June V-Facts

[Airmon]

Monaro - 1

How long has that thing been sitting around? :

Other then that it doesnt look like too bad a month for Ford, but Holden have lost alot of the market share lately, and Toyota continue to surge.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

Well as someone who owns the previous generation I would list my reasons as:

-New Mazda 6 looks too much like a Toyota Aurion, which is not a complilment and is not as sporty looking as the first generation.
-No MPS Version.
-Luxury Sports 6 is missing center display that has been decontented by Mazda Australia.
-The car I have now is brilliant and I don't feel a need to rush out and upgrade.
-Series 2 will have more for the same or less money.

Lack of an auto model.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by vztrt

370 would be full production with no stoppage.

Look at about 330-340 per day (less on days with group meetings).

The plant rarely gets a full days production out, also with the amount of operators ford has asked the maufacturing engineers to use it's tough for them as well.

Good point.

In a soft market and poor to average sales, the scheduled output (full line rate production) would not be picked up. If the cars was selling up a storm the plant would pick up any lost production and pump out the 370.

I bet the budgets are based on the full programmed schedule with a small amount allowed for production volume loss. From memory the group meeting days are 'supposed' to be about 340 cars, the other days are supposed to be more.

I reckon they were hoping for some better initial FG sales (especially for EOFY - June).

[prydey]

gee some people are very hard to please.

the FG will never (not in the near future anyway) match the commodore for monthly sales.

at close to 3500 units for june i thought it was very impressive given the uncertainty surrounding the economy and the fact that its end of financial year time.

the fact is it's a very impressive car meaning all other manufacturers will have to pull their fingers out for their next models. once more of them start to hit the market place i think word of mouth will add to the sales as well. imagine a couple of neighbours, one into cars, the other not so. car man buys a fg. neighbour comes to have a look and a drive and is impressed. now imagine he is also in the market for a new car.

toyota surge ahead because they seem to have a much better reputation than ford and holden. it will take a while for the message to come accross that the new fg is quite good on the juice. in the meantime they just have to try to weather the storm and i feel they are doing a good job!

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Barraxr8

Good point.

In a soft market and poor to average sales, the scheduled output (full line rate production) would not be picked up. If the cars was selling up a storm the plant would pick up any lost production and pump out the 370.

I bet the budgets are based on the full programmed schedule with a small amount allowed for production volume loss. From memory the group meeting days are 'supposed' to be about 340 cars, the other days are supposed to be more.

I reckon they were hoping for some better initial FG sales (especially for EOFY - June).

The plant can pump up out 550 cars a day (this is what use to be schedualed in early 2006 but then it dropped twice to 370) done only once since the BA was released.

Hopefully they have worked out numbers well. Also with United fuel rolling out E85 fuel it might be market that Ford could target with the Duratec motor. But I'm not sure if the V6 has an E85 engine, I know the Focus in europe has this model.

But the other point of cras being exported to NZ and a small amounts to South Africa should be able to keep down days to a minimum.

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Lack of an auto model.

This omission hasn't hurt the diesel 3 sales though...

I must say out of all the new small cars, the 3 stands out - I just received my brand newie last week and its a really nice car for its class/money.

I don't really see the point of the 6 myself, its just a bigger version of the 3, seems a tad underpowered though.

[whales]

Ford must be happy with the FG sales as I haven't seen an ad on TV for it for about 2 weeks now, but last night got about 4 Astra ads in about 1 hour.
Ford really need to look at their advertising and start telling people how it fuel economy and safety feratures are better than that of the Commodore.

When was the last time anyone saw and ad for any model the Ford sell? I might watch the wrong shows or watch at the wrong time but I still see plenty of Holden ads.

Still the sales figures will pick up with the Turbo and FPV models but wait and see what happens when Holden finally release the wagon, I think it will sell and sell very well.

Even though I'm not a great fan of the fingers ad, it is better than nothing.

My 2c worth

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by whales

Ford must be happy with the FG sales as I haven't seen an ad on TV for it for about 2 weeks now, but last night got about 4 Astra ads in about 1 hour.
Ford really need to look at their advertising and start telling people how it fuel economy and safety feratures are better than that of the Commodore.

Given the plunging sales in the US this past month I would guess the Ford outposts have all been told to cut spending again. GM is burning cash reserves much quicker then Ford, but Ford has a real problem with its product mix in the US that means its not really that much better off and will burn a lot of cash over the next three years trying to adjust to the new product mix it needs to have. At the end of the day Ford is an American company and the outposts will come second. As long as they bring in cash, they will get just enough to keep going in this climate.

Ford Aust can probably survive if current Falcon sales figures don't drop any further. The turbo models should give Ford Australia a reprieve from declining large car sales till the end of the year at least. After that who knows. At any rate you can bet there isnt a whole lot of cash around Broadmeadows right now and what there is, will be earmarked to get Focus online sooner, rather than later, as it would seem thats what the farm is being bet on.

I just wish I felt some confidence that Focus was going to save Australian production, but I don't. There are too many other enstemic problems at Ford Aust for one car to turn things around.

Dan

[RATT]

If 2000 Focus models are sold and approximately 1500 or so are exported once production starts here, then it will look good for Ford Oz.

It also depends on the product mix overall. Will there be wagon? Will the XR5 be assembled here as well? What about any other variants sharing the same platform?
If any of the above happen, then at lease in the short to mid-term Ford Australias future will be brighter than that of Holden or Toyota.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by RATT

If 2000 Focus models are sold and approximately 1500 or so are exported once production starts here, then it will look good for Ford Oz.

It also depends on the product mix overall. Will there be wagon? Will the XR5 be assembled here as well? What about any other variants sharing the same platform?
If any of the above happen, then at lease in the short to mid-term Ford Australias future will be brighter than that of Holden or Toyota.

The XR5 would stay as an imported car, as the numbers sold would need to be significant to actually start assembling it here. Mind you if the shift to smaller cars starts to increase small sports car sales it may very well.

[RATT]

Originally Posted by vztrt

The XR5 would stay as an imported car, as the numbers sold would need to be significant to actually start assembling it here. Mind you if the shift to smaller cars starts to increase small sports car sales it may very well.

There would be very little that would need to change, it's mainly driveline that is different. Although the current LV XR5 has completely different stampings allround, including the doors. So if that's the case then no it wouldn't be viable, unless it was also exported.
I would like to see the Kuga also built here as current supply constraints in Europe means that we may not see it all. So naturally, with a small export market and local sales the Kuga may stack up quite well for local production.

It's only then that local sales will move well ahead of Holden and it will keep the plant at or near 100% capacity possibly most of the week.

[XR4568]

If the new gen Focus to be built in OZ is bang on for style (very likely), price (likely) and quality (hopefully a couple of steps above current), then I reckon Ford will kick some major sales goals.

Should be no more supply issues either, especially once they sort our their domestic/export model mix

[Wretched]

Will the XR5 still be a 5 after Ford sell Volvo?

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Carby

Toyota is moving forth like an unstoppable colossus:

How easily have Aussies embraced this brand?

Toyota...sad story really.

I've been in Camrys and Corollas...juggernauts in terms of sales for the respective classes, and I must say they're boring as hell, and uncomfortable. Interiors are plasticky and plain.

I live in an area where the demographic is largely Asian (Chinese, Sri Lankan, Indian, Malaysian etc.) and almost all of them drive a Toyota.

Speaking to my tennis team mate (who is from Hong Kong), when I asked him why he loves Toyota so much, he said it's due to their reliability, as well as resale value.

Personally, I would never buy a Toyota because as much as I want a vehicle to be reliable, I want to be comfortable, and feel like I'm driving a car and not a refridgerator.

Speaking of reliability, we've had the VTII almost 8 years and there's never been a problem.

[Z456]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

Well as someone who owns the previous generation I would list my reasons as:

-New Mazda 6 looks too much like a Toyota Aurion, which is not a complilment and is not as sporty looking as the first generation.
-No MPS Version.
-Luxury Sports 6 is missing center display that has been decontented by Mazda Australia.
-The car I have now is brilliant and I don't feel a need to rush out and upgrade.
-Series 2 will have more for the same or less money.

Its probably a supply issue - as with the Mazda 2 (and Mazda 3 when first released). Sales depend upon how many units dealers can get a hold of.

Mazda 6 is a good car - should blitz the sales once a new shipment arrives...

[Z456]

Toyota Camry/Aurion 4,813 (essentially same car with different engine)
Holden Commodore 4,274
Ford Falcon 3,483

2 years ago I never would’ve thought Camry (4cyl + V6) would outsell Falcon or Commodore. Toyota Aurion sold 2,552 last month – this time last year was only 1800-2000 per month! And they did it with a fuel price crisis in a declining (large car) market!!!!

If Toyota can do it, why can’t Ford???

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Z456

Toyota Camry/Aurion 4,813 (essentially same car with different engine)
Holden Commodore 4,274
Ford Falcon 3,483

2 years ago I never would’ve thought Camry (4cyl + V6) would outsell Falcon or Commodore. Toyota Aurion sold 2,552 last month – this time last year was only 1800-2000 per month! And they did it with a fuel price crisis in a declining (large car) market!!!!

If Toyota can do it, why can’t Ford???

Have a look where the cars are going, they are fleet cars. Hertz seems to have dumped the Falcon for both Camry's.

[GS608]

Hopefully the falcon and commodore start being bought by fleets again, imagine our whole police force with camrys *cringes*

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by XR-CHIEF

Hopefully the falcon and commodore start being bought by fleets again, imagine our whole police force with camrys *cringes*

Are the police even buying the FG, as I haven't seen an FG cop car yet?

[paulvdb]

Originally Posted by XR-CHIEF

Hopefully the falcon and commodore start being bought by fleets again, imagine our whole police force with camrys *cringes*

Actually in real life I'm sure GM/Ford are quite happy for Toyo to be winning all the zero profit fleet deals. I'll bet the mining companies and rental fleets are getting serious discounts on the qty they buy. The bummer is that Toyota seems to have a creative accounting model that the ATO hasn't had any luck cracking yet. Something that lets them run quite well on zero profit.

We need to see a sales report from the FCAI that excludes fleet purchases. I'd bet that the number of privately purchased Tritons and Hiluxes would number in the tens rather than thousands.

I also agree with the comment re the Asian community buying Toyotas. Go and have a look through suburbs like Chatswood or Eastwood in Sydney. That means that unless we radically change the cultural mix in our country that GM/Ford are simply not going to change the mix of sales in Australia - ever. They can make a perfect medium car and people will still buy Camrys.

I've driven rental Toyotas and for a 21st century car they are rubbish. Absolute zero driving pleasure, vague steering, vague suspension, indifferent ergonomics, fuel economy nothing special - I just don't get why anyone would buy one.

[GS608]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Are the police even buying the FG, as I haven't seen an FG cop car yet?

neither have i, but it was a few months before we started to see VE cop cars

[Martyvan]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Are the police even buying the FG, as I haven't seen an FG cop car yet?

I saw at least 4 FG XR6's today, that were Hertz Rentals, and im not talking as i drove past the airport... ALL had the Sat nav option... as you could see it as i drove past...

First ones i have seen as hire cars...

[The G6ET Spot]

Why do Ford persist in selling the courier and the F250 when they have figures like that.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by RAPID XR8

Why do Ford persist in selling the courier and the F250 when they have figures like that.

Old stock that was lying around in the yard. The courier is now the Ranger and I dont think the F series is even being sold anymore in Oz.

[Z456]

i know NSW police have started using camrys as Patrol cars, which is just... :ymca:

[Martyvan]

Originally Posted by Z456

i know NSW police have started using camrys as Patrol cars, which is just... :ymca:

Thats just scary....... Crime will be on the rise, as they know the police wont get there as fast...!! Whats next? Police using Pruis' ?

[Romulus]

Originally Posted by paulvdb

I've driven rental Toyotas and for a 21st century car they are rubbish. Absolute zero driving pleasure, vague steering, vague suspension, indifferent ergonomics, fuel economy nothing special - I just don't get why anyone would buy one.

I've no fact to back up my statement but judging from my everyday experience Toyota Camry/Aurion drivers have to be the worst on the road.

A hoon car attracts a hoon driver. In Toyota's case a rubbish car attracts a rubbish driver.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by M6 XR6T

I've no fact to back up my statement but judging from my everyday experience Toyota Camry/Aurion drivers have to be the worst on the road.

A hoon car attracts a hoon driver. In Toyota's case a rubbish car attracts a rubbish driver.

Too true, I reckon 90% of the time when a car is holding everyone else up, or they do something stupid like not even seeing you and nearly causing a collision, they are driving a Camry. The Camry is the new Volvo.

[Grunter]

Does the Commodore number include their ute sales?

[US kills Falcon]

Originally Posted by Grunter

Does the Commodore number include their ute sales?

No. The utes sales are recorded separately.