Govermant to try to help Falcon

[sbutler]

I dont know if this has already been posted, but after the bass up CRudd made of the car industry, with the FBT. This maybe what Ford needs to stay here, with Falcon.
Sorry if its already been covered..

http://www.skynews.com.au/businessne...aspx?id=911425

[barnz_xr8]

They (ford) need to manufacture not just the falcon here but ranger ,focus ,mustang , territory , ect ect.
so the cost of operations are spread out over a broader model range, other wise just propping up the dead.

[stang65]

Would be good, if Holden, Ford and Toyota shared parts like switches and bits it might help save some money too.

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by stang65

Would be good, if Holden, Ford and Toyota shared parts like switches and bits it might help save some money too.

Not. Going. To. Happen.

[stang65]

Can still wish. A lot of things in life aren`t going to happen.

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by stang65

Can still wish. A lot of things in life aren`t going to happen.

Sorry mate, I didn't mean to quote your comment. I meant to quite the OP's comment.

Ford is finished in Australia come 2016. The decision is not going to be reversed.

[flooded one]

Originally Posted by P6LTD351

Sorry mate, I didn't mean to quote your comment. I meant to quite the OP's comment.

Ford is finished in Australia come 2016. The decision is not going to be reversed.

yep its sad and very true. just got to hope that workers will find jobs pretty quick after they close. I don't get why everyone's so against ford closing for personally. I'm upset myself about the falcon not being made anymore and I feel sorry for all the people that will lose jobs over ford closing. but at the end of the day Ford have a business to run. they where losing money here and I think they went the right way about it by giving 3 years notice. I hope they keep their word thou as 3 years is a long way. I could understand if they went "**** yas!! where shutting in 3 days get ****** etc. the falcon and falcon ute are pretty much the only cars at the moment ford make that appeal to me. It doesn't mean I will never buy another ford once falcons gone. who knows. mustang sounds good at this stage. Hopefully if all goes too plan. i'll buy a new falcon in 2015.

[flooded one]

correct me if i'm wrong but I've played around with a few commodores (gulp!!) and i'm pretty sure if you pop the interior light bulb holder out on the VR/VS there is a ford logo on them

[Cuyper]

Originally Posted by wildrider

correct me if i'm wrong but I've played around with a few commodores (gulp!!) and i'm pretty sure if you pop the interior light bulb holder out on the VR/VS there is a ford logo on them

Indeed, and if you pop the same light out of a Falcon it has a Holden part number on them... It's just a shared part with both. Lots of parts are near identical between the older Falcons and Commodores. I knew a guy that wouldn't get into a Commodore because he said the steering racks fail and they are dangerous. He was a little surprised when we pulled the racks out of a Commodore and Falcon and saw they were made in the same factory and only very very slightly different in shape but identical on the inside. Back in those days most parts in both of them were made for Holden and Ford by the same companies so pretty much everything is the same part/material in a different shape.

[Bossxr8]

There are a few parts that are generic and the supplier sells them to all the manufacturers. But it would be limited.

[flooded one]

damn. there goes that idea then.

[KurtisEBear]

One way the govt can help is they convert their entire sedan fleet over to just Falcon and Territorys

[Crazy Dazz]

Blah blah blah. It’s all been said before, but I’ll say it again: To create a sustainable auto industry in Australia, there would need to be fundamental changes in the economic “rules” surrounding auto manufacture in the is country. Australia could and should assemble the Focus and Ranger here, but why would they when they can import them from Thailand at a fraction of the cost. The Falcon & Territory needs stronger domestic sales (protected from cheap imports) and exports (driven by export enhancements.)
I'm not holding my breath.

[jpd80]

The Australian market has been gifted to foreign imports, industry protection via tariffs have been demonized
as some sort of evil enterprise where car buyers are cheated out of buying the cheapest possible cars they can.

This short sighted policy based on "level playing field" is an example of how successive governments have
unravelled the whole austrlian auto industry for the sake of people buying cheap cars letting the money leave Australia


There is nothing this or any other government can do to save Ford Australia,
Holden will be next and then Toyota will have the lot.

[Brazen]

Wouldn't it be good if the Government mandated that ANY car sold in the country had to have a minimum 5% Australian content by value or even weight. It would probably halve the nameplates sold here and be a massive boon to the components industry - as many of the imported cars are sold worldwide and so those would probably contain the Australian content as well.... At least the government could still say the tariffs are at 0 or 5%.

[Rico 110s]

Originally Posted by Brazen

Wouldn't it be good if the Government mandated that ANY car sold in the country had to have a minimum 5% Australian content by value or even weight. It would probably halve the nameplates sold here and be a massive boon to the components industry - as many of the imported cars are sold worldwide and so those would probably contain the Australian content as well.... At least the government could still say the tariffs are at 0 or 5%.

Sounds good, however this would mean that makers of items such as tyres and belts (assuming that these makers are here) would be the beneficiary of this scheme because any other way would mean that Australia would need assembly plants for every Auto maker/importer in Australia and I don't see how this would help the current industry now.

[prydey]

Mr Macfarlane said he did not have buckets of cash to throw at the auto sector and the government wanted it to become internationally competitive and survive without ongoing assistance.

seems a little naive doesn't it. do these people just love making these sort of statements without doing any sort of homework?? he is a politician i guess.

serious question.
how many auto industries are self sufficient?

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Rico 110s

such as tyres and belts (assuming that these makers are here)

tyres haven't been made in australia for many years.

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by Brazen

Wouldn't it be good if the Government mandated that ANY car sold in the country had to have a minimum 5% Australian content by value or even weight. It would probably halve the nameplates sold here and be a massive boon to the components industry - as many of the imported cars are sold worldwide and so those would probably contain the Australian content as well.... At least the government could still say the tariffs are at 0 or 5%.

Most cars made in the world would probably have 5% Australian content by weight anyhow, considering we supply alot of the raw components that go into car. And a Mazda 3 that sells here for $21000, probably lands here for sub $15000, so aren't we already value adding 25% to the car anyhow. The Australian government and public get more wealth from the sale of a $150,000 Mercedes than they do from ten cruzes.

People are always banging on about the unfair trade conditions we suffer. China doesn't stop our coal exports because send it there cheaper than they can dig it up. We send $200 million a day worth of exports to China a day, and yet people have to crack up about us importing $40 million of cars from the whole world each day.

[JG34JA]

Iron Ore Spot price $110.75/tonne
Coal Spot Price $82.46USD per metric Ton
Auto Import in form of Mazda3 @ 1410kg and $15,000 imported: $10,638 per ton

Facepalm for not value adding: priceless.

[falcs93]

All Ford does is talk **** because they are complaning about it being to expensive to build in Australia.. ok then if it's cheaper to build cars in other countries why is the Ford Ranger double the cost of a new XT Falcon think about it doesn't make sense

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by falcs93

All Ford does is talk **** because they are complaning about it being to expensive to build in Australia.. ok then if it's cheaper to build cars in other countries why is the Ford Ranger double the cost of a new XT Falcon think about it doesn't make sense

Sent from my GT-I9100T using Tapatalk 2

They said the volumes they had here made it expensive, they needing to spend $800 million every 7 years for a new Falcon when they are only making 12,000 Falcons a year it just doesn't make sense. In comparison Toyota makes 800,000 Camrys a year.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by Brazen

They said the volumes they had here made it expensive, they needing to spend $800 million every 7 years for a new Falcon when they are only making 12,000 Falcons a year it just doesn't make sense. In comparison Toyota makes 800,000 Camrys a year.

Why did they can the Focus programme, and in doing so waste the money that would have made FG LHD compatible

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

Why did they can the Focus programme, and in doing so waste the money that would have made FG LHD compatible

The reason Focus didn't work for Australian production was because of Asian import taxes they charge Australia but not each other.
Where Holden was given up to $149 million in coinvestment funding for Cruze, Focus project only ever attracted around $30 million.

Ford did not waste the money, by agreement with the government, it was combined with more funding
to make the Falcon I-6 Euro 4 compliant, develop EcoLPI, develop Ecoboost and develop V6 diesel for Territory.

There is nothing the government can offer Ford to stop the closure of Broadmeadows and Geelong manufacturing,
the money that would have been earmarked to continuing production has now been used to develop local versions
of One Ford products built in other countries. The die is cast and there's no coming back.

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by jpd80

The reason Focus didn't work for Australian production was because of Asian import taxes they charge Australia but not each other.

Is that true jpd80?

Why do they do this?

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by falcs93

All Ford does is talk **** because they are complaning about it being to expensive to build in Australia.. ok then if it's cheaper to build cars in other countries why is the Ford Ranger double the cost of a new XT Falcon think about it doesn't make sense

It doesn't make sense because what you said is not true, a basic Ranger 2WD starts at around $28,000 drive away

[FPV8U]

The Falcon is dead full stop and while I give it about 0.1% chance of happening this would be more about trying to get them to re tool the plant to build say Focus and Ranger, models that on pure volume could be sustainable.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by FPV8U

The Falcon is dead full stop and while I give it about 0.1% chance of happening this would be more about trying to get them to re tool the plant to build say Focus and Ranger, models that on pure volume could be sustainable.

But Ford looked at the numbers for building Focus and Ranger, and even then the numbers didn't add up. They said they looked at all conceiveable angles and not one could they get to work. Just because it's so expensive to build here and Broadmeadows just does not have the capacity of the new mega plants that can easily build double what Broady can.

It's these new mega plants that have dropped the input cost per car down significantly overseas, in countries that already have cheaper wages, and no ridiculously overburdening red tape and carbon and business taxes etc.

[falcs93]

Originally Posted by jpd80

It doesn't make sense because what you said is not true, a basic Ranger 2WD starts at around $28,000 drive away

Yea but the base 2wd ranger is not even half the car the Falcon is ( Features wise ) so it's still cheaper to buy a Falcon rather then a Ranger

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[Joe5619]

What kills me is they can't get enough Rangers to meet demand (what about the cost of lost sales?). What is going to happen when this plant also has to build Everest? Ranger could be selling 4,000 per month, add another 1,000 for Everest. And why can't Ford AU build the BT for Mazda as well (like they do now)? That would add say another 1,500 per month. We'd be talking 6,000 per month (78,000 per year). Add some for NZ & surly this is good enough volumes for Ford Aust? I'm still hoping the government can do something with Ford & keep manufacturing here. I know it properly has no chance, but you ever know!!