Is Ford losing in sales?

[PALE ALE]

FoMoCo as a whole, has made huge losses,so has GM (infact GM has made a record loss for a vehicle manufacturer), Australia's car market is tiny on a global scale. GM has invested 1 billion dollar's on the ve, there will be a certain profit margin that is forecast,planned ,needed to be met, in return for this investment. Same for Ford, same as Toyota. To cut cost's,raise profit's,and make it easier to achieve those profit margin's,GMH has overlooked Australian manufacturer's, and sourced part's from overseas, mainly China.( If anyone reading this ,went to the automotive trade show at the Melbourne exhibition centre last year, would have seen all the car component manufacturer's from China,Tiawan,Indonesia,Korea etc,I was gobsmacked,Aus manufacturing can't compete with them ) It is getting harder for car manufacturer's in this country to get a return on their investment. Toyota's president recently questioned the viability of Aus manufacturing. Lower tarriff's has mean't more import's into the country. Think back 10-15 year's ago, there was not the amount of 4wd, suv,hyundai (which you could'nt even say back then, but is now a household name) kia,subaru etc that there is now on the road. The aussie dollar is high and look's to stay that way (commodity prices), which mean's higher labour cost's,material's cost's electricity cost's,etc, so it cost's more to manufacture in Australia. Why is Ford closing it's engine plant in Geelong? It is simply not viable anymore to invest money in a locally built engine (I bet there iron foundry has been running at a loss for year's, too expensive to produce iron,heat it to 1500#,compared to aluminium 500#, material cost's etc ) Australia's car manufacturing will slowly die (goverment cut's tarriff's with one hand, but hand's out grant's with the other ?) give it 10-15 year's, there will be no car industry in Aus.

[Duggy]

Originally Posted by barbarian

I think not.

February sales were as follows -

Territory: 1300
Falcon: 2600

Total: 3900


Holden -

Commodore: 4300






Since the territory is derivation of a Falcon, we can consider this beaut SUV as a Falcon.. with only 400 sales difference, so in turn, i don't seem understand what the media exaggeration on Ford Aus sales loss is about? When the BA/BF combined with Territory was at its sales peak, Ford Aus was undoubtedly profiteering more than Holden could dream of.. I believe this trend will return once FG sales kick in.

I've been saying that all along Barbarian & no one will listen to me. :

I believe the typical family buyer is shifting from the traditional sedan to the more versatile interior packaging the Territory offers. Ford obviously thought so too & so did we. The sedan just doesn't cut it anymore when for a few more bucks you can sit your family in roomy comfy car.

Remember the Territory is built on a shortened Falcon wagon platform on the same production line with component sharing. So total production output from Broadmeadows is about the same as per normal. That's the figure the press should be looking at. Journalists :

[Dave_au]

I think your all forgetting that both Holden and Toyota have export markets, whereas with Ford, what you see with the Australian sales figures is largely what their actually producing (ignoring Fiji, NZ etc).

[ZA-289]

Ford salesmen push people out of falcon wagons into territorys! if the territory wasn't around they'd sell more falcons.

[Mark351]

Originally Posted by Fev

LACK OF VEHICLE DIVERSITY!!! WHY WONT FORD AUS LISTEN TO US!!!

they should build a mid size coupe/convertible.. something to match the saab's and such, i'd definately buy one if i could afford it.. i think australia is screaming for a good I6/V8 coupe/hardtop/soft top and the only ones around are beemers, saabs and vectra's.. thats about it.. nothing else stands out to me(AND THAT IS THE PROBLEM! FORD DONT STAND OUT ANYMORE!)

There's an awfully good reason why Ford Aus does not pour millions/billions of good money down the drain investing in low volume speciality vehicles in a RHD market with little to zilch chance of export beyond NZ and SA.

Holden tried, and lets see how they went... Monaro: did well for a quite while but the market dried up, so it was mercifully put to sleep. The crewman was axed (which is why you'll never see a dual cab Falcon ute when you can buy a dual-cab Ranger), the one-tonner was chopped (couldn't carry a tonne anyway...) and the Adventra was taken out the back and shot (poor attempt to steal Terri's thunder and was a bomb...)

A Ford Aus-built mid-size coupe/convertible you say? Not in a zillion years.