Ford will end production in Australia.
see:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-23/ford-to-close-geelong-and-broadmeadows-pla nts/4707960
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-05-23/ford-in-australia3a-timeline-of-the-compan y/4708066
RIP Ford Australia
Maybe they could have kept producing the falcons if bogans had not decided they were cool/crashed-them-all.
I can see why they would close. Here's US sales for the same period. (April 2013)
General Motors:.........237,646
Ford: Ford:.............212,584
Toyota / Lexus / Scion: 176,160
Chrysler:...............156,698
Honda / Acura:..........130,999
Nissan / Infiniti:.......87,847
Hyundai:.................63,315
Volkswagen:..............33,644
Subaru:..................32,943
Mercedes-Benz:...........26,157
BMW / MINI:..............29,011
Mazda:...................19,894
Audi:....................13,157
Jaguar / Land Rover:......4,684
Volvo:....................4,464
Mitsubishi:...............4,461
Porsche:..................4,032
Source: http://www.thecarconnection.com/news/1083660_april-2013-car-sales-strength-in-nu mbers
Curious how you came to that conclusion Ken with the information you posted.
News report photo 1916 LHD car UK registration PP7963 from Science Museum.
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/Centenary/Home/Icons/ModelT_Ford.aspx
Maybe they could have sold enough falcons to make it worth keeping production if they had done away with all those unnecessary accessories like electric windows and the unregistered pitbulls that came surgically attached to the back seat and left only the important parts like brakes and engine and most importantly halfed the price.
Also they should have included a full set of steel wheels with each purchase instead of leaving buyers to scavenge odd wheels just to move it off the lot and used a real headliner instead of crumbly yellow foam dust that makes it look like you have dandruff.
I know that the economy is slow but I think Ford didn't do them selves any justice by taking a icon, the family size car like the Falcon that we have had for more than 50 years,6 cyl or v8 and tell us you now get it in a 2 ltr 4 cyl. Would race out and buy one?
My thougts go out to the families. I was one of the 1,050 workers that lost our position when Mitsubishi's folded in Adelaide. I was part of the management structure and it came as a blow. The end result in Adelaide was we lost 10 jobs to every Mitsi one. Melbourne is in for a rough ride. Manufacturing is dead in Australia.
Our government needs to get its head out of the sand and start leading our great country. Bring on the Federal election; can't wait.
Do you think an election will change the minds in Detroit aboutour very small market...l ddon't, the writing was on the wall 9 months ago.
The territory will go to Malaysia but retain the drafting here in Melbourne.
Toyota l will give 6-9 months before we hear something then Holden .
,
David,
I agree with you – it is going to be a tough time for workers – both labor and management at Ford AU and the ripple effect on other companies that sold to Ford AU. [Recommended book for anyone facing such a forced change situation: “Who Moved my Cheese.” See: http://www.amazon.com/Who-Moved-My-Cheese-Amazing/dp/067104334X I probably need to reread the book as the days of 30 or 40 years at one company have already ended in most locations.]
Note if I read it correctly there will still be Ford AU – but without any manufacturing in country.
Ford AU apparently still has some Model T Ford related records. While they would probably only go back to 1925ish – I believe they still could provide a lot of good information for future owners and researchers. For anyone interested in trying to help preserve those for the future please see the thread at: http://www.mtfca.com/discus/messages/331880/363685.html?1369306769
Again, sad news, but hopefully the people impacted as well as the Australian government will work together to discover the next steps they need to take.
Respectfully submitted,
Hap l9l5 cut off
You Aussies have committed the capitalist sin of paying living wages to your workers, so your wages are no longer competitive with slave wage countries. We've had stealth inflation since 2000, so now the dollar is worth less than half what it was then.
Since wages have stagnated in that time, Americans are working for half of what it appears. Our high unemployment rate keeps wages down, and benefits have been slashed. Add to that our millions of low-wage ambitious illegal immigrants, and some jobs are being repatriated from the ChiComs.
We really notice our relative poverty when we travel. My neighbor's daughter and her family emigrated to Sidney last year. The husband makes big $$$ in software, so they can afford it. The neighbor is aghast at your prices compared to here. An 8oz Starbucks coffee here is about $1.50. Neighbor says a cup of coffee there is $5 to $10. The difference has to be wages, as coffee is imported to both countries.
Btw, Vietnam became the world's second largest coffee producer about ten years ago. Taste the Agent Orange? They may have surpassed Brazil, too, by now.
You need what we need: 100% inspection of imports - paid by the importers. That would create lots of local jobs and slow the imports, making domestic manufacture more competitive. It has the fringe benefit of assuring we get better products. Over 60% of the seafood imported from Asia is contaminated.
rdr
We have seen what the unions have done to Detroit and in the 50 +yrs i served in the Australian motor industry they were bent on doing the same here. 4to 6 weeks holiday and paid more to be on holidays than be at work--We are a JOKE in the manufacturing game around the world.
No wonder it costs 4 times as much to produce a car here than in Asia.
The results are now being seen and Government hand outs are not going to fix the mess.
Lets hope Ford Australia treat this as a transition period and maybe one day we will get our manufacturing plants going again.
Hap
the Ford AU ledgers for 1925 thru 1927 are located at the University of Windsor,
After in depth discussions with our local dealer principal regarding Fords future back in October of 2012, when the first mutterings about Fords long term venture here came out, he advised that the design center would still be here, but all manufacturing ( see Ford Territory ) will be done in Asia- aka Malaysia.
Currently, holden ( GM ) brings its small sized pickups in from Malaysia, the old Daewoo cars now badged as Holdens are from Korea, Ford brings the Fiesta and Focus in from South Africa, so the car Manufacturing market here in Australia is well is there a nice way to put it.
tonight Holden ( GM ) announces that it will still be manufacturing the commodore here , they fell short of giving a date when the realization that we cost to much... and they'd do the same as ford and ship completed vehicles directly to the show room... hope we have a manufacturing market so some of those folks can race in and buy a new car..
Do we cost to much ????
Or are we where years of solid negotiations by our unions have put us where we should be, living a reasonably good life, l did say reasonably good life.
We buy on line, get cheaper prices, is it our fault or have we been ripped off by big companies for far to long and now they are loosing profit, because we have found a way to buy the same product from somewhere else - cheaper - or more fairly priced so they pack their bat and ball and bugga off home....
David.
PS - this was not a paid presentation for either the liberal or labour parties.... neither of which is at this point capable of saving anything, boat people come, they'll still be coming this time next year.. car companies will still be departing too.
How do you say hello in Chinese, maybe l should learn a new language hmmmmm..
Do you remember this movie with Michael Keaton back in 1986, with that famous Jimmy Barnes song "Working Class Man "//, kinda fitting really.
Situation not helped by all levels of government when their fleets are now made up from imported cars. I have had seven locally made cars provided to me to do my job, four Mitubishi Magnas, and three Ford Falcon's, two RTV utes and one station wagon. Fleet manager decided to make the last two cars Ford Rangers(Mazda BT50) made in Asia. Funny thing was the Falcon's and Magna's were more reliable and cheaper to run, guess I need to be a manager to understand this arse up logic!! Can't understand why governments give huge payments to keep manufacturing of cars going here and then buy imported ones to run in their fleets, politicians and senior managers are a strange lot.
RIP Falcon.
Peter
You may be to young to remember Peter, but a government of the time tried that logic once to try and save the Leyland, The fleet and Schaeffer driven P76 didn't go down to well with the public servants, end of car and Leyland Australia.
From a SA viewpoint Ford has been unfairly propped up for years with SA Government Fleet sales. When MMAL was dropped the SA Government numbers were bewildering. Holdens and Ford over 40% each and only about 13% local MMAL products. Yep, the SA Government were buying 40% imported product from Victoria. What about SA money being spent to keep SA jobs? Just too logical I suppose.
The Federal fleet sales were even more biased against MMAL with once again 40% each for Ford & holden and only about 1.4% MMAL.
It is only a matter of time when they all fold. They continually manufacture a a vehicle the buying public simply do not want. Why has the Toyota Corolla been number one for years? What was Holdens latest? The most powerful and fastest HSV Commodore. I rest my case.