Ford committed to leaving Aus.

[au2000]

Originally Posted by chevypower

But it's the market that abandoned the affordable large RWD 6 cylinder family sedan. When I say market, I mean enough of it to not make it viable.

I don't disagree that there are a number of reasons for its demise, not just advertising, but look at current numbers, we are averaging about what 500 falcons a month ATM while Holden is averaging about 3000 a month?
Both have been killed off , only one has been advertised, again I'm not saying that advertising would have saved it, I'm just saying ford put into play a plan a number of years ago before the announcement,
It's like anything , reduce the options or variations & the market for the product also reduces,
As many have said on here and admittedly it's all speculation, but you can't tell me a g8 e would not sell, the Calais v has proven there are people who want a luxury v8 sedan.
Either way it's a mute point now, these are the final 18 mths or so of the falcon, and for those of us it suited, let's enjoy this one last model.

[commodorenutt]

Originally Posted by Wretched

There is a difference in cost between setting up a car manufacturing industry vs importing cars.

If there was no existing industry, then yes, there would be setup costs, but there's still a number of operating factories on our shores, along with hundreds of smaller sub-tiers.

[Wretched]

But to maintain manufacturing of cars requires staff, raw materials, energy, etc, etc and all at AUD prices.
Compare that to what an importer has and you can see why.
So they only sell a few more cars a month, but when you don't have to fund the R&D for that region, sell a model world wide the costs come down a lot more.
For us to make cars there, government, business and workers (including unions) need to re think their strategy.

[LeadFoot81]

Originally Posted by au2000

I don't disagree that there are a number of reasons for its demise, not just advertising, but look at current numbers, we are averaging about what 500 falcons a month ATM while Holden is averaging about 3000 a month?
Both have been killed off , only one has been advertised, again I'm not saying that advertising would have saved it, I'm just saying ford put into play a plan a number of years ago before the announcement,
It's like anything , reduce the options or variations & the market for the product also reduces,
As many have said on here and admittedly it's all speculation, but you can't tell me a g8 e would not sell, the Calais v has proven there are people who want a luxury v8 sedan.
Either way it's a mute point now, these are the final 18 mths or so of the falcon, and for those of us it suited, let's enjoy this one last model.

The biggest (un-fixable) problem that Falcon has isn't lack of options/variations, it's that it isn't a hatch back, SUV, or commercial ute (or all three)

Rightly or wrongly the 3 box sedan/wagon/ute combo has been replaced by those 3 types of vehicles. Even if Falcon was the best selling hatchback, or SUV, or commercial ute (or all three) it wouldn't be enough to make manufacturing in Oz sustainable (for a variety of national and international reasons) [IMO].

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by LeadFoot81

The biggest (un-fixable) problem that Falcon has isn't lack of options/variations, it's that it isn't a hatch back, SUV, or commercial ute (or all three)

Rightly or wrongly the 3 box sedan/wagon/ute combo has been replaced by those 3 types of vehicles. Even if Falcon was the best selling hatchback, or SUV, or commercial ute (or all three) it wouldn't be enough to make manufacturing in Oz sustainable (for a variety of national and international reasons) [IMO].

Yeah look at Holden now and of recent. Despite selling cruze and commadore in large amounts(compared to others in segment).....they still struggle to make any money on the locally made cruze and commadore. They could advertise on people's eyeballs and sell 20 million cruzes, but if it's costing them money to do that and the opposition is importing cheaper cars, and the govco pulls support, then you need to start smelling the roses!

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by zilo

FFS..learn to spell.

"your right" should be you're right, a contraction of "you are right"

How about you get over YOURself
Very petty and off topic
Possibly....get a hobby......

[tut0r]

Ford may have survived if the falcon was exported like holden did do to the states....But then again if you're putting a mustang, camaro, falcon and god knows how many v8/6T/6 or any variant in there I probably wouldn't pick the falcon as much as I love the car....Engine great! Styling loved it, interior.....well boring, compared a GTS to an FPV and I will say I feel like I get 10x more on the interior then I have ever seen any FPV with, but you pay for the motor I suppose..

[ohzone]

Have a look at the dealerships today, see if you can find anything to do with winning Bathurst on the weekend if you can you are better than me. I arrived late this morning at one of our local dealerships to remove a dent from a car and said to the person in "new cars" that I was dealing with.
"I thought you would have banners or something advertising the Ford win at Bathurst on Sunday"
the answer was
"I am sorry, I don't know what that means".

They seriously had know idea what I was talking about
There is no passion for the product in within the company or the dealerships, little wonder they are leaving

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by tut0r

Ford may have survived if the falcon was exported like holden did do to the states....But then again if you're putting a mustang, camaro, falcon and god knows how many v8/6T/6 or any variant in there I probably wouldn't pick the falcon as much as I love the car....Engine great! Styling loved it, interior.....well boring, compared a GTS to an FPV and I will say I feel like I get 10x more on the interior then I have ever seen any FPV with, but you pay for the motor I suppose..

Maybe you should look up how many they projected to sell, how quickly that number became a very small number.....and how little they sell. From memory there wasn't even close to even one car for each sales yard.
Not sure it's sold even a slither of the models needed to make it even slightly worth all the $$$ and effort put into the deal. But that's no doubt more a reflection of the American market then the car itself.......unless your not talking about the vf........because if your not, then the other exports were and are a complete failure.

[Syndrome]

Well my commitment matches theirs - to never buy any Ford products once the last Australian made Falcon rolls off the assembly line.

[bungarra]

Originally Posted by zilo

FFS..learn to spell.

"your right" should be you're right, a contraction of "you are right"

You mean:

[UberKnee]

As has been pointed out the Commodore gets alot of advertising but Holden are still closing down local manufacturing. Its just simply not viable to build cars, especially cars like that here anymore. We're way too expensive compared to the rest of the world. As fun and simple as Falcon/Commodore are most people don't give a rats *** about performance, car enthusiasts are a minority. A few people wanting a factory blown V8 doesn't compare to most people just wanting, cheap, reliable, with plenty of gadgets.

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

I find it ironic that we are said to have too small of a population to support a local car industry, yet we have the most brands on sale here of any of the developed nations.

Seems the "importers" see our small population as a very viable business, even if some are getting much less than 1% of the total market.

When a company like BMW, Ford, Mercedes, Honda, etc. who sell cars worldwide send cars here its just a bit of icing on top of the cake, a little extra profit at little cost. But building cars here when everything is super expensive and selling them here while trying to make a profit is different.

America have more car makers selling cars than we do as well, just about every car manufacturer on earth, even the niche ones sell cars in the States.

Originally Posted by ohzone

Have a look at the dealerships today, see if you can find anything to do with winning Bathurst on the weekend if you can you are better than me. I arrived late this morning at one of our local dealerships to remove a dent from a car and said to the person in "new cars" that I was dealing with.
"I thought you would have banners or something advertising the Ford win at Bathurst on Sunday"
the answer was
"I am sorry, I don't know what that means".

They seriously had know idea what I was talking about
There is no passion for the product in within the company or the dealerships, little wonder they are leaving

To be fair Ford in the SC and Ford Aus really have nothing to do with each other. A race car that resembles a road car but shares practically nothing with said road car really means nothing to the car sold to the public. On top of that there's plenty of people who are big car enthusiasts in Australia but don't care about V8SC. I'm right into cars but V8SC bores the crap out of me. Easy to like the Falcon but not care about the race car version.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by UberKnee

As has been pointed out the Commodore gets alot of advertising but Holden are still closing down local manufacturing. Its just simply not viable

America have more car makers selling cars than we do as well, just about every car manufacturer on earth, even the niche ones sell cars in the States.

First bits right ..........but I'm pretty sure America are far from selling even close to the amount of brands as here in aus. Pretty sure they are very restrictive on who they allow, and what they allow to be sold in America.

[UberKnee]

Just all of GMs subsidiaries sell in the States, every supercar manufacturer, pretty much every small car manufacturer. America's a huge market that everyone wants and mostly is in on. It makes people feel good to say Australia is the most flooded car market place in the world to explain away local manufacturing's failings but there's so many manufacturers that sell there but not here, and sell their entire range not just a few cars.

And if we include the likes of HSV and FPV here then all the workshops that sell modded cars played to their shop count in the states as well, not that they need those numbers.

[chevypower]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Well my commitment matches theirs - to never buy any Ford products once the last Australian made Falcon rolls off the assembly line.

I'm a little confused. So you're going to punish a company that's employed Australian's for over 50 years, by rewarding a company that's never had a manufacturing plant in Australia (and has no plans to)? Or are you just never buying a new car again? (as if that helps any jobs).

[Ben73]

Could Australian cars be disappearing because we are not making a big enough variety? What Australian fords are there? Falcon, Falcon ute and Territory. Large sedan, 2wd ute and large city SUV. If you want anything else you have to buy an import.
As we know hatchbacks and small SUVs and even dualcab utes to some extent sell in volumes these days. I wonder if Australia made these vehicles they may be making a decent profit. Enough to keep the lesser selling products in production. Still No good from a business point of view. But if it earns them overall profit it's not the worst situation

[Deo]

Originally Posted by UberKnee

just about every car manufacturer on earth, even the niche ones sell cars in the States.

Although you can't buy a Peugeot in America.

Sent from my GT-I9305 using Tapatalk 2

[LeadFoot81]

Originally Posted by Ben73

Could Australian cars be disappearing because we are not making a big enough variety? What Australian fords are there? Falcon, Falcon ute and Territory. Large sedan, 2wd ute and large city SUV. If you want anything else you have to buy an import.
As we know hatchbacks and small SUVs and even dualcab utes to some extent sell in volumes these days. I wonder if Australia made these vehicles they may be making a decent profit. Enough to keep the lesser selling products in production. Still No good from a business point of view. But if it earns them overall profit it's not the worst situation

Ford Oz looked at building Rangers here, and slated the Focus in for local build for a while there, but nothing viable could be locked in for a variety of reasons.

[BradEL]

Originally Posted by Ben73

Could Australian cars be disappearing because we are not making a big enough variety? What Australian fords are there? Falcon, Falcon ute and Territory. Large sedan, 2wd ute and large city SUV. If you want anything else you have to buy an import.
As we know hatchbacks and small SUVs and even dualcab utes to some extent sell in volumes these days. I wonder if Australia made these vehicles they may be making a decent profit. Enough to keep the lesser selling products in production. Still No good from a business point of view. But if it earns them overall profit it's not the worst situation

Things still wouldn't work out if any other type of vehicles were made in Australia. The problem has very little to do with they type of vehicle being produced, the simple fact is that it isn't as cost effective to manufacture vehicles in Australia, especially a small volume of vehicles on a global scale.

It is an economic certainty that the Australian car industry cannot survive on its own for much longer in today's economy, imported cars have become much cheaper and they are far more effectively manufactured in other parts of the world, such as Japan. By no means am I saying that Japanese cars are better, but it is far cheaper to manufacturer cars in Japan or Korea etc, than in Australia.

For example in Japan, Automotive products are one of their main export goods,and because they are able to produce these relatively cheaply and efficiently, their demand increases. Its just one of those things that cant be changed, it doesn't matter if they made a small SUV or whatever, it is still going to cost more to make it in Australia than in Asia (costs of labour, transport, machinery ect).

There are plenty of export goods from Australia that cant be obtained for the same price in Japan for example beef, coal, wheat, so because Japan cant get the amount of these goods from their own country as cheaply or efficiently, they import from Australia.

Its a real shame, but really nothing can be done about it, apart from enjoying it while it lasts, so get out there and buy a new Falcon before its too late !

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by chevypower

I'm a little confused. So you're going to punish a company that's employed Australian's for over 50 years, by rewarding a company that's never had a manufacturing plant in Australia (and has no plans to)? Or are you just never buying a new car again? (as if that helps any jobs).

Next year will be Ford Australia's 90th anniversary.

[XD 351 Ute]

If the government was fair dinkum about saving any of our manufacturing, they'd put the fences back up. Plenty of other countries still have them.
We should have some protection on our own industry, surely.
Even giving away our resources for the prices we do is madness.
I'm quite sure that once we run out, we won't get such a good deal when we go shopping. Fuel is a perfect indicator to that.

Ed

[mik]

Some blokes just dont get it, manufacturing here is expensive,
rule one for any business is you have to be able to make a dollar,

holden is departing for the same reason as ford and toyota, as did just about ever other major car maker thats set up shop in australia, its really very little do with the cars, they advertise the mondeo, they have barely advertised the falcon at all, yet the falcon still out sells the mondeo and the aurion.

Gov policy for decades has made it harder and harder for manufacturing.......its just the hand they have been delt.

[outback_ute]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

If there was no existing industry, then yes, there would be setup costs, but there's still a number of operating factories on our shores, along with hundreds of smaller sub-tiers.

There are setup costs every time they bring out a new model, and 3-4 times that when it is a new generation. The timing of the factories closing when the current cars are due to be replaced is not a coincidence.

Ed you are spot on, I think there needs to be more thought to the long-term, ie 50-100 years, by governments (all of them).

The signs have been there for years that Ford has been less than interested in manufacturing in the long term, as the global competitiveness has decreased plus the market has changed in a way they couldn't accommodate. The Commodore arguably represents the best case scenario, they have had a fair crack at exporting (even though the Pontiac shut-down did not help) and as such have had more money spent on development, but it still does not have a business case for another generation.

Now that they have made the decision it would take something extraordinary for Ford to change their position.

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by XD 351 Ute

If the government was fair dinkum about saving any of our manufacturing, they'd put the fences back up. Plenty of other countries still have them.
We should have some protection on our own industry, surely.
Even giving away our resources for the prices we do is madness.
I'm quite sure that once we run out, we won't get such a good deal when we go shopping. Fuel is a perfect indicator to that.

Ed

Yes, put huge tariff barriers back up, then we will only have the choice between an EA falcon or VN Commodore style of car with quality and features to match.
Advancement in aussie cars has ONLY happened because of competition.

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by chevypower

I'm a little confused. So you're going to punish a company that's employed Australian's for over 50 years, by rewarding a company that's never had a manufacturing plant in Australia (and has no plans to)? Or are you just never buying a new car again? (as if that helps any jobs).

With a name like chevypower I am not surprised you are confused. If my maker is willing I have many more years of life. In that time I will need cars. If I can't buy Australian made cars then what can I buy???

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by ohzone

Have a look at the dealerships today, see if you can find anything to do with winning Bathurst on the weekend if you can you are better than me. I arrived late this morning at one of our local dealerships to remove a dent from a car and said to the person in "new cars" that I was dealing with.
"I thought you would have banners or something advertising the Ford win at Bathurst on Sunday"
the answer was
"I am sorry, I don't know what that means".

They seriously had know idea what I was talking about
There is no passion for the product in within the company or the dealerships, little wonder they are leaving

That's not just a Ford thing. I've been working in the industry for about 15 years and no dealer has any passion anymore. Its all business. Most of the people that work in them aren't car people. They don't care. Its just a job.

[NX74205]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

With a name like chevypower I am not surprised you are confused. If my maker is willing I have many more years of life. In that time I will need cars. If I can't buy Australian made cars then what can I buy???

The way I see it, you have three options:

1. Buy a new car not made in Australia
2. Buy a used car
3. Build your own kit car.

The beauty about the Australian car market is that there is choice, which is a great thing for consumers. There is a whole host of other cars out there which are available for sale in Australia, if only people would take off their blinkers for a moment. I think it's a pity that in this global car industry - and in particular the Australian market where we have more brands and models available than anywhere else - people can't see past their own prejudices against imports.

Ford in particular have a whole range of fantastic cars that's either currently for sale or in the pipeline. If you're going to boycott Ford's products - some of which, like the Ranger and Everest, are designed and engineered right here in Australia - then that's your choice, but it's also your loss. Holden and Toyota are going too. Are you going to boycott them as well? And Mitsubishi? And every other manufacturer that once had manufacturing operations in Australia?

And incidentally, the thread title is misleading. Ford aren't leaving Australia, they're ceasing manufacturing in Australia. There's a big difference.

[LoudPipes]

Edmunds.com lists the following manufacturers who currently sell new vehicles in the United States market.

Acura, Alfa Romeo, Aston Martin, Audi, Bentley, BMW, Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Fiat, Ford, GMC, Honda, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Jeep, Kia, Lamborghini, Land Rover, Lexus, Lincoln, Lotus, Maserati, Mazda, McLaren, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Ram, Rolls-Royce, Scion, Smart, Subaru, Suzuki, Tesla, Toyota, Volkswagen, Volvo.

[Bucket]

Originally Posted by au2000

Tbh on this point , although I don't fully disagree with what your saying , the last time ford ACTUALLY put an ad in for The falcon was in about 2008 / 2009 when the fg first came out,
There has never been any advertising by ford for the falcon since then really,
Yes they advertise the fiesta, ranger & focus but that's it,
It's clear that ford gave up on the falcon then not recently.
In comparison, holden have also killed off local production but even last night are flogging off the commodore on tv in new ads,

To be fair, Ecoboost and EcoLPI have both received a solid plug since then.

[chevypower]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

With a name like chevypower I am not surprised you are confused. If my maker is willing I have many more years of life. In that time I will need cars. If I can't buy Australian made cars then what can I buy???

Actually my name is Alex, Chevypower is just my unique user login, which I needed to make. I'm sorry if your parents named you Syndrome.