List of Ford of Australia Presidents since 1925

[Dr Smith]

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

Yes, the diesel Territory was cancelled under his watch. Geoff Polites was quoted before his passing that he was furious over that decision.

Apparently on returning to Australia for a funeral things got a little heated at the wake where the diesel Terry cancellation was brought up.

I have to confess to something, there was one month in 2003 when BA overtook the Commodore for sales and I was driving in Brighton and stopped at the intersection with Nepean Highway. I suddenly noticed to my right the passenger sitting in lhs front seat of a Caprice was none other than Peter Hanenberger, Holden's Chair and MD....I reached across the seat and grabbed a newspaper article I had just read with pride.. and held it up against my window so he could see the headline....I think he retired at the end of that year as well.
Then that weekend my golden retriever almost tripped up a man jogging along the beach...it was GP...how's that for a double...

https://www.theage.com.au/national/f...04-gdwh1u.html

Falcon outsells Commodore
October 4, 2003 — 12.54am


A year after its launch, Ford's BA Falcon has knocked the Holden Commodore off its perch.

According to the official sales figures for September, the Falcon finally outsold its Holden rival.

The result ended the Commodore's reign of more than 70 straight months as Australia's top selling car.

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) said Ford sold 7,409 Falcons last month, just 48 more than the 7,361 Commodore's retailed by Holden.

However, on a year-to-date-basis, the Commodore was still clearly ahead, 64,906 compared to 55,489.

Ford President Geoff Polites said it was the best Falcon result since March, 1996 and a 100 per cent improvement on Falcon sales from September, 2002.

"One year after launch, the BA Falcon was September's biggest selling car in Australia," Mr Polites said.

"That excellent result is validation of the hard work by everyone at Ford to deliver a car the Australian market wanted."