Ford shutting down production in Australia
#1
Ford shutting down production in Australia
In addition to this GM has indicated it will require more government incentives to continue its production facilities down under.
BBC News - Ford plans to shut all Australian production by 2016
US car giant Ford Motor will shut all its Australian manufacturing plants by October 2016, after more than 85 years of making vehicles in the country.
About 1,200 workers are expected to lose their jobs from the Broadmeadows and Geelong plants, in Victoria state.
Ford said its Australian operations had lost A$600m ($580m; £385m) over the last five years.
The strength of the Australian dollar has made manufacturing more expensive, while sales have been under pressure.
"Our costs are double that of Europe and nearly four times Ford in Asia," Bob Graziano, the chief executive of Ford Australia, said. "The business case simply did not stack up."
He added that "manufacturing is not viable for Ford in Australia in the long-term".
'Devastated'
Ford said that it would still import its cars into Australia.
Leigh Diehm from the Australian Manufacturers Workers Union (AMWU) told ABC News that its members in both sites were "devastated by the news".
"We will be sitting down with Ford this afternoon working our way through and talking to our members on the two sites over the coming months and years."
Mr Graziano said Ford had looked at all other possibilities before making this "difficult" announcement.
The Australian dollar has risen 29% against the Japanese yen over the past year, making Australian products much less competitive.
That has had a negative impact on the local car manufacturing industry as a whole.
Last year General Motor's local subsidiary, Holden, announced it would cut 500 jobs from Victoria and South Australia because of slowing demand and the high dollar.
The Australian government last year announced a $5.4bn fund to support the car industry, including $34m to Ford to continue production until at least the end of 2016.
Ford began manufacturing in Australia in 1925 with the Model T cars in Geelong.
BBC News - Ford plans to shut all Australian production by 2016
US car giant Ford Motor will shut all its Australian manufacturing plants by October 2016, after more than 85 years of making vehicles in the country.
About 1,200 workers are expected to lose their jobs from the Broadmeadows and Geelong plants, in Victoria state.
Ford said its Australian operations had lost A$600m ($580m; £385m) over the last five years.
The strength of the Australian dollar has made manufacturing more expensive, while sales have been under pressure.
"Our costs are double that of Europe and nearly four times Ford in Asia," Bob Graziano, the chief executive of Ford Australia, said. "The business case simply did not stack up."
He added that "manufacturing is not viable for Ford in Australia in the long-term".
'Devastated'
Ford said that it would still import its cars into Australia.
Leigh Diehm from the Australian Manufacturers Workers Union (AMWU) told ABC News that its members in both sites were "devastated by the news".
"We will be sitting down with Ford this afternoon working our way through and talking to our members on the two sites over the coming months and years."
Mr Graziano said Ford had looked at all other possibilities before making this "difficult" announcement.
The Australian dollar has risen 29% against the Japanese yen over the past year, making Australian products much less competitive.
That has had a negative impact on the local car manufacturing industry as a whole.
Last year General Motor's local subsidiary, Holden, announced it would cut 500 jobs from Victoria and South Australia because of slowing demand and the high dollar.
The Australian government last year announced a $5.4bn fund to support the car industry, including $34m to Ford to continue production until at least the end of 2016.
Ford began manufacturing in Australia in 1925 with the Model T cars in Geelong.
#4
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
They had no export market and the appetite for larger cars is shrinking in Australia with added costs of fuel. Combine that with the lowering of tariffs on imported cars it was just a matter of when not if.
#5
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
That's what I was thinking, develop a global large car platform that could be made both left and right drive with a variety of drivetrains and drivetrain configurations in both manual and automatic and produce it in the US to take advantage of the weak dollar.
#7
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
It will be pretty interesting to see how all this will effect Ford sales in general.
#8
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
Yeah I can't imagine, especially the **** talking that's going to go down on various forums making it tough on Falcon guys in particular but I wonder if there is gonna be collective "F YOU Ford" since IIRC about 1200 jobs are going to evaporate not to mention the possible supplier fallout that will occur.
It will be pretty interesting to see how all this will effect Ford sales in general.
It will be pretty interesting to see how all this will effect Ford sales in general.
The components manufactures are going to suffer, their 3 main customers in Australia are Holden, Toyota and Ford. Those who can't diversify or rely too much on Ford will go.
FWIW I was in US in April and hired a Mustang V6, not bad at all, a enjoyable drive. Wish I got the 8, found you needed to rev it a bit to get power. If they were to make RHD versions and sold them at a reasonable price they'd sell well here.
Last edited by AnthonyHSV; 05-28-2013 at 07:12 PM.
#9
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
Rumor has it the next generation mustang will have a RHD version for the UK market. I can't imagine that it won't find it's way to Australia if the demand is there.
#10
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
#11
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
Ford has hinted at global sales themselves, although I've heard the next gen Mustang is going to something more palatable to international tastes (read aero blob) so I suspect the next car will be closer to the 94-2004 in appearance just a bit bigger.
#12
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
Back then, Ford was still aiming to use D2C as the basis for a unified RWD platform for both Australia and the US. That idea evaporated when Ford decided not to replace the Crown Vic and Town Car (which would have also been the basis of the cars that would replace Aussie's big Fords. That whole idea unraveled when Ford instead decided to use their Volvo based platforms and AWD (the Taurus and MKS).
The other shoe that dropped was in fact the strength of the Aussie dollar. Unlike the US, Australia has managed it's economy extremely well, and was perhaps the only place on earth that wasn't affected by the recession. But the down side to a strong dollar is that your goods locally manufactured goods are more expensive to other countries. Add to that the fact that large car sales are finally tumbling in Australia (they slipped here years ago) and you have the perfect storm.
*Ford of Australia had a car that was expensive to make.
*Australia's full size car market is slipping. Badly.
*Ford locked in Right Hand Drive, so it couldn't sell it outside of RHD countries (not exactly where global sales are) to keep volume high enough to make it worthwhile to produce.
*Ford decided to go with a FWD/AWD platform instead of RWD for their big cars
GM-Holden's saving grace is that they engineered their cars for a global market, and Commodores and Statesmans are sold under various names in China, Korea, Europe, South America, as well as the US.
Last edited by guionM; 06-06-2013 at 05:42 PM.
#13
#14
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
Ford is creating another car which would best be described as a modern Lincoln LS sedan off of the new Mustang platform. The new Mustang and it's spinoffs including the RWD Lincoln are being set up for both LHD and RHD, so it will be sold in Europe and most likely Oz as well.
#15
Re: Ford shutting down production in Australia
Don't hold your breath. Ford is highly profitable right now, so they aren't desperate. Remember, they were losing money in Australia and Australia's car market isn't much bigger than New York State. Not having Australia will cut their losses and add to profits by simply importing vehicles from cheaper places...ie: the US.
Ford is creating another car which would best be described as a modern Lincoln LS sedan off of the new Mustang platform. The new Mustang and it's spinoffs including the RWD Lincoln are being set up for both LHD and RHD, so it will be sold in Europe and most likely Oz as well.
Ford is creating another car which would best be described as a modern Lincoln LS sedan off of the new Mustang platform. The new Mustang and it's spinoffs including the RWD Lincoln are being set up for both LHD and RHD, so it will be sold in Europe and most likely Oz as well.