Car industry prepares for Ford Australia exit

[Bossxr8]

To fend of the negative talk thats destroying the brand einstein

We can't all have our heads in the sand and our fingers in our ears pretending its not happening. Open your eyes.

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by prydey

again i ask, why???
lets say they promised to keep building cars here, and then in the next few years things went pear shaped, what then. they would be crucified even worse.

i'm sure they have plans. who gives a toss whether they come out and satisfy everyones needs or not.

It is called connecting with your customer/ fan base!!

[Ducati888]

Originally Posted by falconnut

Would it be reasonable to assume that what killed/killing the falcon and other now defunt aussie made cars is a massive change in consumer taste, brand confidence and most importantly our economy?

First it was the 380, now it will be the Falcon and Commodore right?

After their going by 2018~ give or take will there be any aussie cars left they are actually built here besides toyota?

The fusion does look like a great car, i guess ill have to get used to it once the local alternative is no longer available, your right about the pricing too, hopefully if ford can produce enough RHD models the price might go down over time.

It not consumer taste. It's fleet buyer taste. The vast majority of Falcon, Commodore and Magna sales in the 90's and early 2000's were to fleets. A much smaller number were to private buyers, in a ratio of about 70% fleets to 30% private.

In that context, with the fleet sales dropping off, have the private consumer tastes really changed that much? They never bought these cars especially the executive and entry level models in the vast quantities we think they did.

There are no fleet sales now, so there are virtually no sales now. That is the basis to this whole thing.

Fleets use smaller cars now, or get better deals from the likes of Subaru.

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

It's been posted, but all the people who are jumping for joy about the prospect of Ford closing its doors basically ignored it.

My forum search drew me here. I was searching for this very article.

Who here wrote it? Because it all sounded familiar whilst reading it and I'd never read it before tonight.

Well bloody good onya anyway for going into bat for Ford.

[RASER]

Originally Posted by BluFGXR6

I hope Ford continue to manufacture in this country. In fact, I'm going to be positive and say they will regardless of what the doomsayers say!!!

*MAYBE* they can continue, but NOT with the Falcon, the volume produced is way to low, the Falcon is finished in AUS.

No point making something that nobody is buying.

[stang65]

Originally Posted by RASER

*MAYBE* they can continue, but NOT with the Falcon, the volume produced is way to low, the Falcon is finished in AUS.

No point making something that nobody is buying.

Sorry mate I forgot you were CEO of Ford and you made all the decisions.
It has been said a thousand times Ford have not come out and said the Falcon is dead so get you hand off it.

[EgoFG]

Originally Posted by RASER

*MAYBE* they can continue, but NOT with the Falcon, the volume produced is way to low, the Falcon is finished in AUS.

No point making something that nobody is buying.

I understand reaching an overtly negative conclusion, but question your volume philosophy.
1) volume does not alone determine profitability
2) Falcon could become a world car, or a world car could become "falcon"

On point 2, consider:
If the .. let us call it FFS "Ford Family Sedan" ... manufactured in Australia was also used in other parts of the world - like Toyota do with CamAuriony - then the whole cost breakdown changes.
The FFS may well be based on a merger of the Falcon and Taurus, a rebadge of the Taurus, a merger of the Falcon and Mustang, a local manufacture of any world D (ish) platform car, a new Lincoln product marketed in Au.
- Any of these options would spread the costs of Development across the world - and we would no longer have a car that is uniquely Australian.
But this is the only way that I see Ford Au manufacturing continuing.


My conclusion:
If Ford ceases production in Australia it can only mean one of two things:
1) No cars can be profitably manufactured in Australia, or
2) Ford cannot do business in Australia
The world has changed, we can no longer rely on a car selling just because it is "Australian".

[RASER]

Originally Posted by EgoFG

My conclusion:
If Ford ceases production in Australia it can only mean one of two things:
1) No cars can be profitably manufactured in Australia, or
2) Ford cannot do business in Australia
The world has changed, we can no longer rely on a car selling just because it is "Australian".

1. Add without export

2.FoA have a good and strong future here in AUS, they do lots of engineering work for o/s operations

[Archilino]

Roughly 3000 units were sold off falcon's platform last month, looks like there is life in the old girl yet.

[Quicksand]

Too little too late? *shrugs*

[Nikked]

Never too late...

[red_hotxr6]

Does this mean that our fords will now become collectable cars....lol

[Auslandau]

Originally Posted by Archilino

Roughly 3000 units were sold off falcon's platform last month, looks like there is life in the old girl yet.

Without knowing the balance sheet ..... this might be plenty to keep things ticking over.

[jpd80]

If some of the muppets here could only see that every Falcon and Territory sale brings in valuable revenue for Ford Australia,
this constant purveying of imminent death is still way too premature, given the updates to the 2014 car and Territory.

Ford has gone to the trouble of right sizing the plant, continuing upgrades to it and coming vehicles,
is that the sign of a manufacturer chucking in the towel?
I think not...

[Nikked]

Lets not forget the investment into Ford Australia, investment into the factory and product.

Originally Posted by Auslandau

Without knowing the balance sheet ..... this might be plenty to keep things ticking over.

Thats the thing...people assume that the Vfacts numbers are the only thing to worry about...


And remember, Ford posted profits for 2009 and 2010...thats on the back of the FG release...and that profit, and the loss of last year was due to Investments, and Global programs...

And lets not forget that Australia turns out to not be the expensive place to manufacture, that everyone thinks...

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by jpd80

If some of the muppets here could only see that every Falcon and Territory sale brings in valuable revenue for Ford Australia,
this constant purveying of imminent death is still way too premature, given the updates to the 2014 car and Territory.

Ford has gone to the trouble of right sizing the plant, continuing upgrades to it and coming vehicles,
is that the sign of a manufacturer chucking in the towel?
I think not...

But the question needs to be asked, what is the point of revenue if you still can't make a profit from it?

There's no doubt 2012 will also result in a big loss for FoA. FPV buyout has been reported to cost $20 million, then factor in the high cost of 400 redundancies and more down days than they have ever had in a year and you can see the numbers won't be pretty, but I guess once the workforce is balanced to production then 2013 will be a more stable year to get proper profit/loss figures from.

[Rockape]

$20 million to buyout ProDrive. Should have passed the hat around here. I would have chucked in.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

But the question needs to be asked, what is the point of revenue if you still can't make a profit from it?

There's no doubt 2012 will also result in a big loss for FoA. FPV buyout has been reported to cost $20 million, then factor in the high cost of 400 redundancies and more down days than they have ever had in a year and you can see the numbers won't be pretty, but I guess once the workforce is balanced to production then 2013 will be a more stable year to get proper profit/loss figures from.

There is red ink and then there is red ink....clearing the decks and writing off costs Ford had planned to amortize over a longer time sends a chill through people but that has to be more beneficial than carrying forward write downs that are of no use in the future.

If Ford was the ruthless pack of you know whats that some try to portray, well they would have killed off Falcon years ago, there would have been no FG or even an FG II, they would have just closed it all down and imported Taurus and Explorer but guess what?
After all the years of calling Falcon/Territory dead, they're still here and going round again in 2014...

[Buntz]

Originally Posted by jpd80

After all the years of calling Falcon/Territory dead, they're still here and going round again in 2014...

I am overwhelmed with excitement over the 2014 Falcon and Territory.

I think big things are in store... future and export wise.

[red_hotxr6]

With all this going on, what will happen to the v8 supercars??

[RASER]

Originally Posted by red_hotxr6

With all this going on, what will happen to the v8 supercars??

Nothing, it will stay the same, although i see Ford are pushing "Ecoboost" and less Falcon name......interesting

[AU Mont]

They simply refuse to advertise falcon anymore. Last night seen the cash back offer ad for Ford, about 3-4 models were shown.......... not one falcon.......

Once upon a time the falcon wouldve been the highlight of the ad

[RASER]

Originally Posted by AU Mont

They simply refuse to advertise falcon anymore. Last night seen the cash back offer ad for Ford, about 3-4 models were shown.......... not one falcon.......

Once upon a time the falcon wouldve been the highlight of the ad

Well picked, its all in the HQ's the master plan, very slow termination of the Aussie Made

They should really come out and tells what is going to happen by 2020 instead of playing games

[Auslandau]

There is no hope in hell they would, nor should, say what they are doing in 2020. No other car company would release plans so far out so why should Ford be any different.

[EgoFG]

Originally Posted by Auslandau

There is no hope in hell they would, nor should, say what they are doing in 2020. No other car company would release plans so far out so why should Ford be any different.

Holden would:
"We will keep manufacturing Australian Designed cars until at least 2105 ! Our next commodore will be prettier, blokier, Ausier, more efficient, more powerful, safer. We will ship them everywhere. They will have Kevlar seatbelts, a carbon fibre glove box, Titanium Dome light surround and come complete with a share in the ownership of the sydney harbour bridge."

[Mad_Pom]

Originally Posted by Buntz93ED

I am overwhelmed with excitement over the 2014 Falcon and Territory.

I think big things are in store... future and export wise.

2014 is $103M for both Falcon & Territory - http://motoring.ninemsn.com.au/cars/...nvestment-plan

Holden spent $1B on VE commodore alone.

Unless Ford put the money on the Roulette table and won, I wouldn't be expecting too much.

[JPFS1]

$103M is only for the reported improvements to efficiency measures, doesn't mean that's ALL they're going to do!

[Nikked]

The VE was a clean sheet design, 2014 falcon update is not....(it cost ford 800 million for the FG design process....just for comparisims sake)

[Nikked]

Double post :-)

[mik]

the falcatory`s are already good vehicles, they don`t need a to start from scratch, just make additions .