Ford - BRW magazine lead article!

[Grimace]

BRW this week has a lead article worth reading about Tom Gorman trying to SAVE Ford Australia !!!

have a look...http://www.brw.com.au

[GTRMagic]

Its disappointing the writer didnt explore various subjects with Mr Gorman... it was a 4 page article which told us not much more than was already known in the motoring and financial press....

[Grimace]

and now Fairlane and LTD are axed!

[richie17]

After 40 long years, Fairlane and LTD will be left to die next year!
This will be a sad day in Australian motoring history.
Fairlane and LTD will be survive by there children, Fairmont and Fairmont Ghia.
RIP

[Chucky]

Didn't know they still made them................

[Chucky]

Well, he's doing the good CEO thing of cutting all the dead limbs off. He's already cut back the V8 expenditure once this year. What's he going to do for next budget?

[WebberForWDC]

Hmm let's hope the new Flacon looks good that will help sales, though it's not in the cut throat busy market like small cars where that can truly help convince private buyers to change brands between the many makes of course.

So far the spy shots suggest it kinda looks like a bland Peugot from the sides which is a concern surely.

[bentate]

Unfortunately Ford Oz seem to have been caught snoozing on the issue of exports. Whether it is actually that they haven't actively chased them or other reasons (FoMoCo in the US being uncooperative), the fact still remains that without significant export sales the Falcon will struggle. Locally Ford can't afford to spend as much on development as Holden due to much smaller unit sales and there are no known additional uses for the basic Orion chasis (as there is with the Zeta platformed VE).

That's why we wont see a new Fairlane or LTD. The cost of developing a long wheelbase version of the Falcon is probably more than $200 million and the sales (less than 300 Fairlanes and only a handfull of LTD's last month) simply can't justify that expense. The Statesman/Caprice not only destroys the current long wheelbase Ford on the road but it outsells it by almost 4 to 1and Holden sell thousands to the middle East and China as well to help cover it's development costs.

I hate to see local jobs under threat or our local industry cop it yet again, but I just can't see a way out for Ford locally. They can't afford to spend as much on the Orion as Holden did on the VE, they lose the long wheelbase cars and the ute and wagon will simply be the BF (which is in itself mostly left over from the 98' AU) with new panels over the old floorpans and suspensions.

This together with the low margin high cost Euro medium and small cars they sell, really puts Ford in a very difficult position locally and like GM, they can't rely on the US parent to help them out with any cash.

I'm afraid that unless the Orion is a smash hit - it will most likely be the last local Falcon we ever see.....

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by richie17

After 40 long years, Fairlane and LTD will be left to die next year!
This will be a sad day in Australian motoring history.
Fairlane and LTD will be survive by there children, Fairmont and Fairmont Ghia.
RIP

Article Here

I would imagine Ford is in a spot of bother just at the minute... a number of dealerships seem to have fallen off the network.. whether by choice or design... and the sales volumes are a long way off what they were a few years ago....

With no significant CBU car export programs to speak of, the signs are not good.

The article in V8X is interesting, about the problems inside Ford, and the need to cut back on spending on motorsport... to spend more wisely....

[hoffy]

I think Fords saving grace could possibly be A) a diesel engine in the range & b) If they do, for Fuel prices to continue to rise.

[pete55]

Will any of this have an effect on the competitiveness of the Falcon V8 Supercars in the near future. VESA must be at least getting a bit nervous.

[mountainstar]

The territory and falcon would have been excellent products for the USA except a decision was made only to engineer the AU-BF for right hand drive. Stupid.

One of the reasons why ford is in trouble is they keep duplicating their efforts on different platforms around the world.

[Chris - Melb]

A couple of weeks Autocar magazine reported that Ford USA 'very close' to reintroduce more rear drive cars into their lineup and they could even be built in Australia.

Ford Australia is not stupid and realize that if they can't export fully built up cars that they at least need to export their 'technology' to survive.

There has to be some scope with the Territory and the new Falcon, not to mention the Falcon Ute, etc. Compared with Toyota Australia which just builds the Camry/Aurion (arguably just one model) and Mitsubishi with just the 380.

Ford may have to survive on designing cars for other markets such as that commercial vehicle they are currently designing for other markets.

Who knows what may be around the corner for Ford Australia that we are not privy to (hopefully it is not a brick wall)!

It is sad to see the end of the Fairlane, but it has represented a very small percentage of Ford's sales for quite a long time.

[billy bigtime]

Interesting.
So the left hand drive Falcon test mule I saw on the West Gate yesterday was built for fun?

[Fig Jam]

The long wheel base LTD and Fairlane were doomed the day Ford released the Territory, the Falcon Wagon will go the same way as they all share the same base.

The statement I heard was that Ford can't even get close to competing with the Statesman etc, so that is why they have pulled the pin, I heard at that time that they were going to import the up-market stuff, maybe an opening for a Ford badged Jaguar.

[Fig Jam]

Originally Posted by bentate

Unfortunately Ford Oz seem to have been caught snoozing on the issue of exports. Whether it is actually that they haven't actively chased them or other reasons (FoMoCo in the US being uncooperative)

They probably got burnt with the Capri all those years ago.

[Chris - Melb]

Good news to hear!

Originally Posted by billy bigtime

Interesting.
So the left hand drive Falcon test mule I saw on the West Gate yesterday was built for fun?

[mountainstar]

Over here in the states I think the Ute would be a big seller as an alternative to the 8 mpg chugging full size trucks people use for work.

[xrystl]

Ford seem to be experts at ****ing up - like the Ford Mondeo that they imported for a few years , they didn't advertise that it was here or available just bugger all in the media , the "lame duck" Taurus was a poor excuse for a mid size car and poorly put together too boot - the once great Fairlane is now just a shadow of its former self and has been going downhill for about 20 years , now hard to pick from a normal Falcon - hope they manage to survive as a lot of jobs are on the line and the suppliers need them for the volume of parts otherwise they will go down the gurgler as well .

[Raglanparade]

Global Product Range seems to be the way that things are headed, and Toyota has shown that this is the most successful way to be profitable.

The majority of Fords losses are coming from the US anyway, they are actually profitable in Europe and South America. The Ford Fusion in the US is a piece of FWD rubbish and is supposed to be the flagship car. Any guesses why this 2.3 litre car doesnt sell much in the US?? If there was a RWD Falcon style car in the US, Ford NA would be in a much better position.

The Fairlane has been coming for a while, and maybe if they werent taxi's, people would see them as a prestige product.

[Robert Ryan]

Over here in the states I think the Ute would be a big seller as an alternative to the 8 mpg chugging full size trucks people use for work.

That would a rational decision, unfortunately too many Americans use the Pickups as some sort of Linus blanket rather than practical light work vehicle. I rarely saw them being used for anything else other than transport.

[bentate]

Originally Posted by Raglanparade

Global Product Range seems to be the way that things are headed, and Toyota has shown that this is the most successful way to be profitable.

The majority of Fords losses are coming from the US anyway, they are actually profitable in Europe and South America. The Ford Fusion in the US is a piece of FWD rubbish and is supposed to be the flagship car. Any guesses why this 2.3 litre car doesnt sell much in the US?? If there was a RWD Falcon style car in the US, Ford NA would be in a much better position.

The Fairlane has been coming for a while, and maybe if they werent taxi's, people would see them as a prestige product.

The problem is that the money Ford makes in it's profitable markets doesn't come close to off setting the huge losses they are making in the US (similar to GM).

The current Fairlane was a relatively low cost refresh of the 98' AU based Fairlane. It still uses Falcon headlights and tail lights not to mention a very similar dash design to base Falcons. The Satesman was designed from day one as it's own vehicle and even uses longer rear doors to match the extra dimensions afforded by the stretched VE wheelbase. The Fairlane still uses good old AU rear doors that look out of place in such a long car.

Unfortunately Ford US doesn't seem to have a local product champion in it's senior ranks as Holden does with GM's Bob Lutz. 60k of local Falcon sales is well off Ford US's radar when it comes to their global problems. Along with US plans to introduce much tougher CAFE regulations on average fuel consumption, the last vehicle on Dearborn's mind will be a big, heavy 4 litre six cylinder rear drive car from down under....

In my view, like Holden, Ford Oz's local viability sits with export deals with Asia, North Africa and the sub continent where large rear drive cars have a healthy and growing market and where fuel economy is not a high priority. There's plenty more profit in long wheelbase and prestige models than base models. Holden would be doing very nicely out of Statesman and Caprice sales. The other issue is that Ford really doesn't have a component export business either. Holden make hundreds of thousands of motors for export and the Alloytec design allows for changing capacities up or down as required along with the latest technology such as direct injection (due to be introduced along with GM's new smaller 6 speed auto in the VE series two next year).

[Peter Nightingale]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Bye Bye Bill Here

+ Don't you really mean BYE BYE car industry in total..........................................................................