Major Ford announcement

[BlueOvalPrint]

Met up with a Holden-loving "mate" at lunchtime.
Him: "surprised you've got time for lunch, thought you'd be up at (the local Ford dealer) trading your G6ET on a new Mondeo or Taurus"
Me: "Why would I do that, new Falcons will be on sale til late 2016, the same time that Holden is dropping the Commodore"
Him: *silence*
Me:

[Anchor]

Originally Posted by TMC

A good salesman should be able to sell ice to eskimos.

Although not everyone would want to buy a Falcon or Territory, if it looks like that car would suit them for whatever reason, your job is to convince them of that fact. That's what your paid for.

Your attitude speaks volumes.

No it's not. My job is to assist people in making their purchase. I'm not pushy at all, and it works quite well. Times are changing. This isn't the 70's-90's. And i work in new cars, not used.

[Alan D Segal]

Originally Posted by Anchor

No it's not. My job is to assist people in making their purchase. I'm not pushy at all, and it works quite well. Times are changing. This isn't the 70's-90's. And i work in new cars, not used.

Friends, I don't mean to make this personal or dwell too much on what has been said here so please understand that I make my comments with utmost respect. 1. If it 'works quite well' how come ford dealers haven't been selling more cars? 2. In the 70s-90s Ford weren't closing down Australian production in three years.

EDIT: I'm just trying to understand this perspective to ensure that posters who claim to work on or sell fords aren't misrepresenting themselves to people who are clearly upset about recent developments for the people who now face not having work in three years. Thanks for your consideration and as I say this is a general comment not a personal attack.

[b0son]

Originally Posted by TMC

A good salesman should be able to sell ice to eskimos.

No salesman is going to convince me to spend my money on something I dont want. Usually, price is what will sway a buyer between two different cars.

[Anchor]

Originally Posted by Alan D Segal

Friends, I don't mean to make this personal or dwell too much on what has been said here so please understand that I make my comments with utmost respect. 1. If it 'works quite well' how come ford dealers haven't been selling more cars? 2. In the 70s-90s Ford weren't closing down Australian production in three years.

EDIT: I'm just trying to understand this perspective to ensure that posters who claim to work on or sell fords aren't misrepresenting themselves to people who are clearly upset about recent developments for the people who now face not having work in three years. Thanks for your consideration and as I say this is a general comment not a personal attack.

It's the internet, nothing should be taken personally.

IMO, marketing plays a huge part. Something that Holden has done very well lately.
It seems to be turning though, Ranger has taken a big chunk out of the market and I believe Kuga is going to do the same. Inquiry on Kuga is matching Ranger at the moment, which is a pretty big deal for an SUV.

Ford has had some hard decisions to make, but look at it this way.. What other large company has previously given their workers AND suppliers 3.5 years notice.. None?

[Anchor]

Originally Posted by b0son

No salesman is going to convince me to spend my money on something I dont want. Usually, price is what will sway a buyer between two different cars.

This. It's not how we're told/taught to "sell".

[Buntz]

Well.... looks like Dearborn got exactly what it wanted.

[KIWI-1]

Originally Posted by Anchor

It seems to be turning though, Ranger has taken a big chunk out of the market and I believe Kuga is going to do the same. Inquiry on Kuga is matching Ranger at the moment, which is a pretty big deal for an SUV.

You hit the nail on the head Anchor... enquiries are up ON SUVS CUSTOMERS WANT!!!

[robertjp]

After how many attempts?

[cobramania]

Originally Posted by Anchor

Inquiry on Kuga is matching Ranger at the moment, which is a pretty big deal for an SUV.

Kuga is the US Escape, not surprised there's a market for it. The Escape/Mazda Tribute sold reasonable well last time round & is a smaller car/crossover than the Terry, it fits exactly back into the market place where the previous Escape left off.
I think the US Edge will replace the Terry. The Falcon as a car won't be replaced people don't want that size/type of car any more (unfortunately).

I don't think Ford have taken this decision lightly & have investigated what market there is for what new models.
It would've been better for them to manufacture some Global platform models here for domestic & export market, but it's not to be.

[Scradley6666]

When you look back at your younger years and think, that was a good time... That's the feeling I have hearing of yesterday's news... Not good for all those employees and their families about losing theirs jobs and careers, but a day I say thank you for playing such a large part in my life over the passed 9 years of my driving life...

Being the young age of 25 today, I look back at when I saw Craig Lowndes doing the outright scary and switching from his dominating HDT Racing Team to the green eyed monster, and my family instantly taking the AU over the VT and my mates thinking I was crazy, from 1998 onwards, I was a die hard ford bloke...

When the time came when I was 16 and on my L's, I needed to buy my first car, I knew exactly what I wanted even though petrol was getting expensive... After one drive in an EA II S-PAC with the 3.9L multi-point 4 speed, I bought it... And to this day that was the car my mates, a few ex-girlfriends ;) and myself, loved the most! It went through changes that made me understand cars a lot more now, like changing the 3.9L for a 4.0L AU engine and changing the gearbox from the Borg Worner 4 speed auto to the old EA short synchro 5 speed manual... Many nights under that falcon learning and loving my Australian built vehicle... By the way, it may be hard to believe, but it was quicker than a mates stock BA XR6 Turbo to 100km/h, not by much, but just after the mods

In 2007 after getting a promising job, I purchased a near new Ford BF XR8. The new VE SS was the quicker car at the time, but nothing was going to deter my blue blood pumping for my first V8... What a beautiful car it was, with most of my mates buying supra's, WRX's, EVO's and SS's, I couldn't of went for any other vehicle. It was equipped enough for me and the ZF was a deadset winner. The misses at the time loved to bonnet bulge and there were many nights driving the mountains in New South Wales at 3am with her just cruising and giving the occasional stick and letting the V8 roar. Regrettably I sold the vehicle in 2007 due to moving overseas for several years, and to this day I miss my beloved BF XR8 like no other.

It came time last year to purchase a new car, and with petrol prices nearing $1.50 p/l I was heavily inclined to purchase a VW Golf GTI... And I didn't let the misses know I had a yearning for an FG falcon.. After driving many Golfs I looked at her and said, I would really like an FG XR6 Turbo... She didn't know what it was and it got me all giddy telling her its an Aussie supercar that will last for several decades and can be used as a family car plus I knew all about the I6 from my early days. After one drive she said this exact quote:
"Well after being in that, I'm not going to bang you in a Golf"
A day later I was back in the blue camp with an FG XR6 Turbo that I proudly drive to this day... And needless to say the suspension is good ;)

I have never owned anything but a Ford, and even in the future, I will be looking at Kuga's or replacements of the Falcon's... Not because I can, but because I have too, it's in my heart, my history, my blood. From the weekend parties and late nights of the EA to the current business man and fun of my FG, it's the perfect car for my personality and boyish ways. I say thank you Geelong/Broadmeadows Ford Australia, for making my automotive years the best of my life. And thank you to the Australian men and women who worked on producing the best cars I have ever owned and will probably ever own. It is sad, but your workmanship will be around for the next 50+ years and I for one will be smiling driving my Falcon for many years to come all thanks to you.

I wish the federal government thought about you more, like Germany and the US think about there automotive industry.

Ill miss you Ford Australia, but ill miss Falcon that little bit more...
XxX

[tellford]

I recently read a post on another Ford forum dated 29/09/2012.
The poster was speaking to a Ford employee. He told him that Ford Aus is basically a research and development facility for RWD and.........amazingly, said that Ford Aus was closing shop in 2016.
Seems that the decision was made last year?

[AG3]

Originally Posted by cobramania

I think the US Edge will replace the Terry. The Falcon as a car won't be replaced people don't want that size/type of car any more (unfortunately).

Maybe the next generation Explorer could replace ithe Territory since both are (3 row) 7-seater crossover SUVs?

True about the Falcon, low domestic volume, limited export markets...

As recently as 2003, Ford sold nearly 75,000 Falcons, but over the next four years, annual sales dropped by something like 10,000 units, and over the last two years, it has sold less than 20,000 per year. It isn't only Ford that has suffered – sales of the other large, locally produced sedan, the Holden Commodore, have also gone over the precipice, triggering the same kind of angst about Holden's continued existence. Ford is the smallest of Australia's local automakers, Holden and Toyota the others, and has posted losses of $AUD141 million last year ($136M US) and $AUD600 million ($580M US) in the past five years.

- http://www.autoblog.com/2013/05/23/f...fter-90-years/

[nicholas-a-s]

So the question must be asked.What will happen to spare parts supplies after 2016? Will dealers keep crash repair parts? Will a FG GT be worth more or worthless? Sad to the core. I feel for all Ford employees, suppliers and dealerships. Knock on effect will be HUGE. If I was in charge of this sad **** country, Id be immeadiately imposing the good old import tarrif again to support Aussie cars..........Ford and Holden. Toyota you also get tarrifed cause you are Jappenese on anythuing imported.
My 2cents worth. Regards, Nicholas

[FGX-351]

Call me an optimist, and I know all to well that this is clutching at straws.
Between now and October 2016 we have 2 federal elections and a decreasing Australian dollar.

While highly unlikely anything can happen in business and situations can change.
The duratec V6 being a good example.

Alot can happen in 3 years so i'm trying to stay positive.............otherwise there is always the option of becoming like the Valiant guys & taking sollace in the fact that Kias and Hyundais will become the VN/EA of today. lol

[cobramania]

Originally Posted by AG3

Maybe the next generation Explorer could replace ithe Territory since both are (3 row) 7-seater crossover SUVs?

I don't think we'll get the Explorer here, it didn't go well last time around.
I've also heard the Expedition will be coming here to take on the Prado/Landcruiser, in the large SUV 4x4 market.
That would make an awkward fit for the Explorer in our market, being almost equivalent to the Expedition & much bigger than the Kuga with nothing in-between.

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by nicholas-a-s

So the question must be asked.What will happen to spare parts supplies after 2016? Will dealers keep crash repair parts? Will a FG GT be worth more or worthless? Sad to the core. I feel for all Ford employees, suppliers and dealerships. Knock on effect will be HUGE. If I was in charge of this sad **** country, Id be immeadiately imposing the good old import tarrif again to support Aussie cars..........Ford and Holden. Toyota you also get tarrifed cause you are Jappenese on anythuing imported.
My 2cents worth. Regards, Nicholas

Exactly the same when a change in model happens. Parts will be still be available as they are now for the A and B series. Aftermarket car manufacturers also take up the slack on product that's available. You can still buy brand new repo stuff for XY's and HQ's so that is not a concern.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by The-ShowStoPPa

Call me an optimist, and I know all to well that this is clutching at straws.
Between now and October 2016 we have 2 federal elections and a decreasing Australian dollar.

While highly unlikely anything can happen in business and situations can change.
The duratec V6 being a good example.

Alot can happen in 3 years so i'm trying to stay positive.............otherwise there is always the option of becoming like the Valiant guys & taking sollace in the fact that Kias and Hyundais will become the VN/EA of today. lol

But announcing it this early will sabotage any hopes of something positive happening as I think sales will take a battering.

[BENT_8]

Sad days indeed.

It would be naïve to say the writing wasn't on the walls, but I still find it hard to believe that there will be no new Falcon post 2016.

My question is, with such a long period between now and closure, will there really be enough sales to keep the line going?

Was discussing it with a mate who works at the Elizabeth GMH plant and he seriously doubts that Ford will have enough numbers to continue for that long after what happened to Mitsubishi here.

Can they justify 20-30 cars a day...

[Terry Turbo]

My first chance to get on the forum and express my dismay and sympathy for all the workers that are affected.

Unfortunaletly, Ford have made a series of poor decisions dating back to 82 when they canned V8's. Geoff Polites was the man, but was taken all too soon. Falcon is a great product and aussie fords have been part of my and my family all my life. Devasted by this news.

Can we please permanently ban GT-spec15 as he has no place on this forum with his attitude?

[BOSS 540]

Same thing happened with Mitsubishi in Aus. They were on the nose for a while but I guess now is all forgotten.
Our whole manufacturing sector is in a sad state atm and it was only a matter of time (for FORD) I guess, you can't keep bleeding millions in losses forever.
There is no one thing or person to blame for this, but it has to be partly the govt and poor marketing decisions from FORD. I attribute the current lack lustre falcon sales (compared to commodore) starting back as far as dropping the V8 engine in the 80's and their on / off again committment to motorsport.
If Holden are still struggling AND they are the No 1 'true blue Aussie' big car choice (apparently) then I guess Aussies aren't what Aussies used to be? No one seems to care about our country or supporting our products anymore :(
Lets face it, most people immigrating here wouldn't give a rats about local cars or home grown industry either.
I know I did my best to support FORD and have bought at least 5 new cars over the years.
Lucky for me my favourite ones were already made back in the 70's and ill keep owning them regardless of whats happening in manufacturing here.
One small consolation is a lot of people (FORD fans) feel the same dissapointment I do, and its a very sad state of affairs. This is not just from a supporters point of view, also the hardship of employees facing the prospect of losing their jobs.

[Stefan]

So there will be a whole lot of old guys in 30 years driving banged up Falcons and Commos just like the old guys you see driving old Valiants.


******Saving for the last of the SC GTs...... then drive it till I die...

[FGX-351]

Originally Posted by Stefan

So there will be a whole lot of old guys in 30 years driving banged up Falcons and Commos just like the old guys you see driving old Valiants.


******Saving for the last of the SC GTs...... then drive it till I die...

Agreed

[fordfreak22]

I am absolutely heartbroken about the news.
I have always had blue blood running through my veins from when my Dad had me driving around in my L's in his XB Falcon. He only ever had Fords and so have I, and I even have my 6 year old son only loving Fords and booing the Holdens (I am to blame for that one)lol. My Dad came here as a migrant from Greece and I am a second generation Aussie/Greek and we are very proud Aussies. He respected and loved this country for what it was able to give him in starting a new life. He was proud to drive his Falcon because it was an Australian made car and so it continued with me.
Now for the true Blue Aussies who love Australia so much they have not supported our car industry at all. When I see Japanese, Korean cars etc. with an aussie flag or the southern cross on them it is just wrong to me.
My dad now has passed away and I have the photo of him posing with his BA Falcon when he picked it up and he was proud of it.
I to will always buy a ford badged car it is just where my heart and passion will always belong, I just can't imagine driving anything else.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by b0son

No salesman is going to convince me to spend my money on something I dont want. Usually, price is what will sway a buyer between two different cars.

The days of being able to "sway the customer" onto something far more expensive are long gone. Customers are, for the most part, a lot better educated and simply don't trust salesmen as blindly as they once did, especially car salesmen. They're not going to deliberately pay more for something just because it has "made in Australia" on it, especially when that something is a bigger car than they need and more expensive to own. People aren't stupid.

No surprise the Kuga is getting a lot of enquiries...the mid-sized/compact SUV seems to be the car of the future...lots of room, handles typically rough roads we have nowadays (basically anywhere outside the capital cities), and lots of features. Most of the major makers have one in thier line up, and they sell very well...the Holden Captiva, Hyundai Santa Fe, Kia Sorrento, etc.
If a potential SUV buyer is targetting something like a Kuga, they're not going to be talked into spending a lot more and paying more to run something like a Territory. For example, a Kuga starts at $31,990 or so drive away (usually less when they have specials on), an Escape for $27,990 drive away, while a Territory starts at $43,900 drive away according to the website. I have seen Territories selling down near $38490 and seven seats for the price of five (current "offer" from Ford at the moment), but that's a big price difference to try and "talk someone over", not to mention the price difference in registration costs which in Queensland at least people do think about at purchase time.

The thing holding back the excellent Ranger is the price...once you get to the level of something decent for the family and put a couple of extras on it like a canopy, you're talking serious money (try up near sixty grand for a twin cab XLT diesel auto)...and people joke about the "Toyota Tax" about Toyota pricing on 4x4's! For a car built in Asia, it sure is expensive to buy here in Australia...unfortunately.

[Mick K.]

Very sad news and the end of an era. Hopefully those directly affected by this can find alternative employment. It may have been a different story if Ford Aus were able to cash in by making dual cab utes or SUVs locally a few years ago...

Is there any speculation on how the next 3.5 years will pan out? Will the engine plant finish up early perhaps stockpiling I-6s? Will Falcon be Ecoboost only, FPV with the V8 and Territory diesel only? I can't imagine another engine (eg US V6) going through the certification and testing program before the end of production.

Could Falcon finish earlier leaving (the better selling) Territory to run till the end?

I can't image all it will be full speed in Sep 2016, and all lights off in Oct 2016?

[Warrenk]

Why are people saying they are sad that Ford are going. The only thing different after 2016 is they won't be making cars in Australia. Ford still will be a major player in the new car market. The new model Falcon would have been due then. The Falcon won't be replaced with like for like, but it could be replaced with downsized model and a name yet to be determined. Holden's CEO has already said the next Commodore will be a downsized front wheel drive car.
Both the Falcon and Commodore as we them will both cease to exist from 2016.

It is bad news for the 1200 workers and numbers of other sector workers as a result of the knock on effect.

[babyf6]

When I got to school today, all my mates (holden supporters) bagged the absolute hell outta me. "FORD WENT BELLY UP HAHAHH, YOUR CRUMMY FALCON WENT DOWN THE CRAPPA" etc

What they don't realise is - you can't have one without the other - which i tried telling them, warning them that it has just made holden's decision much easier

so in a few years time when holden unexpectedly annouces their closure, which will happen inevitably, I will simply turn to them and say

i warned you

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by The-ShowStoPPa

Alot can happen in 3 years so i'm trying to stay positive.............otherwise there is always the option of becoming like the Valiant guys & taking sollace in the fact that Kias and Hyundais will become the VN/EA of today. lol

Who knows? Maybe the Government will take action that changes Ford's decision later. Or the mining boom goes bust and the value of our dollar falls significantly. I'd like to thing that but it doesn't seem like things will get better in this time, and if it did, whether Ford would even stay.

This may be a big relief to them for things being so bad they could finally end manufacturing here.

Originally Posted by tellford

I recently read a post on another Ford forum dated 29/09/2012.
The poster was speaking to a Ford employee. He told him that Ford Aus is basically a research and development facility for RWD and.........amazingly, said that Ford Aus was closing shop in 2016.
Seems that the decision was made last year?

After the announcements it seems like everything prior has been a staged winding down process. The more I'm sure that Dearborn just wanted this operation gone.

[Guzz226]

Originally Posted by babyf6

When I got to school today, all my mates (holden supporters) bagged the absolute hell outta me. "FORD WENT BELLY UP HAHAHH, YOUR CRUMMY FALCON WENT DOWN THE CRAPPA" etc

What they don't realise is - you can't have one without the other - which i tried telling them, warning them that it has just made holden's decision much easier

so in a few years time when holden unexpectedly annouces their closure, which will happen inevitably, I will simply turn to them and say

i warned you

Tell 'em - Ford haven't gone just not producing the Falcon anymore - and Holden ain't producing the Commodore as they know it today much longer