Ford Australia Nearly Closed For Good - Page 2

Eaturbo · 28-10-2006, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PDIDDY

Maybe in GM land, but not the case for Ford. If volume targets of specific vehicles are not met when a bonus applies, then the dealer wears it. Why would you put a bonus system in place, and then pay whether the dealer has made target or not? Good way to tear dough.

Sorry mate i was not aware that ford was so tough, it not a real good system. I mean the dealer has so many other things that affect delivery, Freight, transit damage, lack of stock, wrong car spec to match order. With Holden the bonus is there to meet advertised pricing not to meet target. We were doing rodeo 4x4 dual cab turbo diesels for $32990 inc air and list was $42290 so nearly $10 000 off, there was a $8000 bonus, there is no way we could miss target and not get the bonus for these. Fords system sux and no wonder dealers a behind the 8 ball compared to Holden

PDIDDY · 28-10-2006, 02:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eaturbo

Sorry mate i was not aware that ford was so tough, it not a real good system. I mean the dealer has so many other things that affect delivery, Freight, transit damage, lack of stock, wrong car spec to match order. With Holden the bonus is there to meet advertised pricing not to meet target. We were doing rodeo 4x4 dual cab turbo diesels for $32990 inc air and list was $42290 so nearly $10 000 off, there was a $8000 bonus, there is no way we could miss target and not get the bonus for these. Fords system sux and no wonder dealers a behind the 8 ball compared to Holden

No worries man. It's the same with us. We had a target of 145 Falcon passenger cars for a 3 month period to pick up a very large sum of bonuses. Without this cash injection, the discounts given would not be possible. It is a bit like putting the cart before the horse:giving the money away, before getting it.
Lets chill

:

ozrunner · 28-10-2006, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

...............IF THEY DIDN'T GET GOVERNMENT FUNDING FOR THE ORION THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN FORCED TO EITHER SHUT DOWN OR SLOWLY DIE WITH AN UPDATED 10 YEAR OLD VEHICLE. Can that be any clearer. The good thing about this government funding is that they now have enough money to engineer it for LHD and then they can seek export markets. They know it is the only way to secure the companies future and they are currently searching for export markets to make it happen. And the total investment from the government and Ford is in excess of 1.8 Billion dollars. Thats huge money. That covers Orion, plant upgrades and the T6 light truck program.

So Ford put in $1.7b and the Govt's massive contribution of $100m was the saviour meaning Ford could go now ahead with Orion and may not close down. Give me a break.

If we believe what we are told the BA cost $500m to develop and VE $1b so I'm sure Ford could have done something with $1.7b !!!

If you think without that $100m Ford could have shut down then Tom's tongue in cheek message obviously worked on you

_2:

StookEB · 28-10-2006, 11:09 PM

[QUOTE=Eaturbo]. It wasn't until we had the government grant that Orion was given the full go ahead by Ford US. QUOTE]

It seems to me that we are being controlled a lot by Ford US because they are very tight with money at the moment due to losses. They probably had a budget no matter how far of it they were. I dought they would have stoped production just not give us as many options in the future, every company goes through this stage.

Pedro · 29-10-2006, 08:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozrunner

If you think without that $100m Ford could have shut down then Tom's tongue in cheek message obviously worked on you

_2:

Ain't that the truth.
I'm with you ozrunner

xr8man83 · 29-10-2006, 08:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HSE2

Certainly explains a lot of recent behaviour. Could be looking at the last Falcon.

For Badmac

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...5-2682,00.html

that article says wot i was trying to say

good find

xr8man83 · 29-10-2006, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caseterritory

Ford Crown Victoria sells against Statesman in most Falcon potential export markets. Also has cop market sewn up. Canada where it was built will soon drop to one shift building new small Lincoln so maybe the doors are opening.

US unions blocked us exporting onto their home ground but they seem to be copping a bigger flogging now than ever so may US is not totally out of the question.

Will not be exporting till Orion though as they are being openly engineered for LHD.

you would be suprised what does get exported i am fairly sure we export territory to some contries just not in big volumes

Tles · 29-10-2006, 11:25 AM

Territory to South Africa where Turbo is ST, New Zealand it's XR. Thailand too. Some went to China Motor Show. I know they are exporting and trying.

The comments were about the grants which are linked to promise from Ford Australia to pursue Left hand drive exports and support Australian suppliers. A large proportion of the grants are comitted to the development of Australia's largest product development facilities and rear wheel drive specialist centre.

29-10-2006, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PDIDDY

No worries man. It's the same with us. We had a target of 145 Falcon passenger cars for a 3 month period to pick up a very large sum of bonuses. Without this cash injection, the discounts given would not be possible. It is a bit like putting the cart before the horse:giving the money away, before getting it.
Lets chill

:

Spot on.

It's not the right way to do it but Ford dealers are good at shooting each other down. We didn't do it that way and lucky we didn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eaturbo

Sorry mate i was not aware that ford was so tough, it not a real good system. I mean the dealer has so many other things that affect delivery, Freight, transit damage, lack of stock, wrong car spec to match order. With Holden the bonus is there to meet advertised pricing not to meet target. We were doing rodeo 4x4 dual cab turbo diesels for $32990 inc air and list was $42290 so nearly $10 000 off, there was a $8000 bonus, there is no way we could miss target and not get the bonus for these. Fords system sux and no wonder dealers a behind the 8 ball compared to Holden

Ford also do it this way.

So to everyone out there thinking dealers make thousands on every car, here lies the truth: Only a small amount, usually under $1000 if that, of profit is made.

Back on topic, Ford Oz should have prepared themselves for this 5 yrs ago as it was predictable. Territory should have been engineered for LHD already. But as usual Ford Motor Co in Detroit is run by the unions, and as a result market share is continually dropping.

BadMac · 29-10-2006, 03:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HSE2

Certainly explains a lot of recent behaviour. Could be looking at the last Falcon.

For Badmac

http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/s...5-2682,00.html

Thanks HSE2, but that doesn't make it any better. I hate governments taking tax dollars then giving handouts. If they want to support R&D then give tax breaks. Cut out the wasteful middleman (ie burecrats).

Also this subsidy went to both Ford and Holden.

Mark

05MkIIFutura · 29-10-2006, 03:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClevlndStemer

C'mon the people in states like the look of the falcon and don't have anything like it there. There is potential for the falcon overseas but Ford US and AU don't see it.

The Orion platform is going to be compatible with LHD and RHD and is rumored to be the new platform for many Ford rwd cars in the US. On a american blog which reviews cars around the globe, a story on the Force 6 and 8 got some of these repsonses about the FPV Falcons:

"Since you won't bash them, I will. Which stupid moron told you not to sell it in the U.S.? Fire his ***." < THIS ONE IS GOLD!!!

"Can you say Ford built BMW? Sweet!"

"I know this would sell,but Ford is going on past sales failures MERKUR,SHO TAURUS,AND CONTOUR SVT. And that is a damn shame. Ford, WAKE-UP OR RIP!!!!"

"I would be all over that if it were for sale here. Sadly it won't be available here and I guess I'll just have to buy something else."

"Your bold move is looking right at you Ford, time to get into gear." < THIS ONE IS GOLD!!!

"Yet another great Ford product we don't get in America. Fusion SVT anyone?"

"I hate you Ford."

"There's no reason that they couldn't bring those vehicles over here and price them competitively (under $45k) with vehicles such as the Chrysler 300C SRT-8. Remember, this is a specialy, low-volume, high performance variant of one of their large sedans. Even if they didn't sell a ton of them, it would get people excited about their products again."

"someone should fire those that decided not to bring their best product in the homeland (US)" < THIS ONE IS GOLD!!!

"Does everyone in Australia have a bad *** sports sedan in their garage? There certainly seems to be no lack of them down there." < THIS ONE IS GOLD!!!

"I'm just amazed that no one at the senior management level in Dearborn thought, "we need to expand our car line but we don't have a lot of money to develop something new.... is there anything we can import?" And in Oz someone should have said, "we need to increase production and amortize our development costs from the new Falcon. Is there anyplace we can export this car to?""

These are the photo's they saw

And as far as i know, that $100million is specifically for the development of a new 6cyl engine to replace the current Barra I6

Bossxr8 · 29-10-2006, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozrunner

So Ford put in $1.7b and the Govt's massive contribution of $100m was the saviour meaning Ford could go now ahead with Orion and may not close down. Give me a break.

If we believe what we are told the BA cost $500m to develop and VE $1b so I'm sure Ford could have done something with $1.7b !!!

If you think without that $100m Ford could have shut down then Tom's tongue in cheek message obviously worked on you

_2:

It was an extra 100mil on top of what they were going to give. The total government contribution was more than that. Can't find the press releases at the time to give you a total figure of what the contribution was but it was a lot of cash. I'll try to find them.

They are rumoured to be spending around 700 to 800 mil on the Orion, the rest goes to LHD engineering, T6 program and new R&D facilities which are going up now. The climate control building at the proving grounds with wind tunnel and hot and cold testing facilities and new Product Engineering building have just started building.

Iphido · 29-10-2006, 04:08 PM

The $100 million cemented the engine deal.

I 100% agree that it was extremely important to keep the I6 alive and kicking. Look at how superior the Falcon I6 is to other manufacturers engines.

Ford really needs to ensure a viable export market for profit and security.

RHD falcons opens up profitable exports to China, ME, Europe and perhaps even the USA (USA is low on that list). Ford doesn't need to export 100,000 cars overseas. Just another 10-20,000 cars and most of those are high profit models. Fairmont Ghia etc.

ClevlndStemer · 29-10-2006, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 05MkIIFutura

The Orion platform is going to be compatible with LHD and RHD and is rumored to be the new platform for many Ford rwd cars in the US. On a american blog which reviews cars around the globe, a story on the Force 6 and 8 got some of these repsonses about the FPV Falcons:

"Since you won't bash them, I will. Which stupid moron told you not to sell it in the U.S.? Fire his ***." < THIS ONE IS GOLD!!!

"Can you say Ford built BMW? Sweet!"

"I know this would sell,but Ford is going on past sales failures MERKUR,SHO TAURUS,AND CONTOUR SVT. And that is a damn shame. Ford, WAKE-UP OR RIP!!!!"

"I would be all over that if it were for sale here. Sadly it won't be available here and I guess I'll just have to buy something else."

"Your bold move is looking right at you Ford, time to get into gear." < THIS ONE IS GOLD!!!

"Yet another great Ford product we don't get in America. Fusion SVT anyone?"

"I hate you Ford."

"There's no reason that they couldn't bring those vehicles over here and price them competitively (under $45k) with vehicles such as the Chrysler 300C SRT-8. Remember, this is a specialy, low-volume, high performance variant of one of their large sedans. Even if they didn't sell a ton of them, it would get people excited about their products again."

"someone should fire those that decided not to bring their best product in the homeland (US)" < THIS ONE IS GOLD!!!

"Does everyone in Australia have a bad *** sports sedan in their garage? There certainly seems to be no lack of them down there." < THIS ONE IS GOLD!!!

"I'm just amazed that no one at the senior management level in Dearborn thought, "we need to expand our car line but we don't have a lot of money to develop something new.... is there anything we can import?" And in Oz someone should have said, "we need to increase production and amortize our development costs from the new Falcon. Is there anyplace we can export this car to?""

And as far as i know, that $100million is specifically for the development of a new 6cyl engine to replace the current Barra I6

Well that is positive but we just need the Unions to let the Falcons in.

Eaturbo · 29-10-2006, 06:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ClevlndStemer

Well that is positive but we just need the Unions to let the Falcons in.

Maybe not, maybe share the development cost of the orion with the US and then let them build the car over there in there own Plants, I mean the problem is always about development and tooling costs, split the development cost and reduce componet cost by way of higher volume and just export to right hand drive nations

Tles · 29-10-2006, 08:21 PM

Sorry these were small when I found them.

dallasv8 · 30-10-2006, 01:19 PM

i thought the 100 million was injected into Ajax fasteners because ajax was going belly up and thats where ford and holden got all the bolts etc?

Sprint347 · 30-10-2006, 01:46 PM

intrestingly... i've read on some forums in the US that they've spotted some BF falcons getting around in Detroit...

Couldn't find out if they were LHD or not..

colossus · 30-10-2006, 02:01 PM

Ozrunner is pretty close to the truth...

Voodoo65 · 30-10-2006, 06:27 PM

I thought it was Ford Australia helping big brother Ford US out of the **** as it was stated in a newspaper I read not long ago

Green X · 30-10-2006, 08:11 PM

“Interestingly... i've read on some forums in the US that they've spotted some BF falcons getting around in Detroit...”

Yes mate I have posted a photo or 2 of XR8’s and XR6 Turbo’s on a U.S Forum and I had one guy who worked for Ford or something come out and say he had spotted a few XR8 Falcon’s in a warehouse or something that had covers over them.

He said he had no idea why thay were there and didn’t relies what they were till he spotted my Photos.

Interesting.

When I have posed Photos of the XR8 falcons on U.S forums there have been the same comment as shown in the post by 05MkIIFutura, they liked it and would buy it.

Cheers