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Ford Australia to stop local manufacturing in 2016

Ford Broadmeadows Assembly Plant

Ford Australia has confirmed it will cease all local production at its Broadmeadows and Geelong factories from October 2016. Declining Falcon and Territory sales, along with combined losses of $430 million over the last two years would appear to be the main reasons behind today’s announcement.

Bob Graziano, president and CEO of Ford Australia, says up to 1200 jobs will be lost. He added Ford will increase their imported product lineup by 30% in a bid to return to profitability.

Updated versions of the Falcon, Falcon Ute and Territory will go ahead later this year as planned.

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan said the Government will provide support to those affected. “The government will do everything within our power to support workers and local communities that may be affected by the decision taken by Ford,” he said.

Now that one has gone, how long will Australia’s other iconic manufacturer, Holden, survive? It’s currently in the middle of launching the all-new VF Commodore range to the media and it’s not too far fetched to suggest that could be the last major local model built by Holden.

Ford Australia Reports 2012 Financial Results

May 23 2013

Ford Australia today announced an after-tax operating loss of $141 (AUD) million for the 2012 financial year. This follows a loss of $290 million in 2011. Ford plans to transform its Australian business and expand its vehicle lineup by 30 per cent by 2016 to return to profitability.

The loss was a result of the re-alignment of the company’s business in November 2012. During this time, production changed from 209 vehicles per day to 148 vehicles per day in a direct response to changing customer preferences, which have driven a continued industrywide decline in the sale of large vehicles. As a result, Ford has impaired its asset base by $143 million.

Chief Financial Officer Mark Rearick noted that the financial results mirror the restructure. “We had a 30 per cent reduction in volume at the end of last year, and our financial results reflect that we had to re-value our asset base by a corresponding amount, accounting for the loss,” Rearick said.

This restructure was a result of Ford Australia remaining focused on key aspects of the global One Ford plan, including:

  • Aggressively restructuring to operate profitably at the current demand and changing model mix
  • Accelerating the development of new products that customers want and value
  • Financing the plan and improving the balance sheet
  • Working together effectively as one team, leveraging Ford’s global assets

For the second consecutive year, Ford invested more than $200 million dollars across research, development and facilities for a broad range of global and local vehicle development programs. Last year saw Ford’s investment reach $270 million dollars which brings the company’s Ford’s total R&D investment in Australia during the past six years to more than $1.9 billion, making it the largest R&D investor of any automaker in Australia.

In 2013, Ford will continue transforming its Australian business by accelerating the introduction of new products for Australian customers, enhancing the sales and service experience, and improving its business efficiency and profitability. This includes launching updated versions of Falcon, Falcon Ute and Territory, as well as offering other world-class products such as Ford Kuga, Focus and Ranger.

“We will continue to invest in our product development facilities in Australia,” said Bob Graziano, president and CEO of Ford Australia. “Last year, our investment helped us unveil first-class improvements, such as the creation of our Virtual Reality Centre. In addition to bringing our customers a great line-up of vehicles, Ford Australia will continue to be known as a centre of excellence in this space.”

Other income of $112 million was derived primarily from the Government’s Automotive Transformation Scheme (ATS), which is a result of our research and development and local production. This accounted for just 3.7 per cent of Ford’s total revenue for 2012.

17 replies on “Ford Australia to stop local manufacturing in 2016”

I reckon they’ll sell a bucket load of Falcons in the next 2 years, after all, you won’t be able to get one after 2016.

Sad.

For some strange reason, I would still buy a XR6T – for the ‘sleeper’ factor. Don’t send me to the shrink…..

Sad but exciting at the same time.

If they all go under hopefully GM will release all those awesome U.S muscle cars here.

Riddle me this, if the Aus Auto Manufacturing Industry is in dire straights then why am I being quoted April next year delivery for a new HSV GTS? Niche? sure, but the base car is a commodore, c’mon guys strike while the irons hot, build em and they will (maybe) come.

Alpine your are in the extreme minority. The sales figures do not lie. Holden will be going to the grave very soon also. They’re just trying to milk a little bit more government support for the next few years to cover employee entitlements. Even if the exported Commodore to the States is a mild success (and all indicated signs from the public show that it won’t be) they would end up moving production of the American version to the States, Mexico or Canada anyway. The most Holden fans can hope for is buying rebadged overseas built Holdens.

The unions in Australia have killed the car industry and have been stabbing it for some time now. It was inevitable. The unions also decimated the car industry in the States as well until recently. The difference is the States have a huge domestic market which is helping the car industry back out from bankruptcy. but a lot of brands have also died a slow death there too. Chrysler is not so healthy at the moments either despite aggressive marketing.

Most Australians don’t care anyway because they buy imported cars.

Australia could still resurrect its car industry to some extent, but we probably should have done so 70 years ago by building exotic racing pedigree sports cars. We sure had the heritage to do so and to some extent even more than the Italians did before Ferrari. But I guess we were too busy worrying about raising sheep and cows rather than raising industry.

And if you just want to see why most Australians hate what ford Australia is styling just compare the above picture in this article. Compare the all class gold XR GT, to the horrific $2 hooker looking FG GT. I mean the guy at Ford Australia who decided to put splashes of red all over that car needs to be taken out, flogged, pantsed and then sacked in front of the whole company. I mean seriously WTF were they thinking? Also the FG GT with the new S/C engine should have been released from the get go with the R-Spec modifications (and not called R-Spec). Why? Because everyone and they dog was crying out the Falcon needed thos suspension and tyre mods for years and years! This is how stupid the people at Ford Australia / FPV are. They kind of deserved to be closed down if you asked me.

At least the few remaining die hard HSV fans out there can thank Ford / FPV for one thing. They forced Holden / HSV to pull their finger out from their arse and finally release a GTS with some serious supercharged power. If FPV never released that supercharged engine, HSV will still be selling 317KW overweight slugs.

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