Ford to close up shop in Australia?

[Captiva Fan]

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

Depends on whether the Chinese will swallow the poorly-engineered stuff they deal.
Might be cheaper to engineer it properly in the first place (and pay more for that part), than to keep fixing bodgy shit? Although I guess the Chinese market would be used to lack-of-warranty on stuff made there.

2.3 Ecoboost with 300hp/300ftlbs

Isn't that also known as "a Mazda3 MPS engine"?

[Spoonfed]

Isn't that also known as "a Mazda3 MPS engine"?

Don't think so. That's a fairly old engine now, seems that will be a new thing
http://www.leftlanenews.com/ford-focus-rs.html


Chinese designed/engineered mass cars in Aust! I'm installing some crash bars and more airbags lol

[rj_astra]

Depends on whether the Chinese will swallow the poorly-engineered stuff they deal.
Might be cheaper to engineer it properly in the first place (and pay more for that part), than to keep fixing bodgy shit? Although I guess the Chinese market would be used to lack-of-warranty on stuff made there.

The Chinese market don't like the local product... they like imported brands. Says it all really.

[Falc&Send]

This. They have to keep stock of parts for 10 years after a model has ceased production.

You sure about that? When I was working for a Ford dealer a while back they were going through their stock and literally chucking out stuff they called obselete because they hadn't sold any in a couple of years and some of this stuff was to suit then current BA Falcon. Though saying that what a dealer does and what For HQ does is two seperate things. These parts we were chucking out were probably still available to order from Ford HQ.

[TonyJZX]

check out what happned with the mitsubishi 380...

[Captain_Slow]

Their management has never been proactive in new technologies and different trends. Their marketing, fuck do they even have a marketing department?

(snip)

They should have been throwing all their weight behind the territory, make a turbo diesel model

You've just proven your own point about marketing - there has been a TD Territory for years!

[Benonymous]

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

yes

[womblesti]

Agree their marketing is woeful. At the time of the release of the Focus ST I couldn't even find a picture of one on their own website...

[Gammaboy]

.

[Mick_MY02]

Growing up in the 70s I loved Falcons and am just old enough to remember family and friends getting new GTs and GSs. One kid at school was lucky enough that his old man bought a new XB GT hardtop in red. First time I drove in the back I was hooked and owned a 351 XC GS for many years..

It is so sad to see how pretty much with the XD it started to go all beige with very few bright spots in between. When I finally had enough cash to buy a new car in the early 2000s the best Ford could offer me was an AUIII XR8. So I bought a WRX, later STi and XT Forester. Ford just lost me as a new car customer. Sure the Subarus have had the odd niggle but they pretty much just go, and even the STi that sees the track a fair bit hasn't given me any real grief.

Now I've got mates with Territories and as soon as they get over 5yo stuff like roof lining falls down, rubber seals lift off, ball joints die at regular intervals, etc. You'd think in 40 years they'd at least come up with new problems.

Sure big car sales are down across the board, but Ford failed dismally at maintaining an aura of desirability around their local product. No matter how good the odd car was over the years, they never really recovered with the axing of the V8 in the XE and the abortion that was the AU.

[TonyJZX]

i just watched this on the news and it showed a melodramatic scene of Ford workers leaving geelong for the day...

oh i see a VW golf, a mazda 3 and a korean shit of some sort

i see the delicious irony

you cant even get Ford workers to eat their own slop

[Stix Zadinia]

the AU is an excellent car, it's just ugly

wasn't the XE the best selling car for a few years running (outright, not just in its range) it's amazing how ford have fallen

[Jim]

GM seem to recognise a good thing when they see it.
Ford USA reject the same things almost to the point of a strange form of racism. Ford Aus has never had the same creative autonomy that Holden seemed to enjoy.

[260BC]

AU might have been an 'excellent car' but it's world styling was horrible. From then on people looked at Falcons differently, earlier on Falcons had been in most ways better for Aussie conditions and requirements than anything else in the world. Imported cars, with very few exceptions, were looked upon as fragile and gutless, which comparatively they were.

But things have moved on since then.

[Mick_MY02]

When it comes to that intangible X factor I heard someone sum it up perfectly about ten years ago.

You'd never be at a pub justifying to your mates why you bought the latest HSV but you would be if you'd bought an AU Tickford. Now the TE50 was a sweet car that steered very well and was given some great write ups, but that didn't matter and that is what Ford failed to grasp.