Falcon sales drop to 1300 for January

[Cuey]

This is not good news...

Orion can't come soon enough

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...eID=48027&vf=2

[andrewts]

Where are those runout deals!

[HSE2]

Whoever that dealer is seems rather down.

[Fairlane]

She's a bit of a panic merchant isnt she, spelling ipending doom for Orion; Real lovely positive stuff, and she the Ford spokeswomen. No wonder Ford do it bloody tough, so many negative vibes.

“I can’t ever see the Falcon becoming a strong player in the retail market again.”

:

I think the poor sales are more due to lack of stocks than anything else, you pretty well cant get a BF unless it is already on the dealers lot.

Considering that Orion will be here in March, i dont see the big worry. Your not going to get VE rivaling sales in the last 2 months of an old model.

[ClevlndStemer]

that orion better be something special that's all i am going to say, i don't even think the AU was this bad.

[Serial_Fool]

It only reflects the markets perception of the aging BF model- try explaining to someone off the street the difference between the BA that was released in 2002 and the BF2 that was released in '06 and they'd look at you funny.

[BionicGT]

Originally Posted by Fairlane

She's a bit of a panic merchant isnt she, spelling ipending doom for Orion; Real lovely positive stuff, and she the Ford spokeswomen. No wonder Ford do it bloody tough, so many negative vibes.

:

The dealer said this not the Ford spokeswoman.

[Nikked]

Originally Posted by andrewts

Where are those runout deals!

yeah, they did wonders for the EL and Au :

[Poetic Justice]

On a lighter note, Corolla knocked Commodore off the number one position for Jan 08.

[XR6_190]

I don't think it is anything to panic about. The last few months of a new model before the run out deals begin are usually pretty bad, I think these are just worse than usual because of the current situation (Petrol prices, VE being released nearly 2 years before Orion)

So yeah, worse than you would expect, but it shouldn't be a permanent problem.

[MarkIV]

What this article and others fail to note is that there were 17,290 Territories sold to make a total of around 51,000 locally made Fords. Not that far behind 57,000 Commodores (excl exports) and not as bad against the 1995 figure (81,000) when of course there were no Terris.

[4Vman]

Does anyone seriously expect good sales results just prior to the release of a new model?

[Smoke Pursuit]

Theres stuff all stock around, seriously i was down at a big QLD yard today and i reckno they had about 60 falcons in stock (that was in their holding yard) in there dealership they had 5.. Thats a total of 65 cars.

These dealership usually holds between 120 - 150 Falcons at anyone time as it has 2 showrooms, they are very down on stock at the moment, i think Ford head office have cut build numbers so they dont have lots of old stock layin around come new model time.

Ford has not tapped the market with 07 runout pricing or cash backs like the past either on Falcon, they really arent pushing yet..

[uranium_death]

Before the Holden was released, there was this buzz about the "New HOlden" and the "Billion Dollar Baby."

Ford need to turn the headlines around, even just a plain informative article like, "Ford vibrant with new model Falcon", and talk about the new car (without giving away too much). The Falcon can no longer sell itself...there is more choice out there that are better advertised.

A lot of people would have no idea there is a new Falcon coming out soon. If it's that good and Ford think it's a car for people, have a teaser on TV giving people something to look forward to. They will "Watch this Space" more closely.

With the barrage of doomsayers on the car sites on the net, there is little to suggest there is anything to look forward to.

[Hunter]

Three things I can see causing people to not buy Falcons:

1) Fuel costs

2) Poor reputation of service centres/dealers

3) Poor reputation of vehicle in general

[csv8]

I bought a BF Series 2 GHIA with the Barra 190. Fuel consumption is acceptable, 25mpg average. METRO FORD no problems with sales or service staff over 10 years . Bought 4 cars from them. Build quality excellent, 3 months old, nothing fallen off, no rattles or squeaks. Excellent car,

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by csv8

I bought a BF Series 2 GHIA with the Barra 190. Fuel consumption is acceptable, 25mpg average. METRO FORD no problems with sales or service staff over 10 years . Bought 4 cars from them. Build quality excellent, 3 months old, nothing fallen off, no rattles or squeaks. Excellent car,

Metro are a good mob, they're part of the AP Eagers group (who were originally a big Holdon dealer). I have deal with them for parts before and always had good experiences. But remember that QLD is only a small part of the Ford market segment. The majority of issues with dealers stem from dealers in NSW and Victoria.

Some people might consider its consumption 'acceptable' and it may indeed be not that bad but in marketing and sales perception is what counts and the public perceive the Falcon to be a gas guzzling, poorly made local bogan chariot which will give you hell if you ever need to take it for warranty.

I disagree with that perception because I'm not a sheep and can make up my own mind but that's how a large number of car buyers see it.

[uranium_death]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Metro are a good mob, they're part of the AP Eagers group (who were originally a big Holdon dealer). I have deal with them for parts before and always had good experiences. But remember that QLD is only a small part of the Ford market segment. The majority of issues with dealers stem from dealers in NSW and Victoria.

Some people might consider its consumption 'acceptable' and it may indeed be not that bad but in marketing and sales perception is what counts and the public perceive the Falcon to be a gas guzzling, poorly made local bogan chariot which will give you hell if you ever need to take it for warranty.

I disagree with that perception because I'm not a sheep and can make up my own mind but that's how a large number of car buyers see it.

The problem is that people want cars to run on nothing now. The fact is that a car is not a cheap purchase initially, and in the future.

My old man has his rule with a car. With a family sized car, yes, you pay more for petrol, but you have more crumple zone which he sees as an insurance policy.
We had an XF before and that guzzled fuel! Back in 1990 when during the Gulf War, petrol prices skyrocketed and we were stuck in flooded Queensland low on petrol, forced to pay ridiculously high prices. Now maybe that was worth a .

Ford need to get facts out there and break this pro-Camry and Commodore perception that Fords are pieces of junk because talking to people generally, they have never owned a Ford let alone been in one, and they believe they're rubbish. Perception is what it's all about.

They really need to tell people that the Falcon is a good car.

[sleekism]

Damn outsold by the Aurion........

Geez it was only a few years ago with the BA that the Falcon was on top of the world and seemed unstoppable.

I'm doing my bit for Falcon sales. I have convinced all the baby boomers at work what a good car the Falcon is and whenever I see an XR6 and XR8 I take to staring at it as it drives past so the driver feels like a million bucks and will hopefully buy a Falcon again.

Knowing things there are plenty of people with cash in their pocket ready to buy a Falcon and are instantly repulsed by rude Ford salesman. I also know plenty of people who bought a BA Falcon or Territory and loved the car but were treated badly by Ford service so will never buy a Ford again.

[ClevlndStemer]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Three things I can see causing people to not buy Falcons:

1) Fuel costs

2) Poor reputation of service centres/dealers

3) Poor reputation of vehicle in general

This is partly true, when I had my BA, the fuel wasn't too bad, although my XR5T with only 3000km has already outdone my best fuel economy on the falcon by 1 litre /100km.

Anyway the rest i would agree with, I had so many issues with the BA and the service dept. A couple of times my mates were in the car when problems occurred. Of course they told their friends and etc.

The BA/BF is not what I would call a quality vehicle, mine was a lemon, a mate had a LPG falcon, it only lasted 6 months before he traded it in on a Nissan Maxima (ugly car) and he has never looked back. My old man has a BF2 XR8, the only decent thing about it is the ZF, the rest of it is poor quality at best. Door trim rubber peeling, fuel line to the filler not lined up correctly and leather seats wearing only after 2 months of ownership.

Ford need to stop cutting corners on quality. It may help them in the short term but in the long run too many customers will have been burnt by the quality to ever return to a falcon, and honestly while the Focus isn't made here i'll continue to get one and would never get another falcon.

[Bossxr8]

The factory was only running for about 10 days in December, so what do they expect. Stuff all cars were built. Ford are keeping numbers down to avoid having excess stock, and it is working. When Orion is released they will hardly have any old BFII stock that they need to shift, exactly what they want. Feb should be a good month as the fleets are going nuts on E Gas cars at the moment.

One thing that is really getting on my nerves is the few journos saying that the Orion won't be very new. BS. Every panel is different, the whole interior is new, the whole front suspension is new to Falcon, the 6 cylinder engines are significantly different and basically everything forward of the rear wheels is new. Only the rear suspension will be similar to the BA/BF but i'm sure they will make changes to that as well. What more do they want? Morons. :

[mik]

Originally Posted by 4Vman

Does anyone seriously expect good sales results just prior to the release of a new model?

no........

[XR6_190]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Three things I can see causing people to not buy Falcons:

1) Fuel costs

2) Poor reputation of service centres/dealers

3) Poor reputation of vehicle in general

You forgot one vital problem, that puts most people off when buying a new car, Resale. This is were a lot of people are put off the Falcon. Lets compare things here.

BFII Futura - $39,290- resale over 3 years- 38% of original cost
VE Berlina - $39,990- resale over 3 years- 49% of original cost
Aurion Prodigy - $39,500- resale over 3 years- 62% of original cost.

The preceding models all line up on price/ equipment etc' but resale doesn't do the ford very many favours

[Cuey]

Originally Posted by XR6_190

You forgot one vital problem, that puts most people off when buying a new car, Resale. This is were a lot of people are put off the Falcon. Lets compare things here.

BFII Futura - $39,290- resale over 3 years- 38% of original cost
VE Berlina - $39,990- resale over 3 years- 49% of original cost
Aurion Prodigy - $39,500- resale over 3 years- 62% of original cost.

The preceding models all line up on price/ equipment etc' but resale doesn't do the ford very many favours

Excellent point!

[RPO83]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

The factory was only running for about 10 days in December, so what do they expect. Stuff all cars were built. Ford are keeping numbers down to avoid having excess stock, and it is working. When Orion is released they will hardly have any old BFII stock that they need to shift, exactly what they want. Feb should be a good month as the fleets are going nuts on E Gas cars at the moment.

One thing that is really getting on my nerves is the few journos saying that the Orion won't be very new. BS. Every panel is different, the whole interior is new, the whole front suspension is new to Falcon, the 6 cylinder engines are significantly different and basically everything forward of the rear wheels is new. Only the rear suspension will be similar to the BA/BF but i'm sure they will make changes to that as well. What more do they want? Morons. :

All points that McAllary should be putting out there in response to this but time and time again the media always corner her and she ends up failing to do her job.

[BHDOGS]

Also the ba/bfs models all look the same even the xrs are hard to tell apart its a rather boring line up looking at all these similar looking falcons.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Three things I can see causing people to not buy Falcons:

1) Fuel costs

2) Poor reputation of service centres/dealers

3) Poor reputation of vehicle in general

Sums it up.

Dan

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Three things I can see causing people to not buy Falcons:

1) Fuel costs

2) Poor reputation of service centres/dealers

3) Poor reputation of vehicle in general

And Very poor Brand image.

[chich]

Originally Posted by Hunter

Three things I can see causing people to not buy Falcons:

2) Poor reputation of service centres/dealers

3) Poor reputation of vehicle in general

Spot on.

[VSSII]

It would be a good start to stop making excuses. Problems need to be addressed. Every other manufacturer at some time is faced with an old model runout. How top many 5'ers slip to 17th? How many top 5'ers rely heavily on fleet sales? Who cares if the plant was only open 10 days in Dec? They are in the business of selling cars. I would bet London to a brick that if they thought they could sell the cars they would have been building them in Dec. They're not running a corner store here.

What worries me most is the fact that the Orion isn't even an all new car.