Ford bans competitors' vehicles from parking lot

[Falcon Freak]

A long overdue requirement. If you ever visit the automotive plants in Japan you will see that the majority of employees drive cars from the manufacturer they work for. Those who don't park their cars in another carpark.

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Firm's Dearborn Truck Plant will require employees to drive a Ford or park across the street.

By David Ellis, CNNMoney.com staff writer
January 27, 2006: 2:31 PM EST

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Employees at Ford's Dearborn Truck Plant in Dearborn, Mich., will have to drive Ford Motor Co. vehicles to work or park across the street, the plant manager announced earlier this week.

The new parking policy, which is scheduled to take effect Feb. 1, was instituted by plant manager Rob Webber just as Ford reported losses of $1.6 billion from its North American auto operations in 2005 and Monday announced plans to close 14 plants and cut 30,000 jobs as it tries to reverse losses and respond to declining U.S. market share.

The Dearborn Truck Plant, which represents one portion of the Rouge facility, has 2,600 union employees and makes the F-150 pickup truck, the best selling vehicle in the United States.

A Ford spokesman told CNNMoney the company supported the move, although it had not been extended to the other North American manufacturing facilities.

Officials with UAW Local 600, who backed the announcement, are scheduled to conduct talks with management next week to finalize the details and discuss expanding the ban across the entire Rouge facility, union president Jerry Sullivan told CNNMoney.

"There has to be something put in place to grab people's attention and to make a statement that this is a serious thing," said Sullivan, whose union represents approximately 8,000 workers at the larger Rouge complex. "It's up to us to stand up and do what is right and to drive a vehicle from the company you work for."

The Dearborn Truck Plant parking policy will allow vehicles made by non-U.S. Ford brands such as Mazda, Volvo and Land Rover, Sullivan said.

The Detroit News, which first reported the story Friday, said the new parking policy in Dearborn was embraced by factory employees at a meeting to discuss the auto manufacturer's latest restructuring plan.

But one plant employee, who did not want to be quoted, told the paper he wasn't happy he would no longer be able to drive his Chrysler to the factory.

"They can't tell you how to spend your money," said one veteran tradesman. "It's still a free country." He said he got a better deal on his Chrysler than he could on a Ford.

"I got to go where I can get the most bang for my buck," he said.

Another Dearborn Truck employee told the newspaper he approved the move, though.

"You buy what you build," said Rufus McWilliams. "That only makes sense."

The Detroit Truck Plant opened in 2004 as part of the $2 billion renovation of the company's 1,100-acre Rouge facility, the paper reported.

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FF

[Polyal]

hmm odd...i can see both sides but its a pretty radical move it you ask me.

But I guess when you work there you find out every little detail about the car, and thats why not all employees have a Ford.

Its like working at Maccas, you never want to touch the stuff after that.

[merlin]

I think on one level that stinks - so much for freedom of choice, land of the free. On another level it is kind of funny!

[pauljh74]

I wonder if any managers who might drive prestige cars from say, german brands would be given the boot from the factory carpark? Then again, they'd probably get a company car anyway

[aquahead2001]

Didn't Chrysler get themselves in trouble last year with doing this??

[sfr rob]

why not?
It makes sence to me!
GOOD ON FORD!

[MAD]

A simple ploy to get people annoyed at the system and quit rather than ford having more headlines about laying off huge numbers of staff.

[Polyal]

lol at the above....

this would mainly effect the lower end.

Any manger in a car company wuld be silly not to take advantage of some of the deals you can get (novated leasing etc etc)

[EL_futuraistic]

Well, if it helps the company the sure its a good idea. Sounds like most of the employees and union are in support of it. At the end of the day its your choice what vehicle you buy... but i would have thought working for ford you would get some sort of discount or deal.

[DRU842]

There is an unwritten rule at the local plants about driving 'imports' onto the sites; security will politely direct you to the car park.

[GT-E]

When I visited the Holden plant in Elizabeth S.A I was suprised to see so many non Holden cars in the Carpark.
I thought it odd that Holden employees would not drive a Holden, but then again it is a Holden after all and they know how well they are built

[gmhdriver]

Originally Posted by ZapXR6T

When I visited the Holden plant in Elizabeth S.A I was suprised to see so many non Holden cars in the Carpark.
I thought it odd that Holden employees would not drive a Holden, but then again it is a Holden after all and they know how well they are built

Just like I saw many Holdens and other non-Ford vehicles parked at the Ford carpark in Barry rd Campbellfield when I drove past the other day. It doesn't mean a thing. Most people don't believe in brand loyalty and see their employment there as just a job like any other.

An interesting thing I saw, from the Hume hwy side, a silver VZ Maloo parked not in the carpark, but inside the actual Ford plant alongside the buildings. Wonder what it was doing there??

[martO]

Originally Posted by gmhdriver

An interesting thing I saw, from the Hume hwy side, a silver VZ Maloo parked not in the carpark, but inside the actual Ford plant alongside the buildings. Wonder what it was doing there??

Thats a common thing, ford/fpv hand holden vehicles for them to drive and test, and holden/hsv do the same in return. They were probably testing it to see how it performs.

[chief]

Dont mind this at all, but it is a bit worrying when your local Ford dealer's mechanics all drive Holdens.

[triple8nitro]

Who cares ?
Only non-ford owners are affected .
Imagine if non-ford owners had to park across the road from major shopping centers .

[SUVshopper]

One way of supporting the local car industry is to have a company policy whereby leased and company vehicles must be OZ made. There are many auto parts manufacturers here with top management driving imported Japanese and European vehicles and this is definitely not on.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by gmhdriver

Just like I saw many Holdens and other non-Ford vehicles parked at the Ford carpark in Barry rd Campbellfield when I drove past the other day. It doesn't mean a thing. Most people don't believe in brand loyalty and see their employment there as just a job like any other.

An interesting thing I saw, from the Hume hwy side, a silver VZ Maloo parked not in the carpark, but inside the actual Ford plant alongside the buildings. Wonder what it was doing there??

Its generally the contractors and outside suppliers who bring non Ford vehicles on site.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by chief

Dont mind this at all, but it is a bit worrying when your local Ford dealer's mechanics all drive Holdens.

I believe at the local Ford Dealership up the road from me theres a mechanic with a VN Commie.

Like gmhdriver said not alot of people believe in brand loyality when they work at a certain Brand establishment.

Like me, I was suppose to be working as a apprentice mechanic at Subaru but I drive a VL. (Didnt get the job unfortunately)

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by Ryan

Like me, I was suppose to be working as a apprentice mechanic at Subaru but I drive a VL. (Didnt get the job unfortunately)

Now you know why. Go buy a Suby lol

Yeah nobody cares really who they work for. Barely anyone at the Ford dealership I used to work for liked Fords except for me. Nobody at my current place drives a Mazda,Kia or Proton.

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by KJLynx

Now you know why. Go buy a Suby lol

Nah wasnt because of that, just some other things that I dont really feel like getting into.

[16wantsI6]

the F-150 is best the best selling vehicle is the US?? ИИИИ than why are ford going downhill? maybe the best selling pick-up truck...

[DTFRMONT]

Originally Posted by SUVshopper

One way of supporting the local car industry is to have a company policy whereby leased and company vehicles must be OZ made. There are many auto parts manufacturers here with top management driving imported Japanese and European vehicles and this is definitely not on.

I work for a government department where this is already the case. Top management have a car supplied as part of their package, & the list specifies that it must me OZ made (Falcon, Commo, Camry, Magna). In the car pool, the only imports are a few Focus's for short runs.

[Steffo]

Originally Posted by 16wantsI6

the F-150 is best the best selling vehicle is the US?? ИИИИ than why are ford going downhill? maybe the best selling pick-up truck...

It is the best selling vehicle in the USA. They sell between 750,000 and 950,000 of them per year. Basically, the same amount as the total new car sales for Australia each year.

Ford is going down because despite sales volume, they earn nothing on each car. They have alot straining them, so they can't earn anything on each sale after all their bills are payed. And their credit departments (which were making more money then outright car sales anyway) aren't looking too shabby either.

GM has the same problems, just 2 to 3 times worse.

They could both take a good lesson from Toyota.

[AUIII XR8 MAN]

I don't see a problem with them doing that as long as they give them a good discount on a new Ford.

[Van D]

I think it's silly. I mean, instead of forcing, why don't they give better perks for owning/driving a Ford whilst working there?
To stop people driving what they want is too far IMO, there's more factors than what colour blood you have. Economy (Ford's not good at that), comfort, size, price, etc all play a part in what car people choose to buy.

Just cos somone works at macca's, doesn't mean they have to eat macca's.

[Jeld-Wen Falcon]

Its not stopping people from doing or driving what they want, its just making a better self image of the company. And its not like they cant drive thier non-Ford car there, they just have to park elsewhere.

And that guy who got his Chrysler cheaper than he could a employee discounted Ford, then that Chrysler musta been dirt cheap.

[BA_BOSS]

What a narrowed mind of s~~t. I work for a company that manufactures mobile phones (different division) but why should I be forced to “buy” their phone if I didn’t like them? They want to give me one to use, no problem.

If I worked for Ford I would expect the same if they believed that I as an employee had to promote brand loyalty.

It’s a similar scenario to that happened to a guy in the US a couple of years back, he worked for a particular brewer and when sprung drinking a different brewer’s brew with his mates in his own time in his choice of bar, was A-holed.

What happened to freedom of choice and your right to spend what you earn on what you want? Sure I own a Ford but I couldn’t give a “rats” what someone else drives and parks in a car park, good luck to em, their choice.

In the case of a car manufacturer, an employee who owned a different brand of car might want to ensure that any good points with that car went into the product they were building.

It’s like saying that someone who works for a tobacco company must smoke to promote their company or in Ford’s case, drive a Ford or be ostracised? WTF?

[Abacus]

Wonder how many Magnas/380s you see parked in Mitsubushi's employee car park......snark, snark , snark

[Tiapan]

haha good about time

australia should just ban vn's

[GTENVY]

Originally Posted by ZapXR6T

When I visited the Holden plant in Elizabeth S.A I was suprised to see so many non Holden cars in the Carpark.
I thought it odd that Holden employees would not drive a Holden, but then again it is a Holden after all and they know how well they are built

Thats why they offered the Australian public staff discounts... cause even their staff weren't buying them!!!