Ford to Close Australia Plants
5/22/13, 06:55 PM
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Ford to Close Australia Plants
Last edited by Topnotch; 5/22/13 at 07:22 PM.
5/22/13, 09:21 PM
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Just read that...
May 22, 2013, 9:36 p.m. EDT
Ford to close Australia plants on costs
By Enda Curran
SYDNEY--Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) said it would stop producing cars in Australia in 2016, foreshadowing hefty job losses in a setback for a government that's invested heavily in propping up the country's automobile industry.
The U.S. company said it would close down its Australian plants in October 2016 resulting in 1,200 job losses, citing unsustainably high business costs.
"The business case did not stack up," Ford Australia's Chief Executive Bob Graziano said in a televised statement on Thursday.
The announcement comes amid the dwindling popularity of some of Ford's locally-produced cars that have progressively lost business to cheaper and more fuel-efficient cars from Japan and elsewhere. General Motors Co.'s (GM) Australian unit last month said it was cutting 500 jobs, or about 12% of its workforce, citing pressure from the nation's strong currency.
May 22, 2013, 9:36 p.m. EDT
Ford to close Australia plants on costs
By Enda Curran
SYDNEY--Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) said it would stop producing cars in Australia in 2016, foreshadowing hefty job losses in a setback for a government that's invested heavily in propping up the country's automobile industry.
The U.S. company said it would close down its Australian plants in October 2016 resulting in 1,200 job losses, citing unsustainably high business costs.
"The business case did not stack up," Ford Australia's Chief Executive Bob Graziano said in a televised statement on Thursday.
The announcement comes amid the dwindling popularity of some of Ford's locally-produced cars that have progressively lost business to cheaper and more fuel-efficient cars from Japan and elsewhere. General Motors Co.'s (GM) Australian unit last month said it was cutting 500 jobs, or about 12% of its workforce, citing pressure from the nation's strong currency.
5/23/13, 09:04 AM
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Id be fine with them continuing production here stateside. The falcon will compete with the Charger and other sport sedans as well as give Ford a well developed, highly requested (among enthusiasts) sporty 4-door saloon
5/23/13, 09:28 AM
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The Australian market is way too small for heavy investments. I read somewhere that "only" 1.1 million vehicles were sold in Australia in 2012.
5/23/13, 10:21 AM
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Didn't realize it but there's only 21 million people in Australia. That's less than the state of Texas but a little more than the state of Florida.
Or 1/16th the population of the US/Canadian markets.
Or 1/16th the population of the US/Canadian markets.
5/23/13, 12:32 PM
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also funny how the new chevySS is going to be imported here from australia
5/23/13, 03:22 PM
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They'll probably get the new Mustang in RHD too. Be an interesting day when the first ship carrying Mustangs to Oz passes the first ship carrying Monaros, I mean "SSs" to the US.
5/23/13, 06:20 PM
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5/26/13, 08:12 PM
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Unless Ford can build few more vehicles on Falcon's platform, I don't think it would pay off to sell Falcon in the USA. It would not be cost effective in addition to the fact that Falcon would be stealing sales from Taurus.
5/27/13, 08:10 AM
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Ford doesn't really need two full-size cars, especially since Taurus is doing a pretty good job taking over Crown Victoria's sleet sales.
It would be nice to see a RWD Lincoln though ...
It would be nice to see a RWD Lincoln though ...
5/29/13, 12:40 AM
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I believe Lincoln will share an AWD, rear-biased, system with Taurus, capable of a massive amount of Ecoboost torque. Still an east-west configuration so no hope of a V8 saloon, like every other manufacturer has, barring Audi. Never thought Ford, famous for their 8s and large sedans, would let that category go, and that is why I was hopeful Falcon would soldier on. In saying that there's nothing suggesting it's platform won't be used... if only there's someone out there that could tell us exactly which platform S550 is based off.
Pretty sad that Falcon's journey is coming to an end in 2016. The writing was on the wall but I never wanted to believe it.
The only product that will have some sort of connection with Falcon after it dies is the Mustang, which was born from Falcon all those decades ago, and it's also good to know that Ford's Australian engineers had/has input into the sixth generation Mustang.
If you read a lot of the social media Ford Australia is being heavily criticised for this announcement, the Falcon fans are plenty and they're loud. Too bad they never put their money where their mouths were.
Bring on Mustang.
I wonder if there will be a 4-door iteration of S550.
Pretty sad that Falcon's journey is coming to an end in 2016. The writing was on the wall but I never wanted to believe it.
The only product that will have some sort of connection with Falcon after it dies is the Mustang, which was born from Falcon all those decades ago, and it's also good to know that Ford's Australian engineers had/has input into the sixth generation Mustang.
If you read a lot of the social media Ford Australia is being heavily criticised for this announcement, the Falcon fans are plenty and they're loud. Too bad they never put their money where their mouths were.
Bring on Mustang.
I wonder if there will be a 4-door iteration of S550.
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