didn't bother doing anything about it and introduced the BF and BF2. FG was supposed to be the be all and end all for the Falcon, it was a good launch but they still failed to hit the mark. where is the updated LPG systems? Diesel? Territory facelift? Can't afford to do this? Shouldn't be complaining, possibly even manufacturing here. Times have changed, Ford hasn't.

[gtfpv]

come on come on . we are in a recession . in a recession people do not buy new cars. bigger cars especially . if 450 people go , and they get a good package then i think good for them . but it is just me .

[csv8]

In Queensland, BMW sales are up 60%. Courier Mail 15/10/08.
Recession ???

[gtfpv]

Originally Posted by csv8

In Queensland, BMW sales are up 60%. Courier Mail 15/10/08.
Recession ???

. wealthy people can still buy BMW'S.

[Airmon]

We set a record for car sales in the first half of this year, 540,000units I think?
That's alot of BMWs

[Gobes32]

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=oMOBqRVDOYQ

Maybe Ford Aus will be more productive if they adopt the above tactics?

[uranium_death]

What annoys me is that when Ford release a new, fantastic car, the media coverage is crap.
When Holden releases an inferior car, it's a National holiday.

When bad news comes out about Ford, it's everywhere, and out loud.

I wish the media would help the industry by being a little more positive when warranted.

[Bossxr8]

I've got a great idea for Steve Bracks, lets lower tariffs even more so that other countries will follow suit and do the same thing, then we will sell our cars all over the world and the foreigners will take to them with open arms and wallets.

Get out of fantasy land you frkn to55er. If you don't do whatever it takes to save the local industry it will just about be totally gone in 5 years, now is the point of no return. They need all the help they can get.

[Gobes32]

Originally Posted by uranium_death

What annoys me is that when Ford release a new, fantastic car, the media coverage is crap.
When Holden releases an inferior car, it's a National holiday.

When bad news comes out about Ford, it's everywhere, and out loud.

I wish the media would help the industry by being a little more positive when warranted.

It's Mitsubishi all over again. If eventually everybody keeps saying the same thing then eventually it comes true..........

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by acosta32

It's Mitsubishi all over again. If eventually everybody keeps saying the same thing then eventually it comes true..........

Seems like once the media see blood they go in for the kill. They must love the way it creates headlines.

Vultures.

[Gobes32]

The hilarious thing is that there is more danger of Toyota shutting. hahaha

They're plant runs seven days 24 hours and they still can't keep up. The news that I get from there is that one day Toyota will shut down Altona because the plant just isn't big enough and cannot be made bigger. Ironic that they are the victims of their own success.

[rodderz]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

I've got a great idea for Steve Bracks, lets lower tariffs even more so that other countries will follow suit and do the same thing, then we will sell our cars all over the world and the foreigners will take to them with open arms and wallets.

Get out of fantasy land you frkn to55er. If you don't do whatever it takes to save the local industry it will just about be totally gone in 5 years, now is the point of no return. They need all the help they can get.

The government can in a way control this situation and save a heap of local jobs by controlling how much tax and tariffs there are on local vs imported cars. Perhaps if they made imported cars more expensive the local plants, plus the 1000's of employees that work for suppliers, could keep working.

Buyers of imported cars won't be happy but all we seem to be doing by allowing such cheap cars here is supporting another country's economy instead of our own. media doesn't help either, local cars here get a reeming because they flog them for being heavier and thirster

[Gobes32]

The other option is we all work for a bowl of rice so as to maintain competition with Asian workforces. And do away with all OH&S laws. There is a reason they can make a brand new car less than 10K.

[rodderz]

Exactly, this is why the asian cars are all so cheap. We have been buying their products (or our stuff made there) for decades now and slowly it built their economy to a point where they are now very large and powerful.

[Hunter]

Forgive me for speaking outside the box here but not all Asian car makers run their workforce on bowls of rice... Japan isn't like that.

Ford on the other hand seem to think its ok to build some of their cars in truly 3rd world countries like South Africa. Judging by the number of people in the Focus forum who have complained about the bad build quality I think that speaks for itself. But its not just Ford who do this, Volkswagen also makes the Polo and I think the Jetta in S.A.

You could not pay me enough to buy a S.A. built car - their workforce just doesn't have the experience or skill to make cars that are on par with what Japan and, perhaps maybe Korea, can do.

[HSE2]

Originally Posted by rodderz

The government can in a way control this situation and save a heap of local jobs by controlling how much tax and tariffs there are on local vs imported cars. Perhaps if they made imported cars more expensive the local plants, plus the 1000's of employees that work for suppliers, could keep working.

Buyers of imported cars won't be happy but all we seem to be doing by allowing such cheap cars here is supporting another country's economy instead of our own. media doesn't help either, local cars here get a reeming because they flog them for being heavier and thirster

We have just seen the lengths to which the Government can act when they think the consequences are dire enough.

I can see both points of view on this one but there is something wrong when companies can take their business offshore and import the same product for less. By and large that can only happen for a few reasons.

Eventually, if we aren't careful we will have no manufacturing industry in this country. A global free will is fine in essence, provided everyone is playing with the same deck of cards. Clearly that isn't then case and clearly we should not be leading the way in such matters.

Increased quality and choice has occurred, the numbers reflect the growing trend towards imports. When that goes too far a correction has to be made.

Two years ago a work colleague was on a flight between Detroit and I think LA. He was wearing his HSV racing jacket and was seated next to a gentleman who took a great deal of interest in his attire. It turned out this mystery chappie was an exec from GM. To cut a long story short this person’s prediction was that there would be no automotive industry in Australian by 2015 and that included Toyota and GM.

Two years ago that was hard to image. I was reminded of the fact yesterday and it’s not looking too far off the mark the way things are going.

Companies should not be allowed to close manufacturing bases in this country to go off shore to places where global considerations aren't to our standards. We prattle on about our economic and environmental duty of care, well willingly and easily facilitating such actions is just as bad. Such companies should have very stiff penalties applied to them. If they still want to go off shore fine, they pay the penalty for doing so.
We can now see that every country has a “look out for number one” policy. That wasn’t completely evident when the button plan was introduced.

[SB076]

Originally Posted by irlewy86

Carbon trading should have just as great effect on the imported product as the local, if not more factoring in the higher transport costs.

How did you come to that conclusion? My understanding (to date as it hasnt been fully finalised) is that the main pollutant in Oz is Energy (power etc) therefore we can see things like power to increase in cost which will increase our manufacturing costs but have no effect on overseas manufacturing.

It not just the labor cost that make it difficult to compete - compare all the costs imposed by governments around the world (environment, compliance with all applicable laws, all taxes etc)

Yes the automotive industry in oz needs to change to take on board changing trends - however new cars are not developed overnight and the large car segment has performed well for the last few decades - there has only recently been a shift to smaller cars