Ford to close up shop in Australia?

[GTREA]

So anyway, did anyone catch the Simpsons last night, it was the cult episode, I love that one 'nananana leader'

[Captiva Fan]

How much leeway do dealers get in setting prices? An efficient free market would dictate that if they had leeway or margin, there would eventually be a price war between dealers and prices would drop. That doesn't seem to have happened, though.

Again; car prices in Oz aren't far different than most of the world, the exceptions being LCT and insane markets like the USA & Japan.

Bingo
People will blame taxes, tariffs, AUD and imports (which are all true points) but Ford australia has been poorly run for decades.
Their management has never been proactive in new technologies and different trends. Their marketing, fuck do they even have a marketing department?

Have a look at the graph poasted a coupla pages back. Falcodores in general were still increasing in sales up until the nearly noughties; which is wierd because I thought everyone had seen the trend towards either gerlytruks or smaller cars.
However, you can see the effect of the AU on Ford's Falcon sales; I reckon Dearborn decided not long after then (ie. around 1999 or so I'd say) that unless something drastic happened they'd block Ford Oz's attempts at saving itself. So even if Ford Oz wanted to build something which would sell, they've been blocked. And additionally, the large-car decline in actual sales (versus what everyone was predicting for years prior) happened very quickly in the early noughties; that drop is very fast for the amount of tooling/infrastructure required to build cars, so I can sort-of see why Dearborn might say "meh to you guys, we want your business to come to us anyway".

[rj_astra]

so I can sort-of see why Dearborn might say "meh to you guys, we want your business to come to us anyway".

What makes you think we will get a US market car? They could quite easily say that Mondeo will suffice for Australia and ship them from Europe. There is no requirement to have a Taurus like car for this market.

[MRMOPARMAN]

Dunno why they'd suddenly decide to build them in RHD for us, if they don't already do 'em in RHD for the UK.

top gear UK announced last week the next mustang will be made for RHD, and come with the 2.0L ecoboost, lol

[itsnotagsr]

Taxi drivers don't buy their cars new anyway. They all get them at the auctions.

[lumpy]

Hadnt thought about the V8SC but it will be interesting to see what they do to compensate.

They'll just change the name to V8 Superceded Cars.

[willsy01]

Time to sit back and watch my EA 'coon increase in value

[F3ARED]

Again; car prices in Oz aren't far different than most of the world, the exceptions being LCT and insane markets like the USA & Japan.


Have a look at the graph poasted a coupla pages back. Falcodores in general were still increasing in sales up until the nearly noughties; which is wierd because I thought everyone had seen the trend towards either gerlytruks or smaller cars.
However, you can see the effect of the AU on Ford's Falcon sales; I reckon Dearborn decided not long after then (ie. around 1999 or so I'd say) that unless something drastic happened they'd block Ford Oz's attempts at saving itself. So even if Ford Oz wanted to build something which would sell, they've been blocked. And additionally, the large-car decline in actual sales (versus what everyone was predicting for years prior) happened very quickly in the early noughties; that drop is very fast for the amount of tooling/infrastructure required to build cars, so I can sort-of see why Dearborn might say "meh to you guys, we want your business to come to us anyway".

Dearborn trying to fuck Ford Oz came well before the disaster that was the AU. Why do you think the Taurus came to Australia in the first place? It was meant to be the hammer that nailed the Falcon - it wasn't. Seeing as that failed, they decided theyd slowly strangled Ford Oz instead. You'd have to have tunnel vision to not realize the Falc platform would be a good substitute for the Crown Vic, or to underpin the Mustang, yet it was Dearborn that made the call to not make it LHD-Compatible and continue with 40yr old rear ends in a "sports" car.

[Benonymous]

I remember when somebody told me that the floorpan from the XP to the XD Falcon was identical. My dad used to say "built down to a price, not up to a standard" I think this encapsulates Ford in Australia. I'm unsure who you could pin it on but the parent company has to approve capital expenditure to create a new model. GM did a much better job building a local car and has had exports running from here since the 70's to my knowledge (ever stumbled on a Kingswood in asia?) Ford, on the other hand has never exported much from here except maybe to UnZud but so was GM so no real advantage to Ford there from a unit sales perspective. When the XD came out, it still had cart springs when the Kingswood and Commy had both been coil sprung at the rear. The fucken ute has still got cart springs!

I think it's been abundantly clear for over a decade that manufacturing in Aus is in terminal decline, the Ford plant closures may be the final nail. Look out Engineering graduates, Centrelink beckons.

[lumpy]

I think it's been abundantly clear for over a decade that manufacturing in Aus is in terminal decline, the Ford plant closures may be the final nail. Look out Engineering graduates, Centrelink beckons.

Did you miss the bit about they are keeping the design and engineering centre open?

[my limp penis]

You're spot on, and Holden isn't much better. The locals have always built cars Australia wants, not looking to look to supply a region - become a part of the global supply chain for their parent companies, rather than just make things aussies want. Because when aussies don't want them as much, they're fucked.

just my uneducated opinion

[MartyRX2]

A mate at work runs a taxi, he saves $200 a week using a Prius than a Falcon on LPG.

[chomper]

Did you miss the bit about they are keeping the design and engineering centre open?

They said that, but it won't be long before they officially announce the R&D centre moves to India or China where they don't have to pay gingerneers $70-80k.

[TonyJZX]

i cant see how they will keep AU design... the reality is they are building for China first so use chinese engineers?

the Ecosport will be the litmus test... india market, india made, i reckon aussies will eat that shit up and ford will go... yeah. fuck it... let's do everything in china/india

[Sturmovik]

top gear UK announced last week the next mustang will be made for RHD, and come with the 2.0L ecoboost, lol

2.3 Ecoboost with 300hp/300ftlbs