VFACTS for October - Page 3

phillyc · 16-11-2009, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vztrt

Ford Australia President optimisitic on 2010 sales figures

http://www.caradvice.com.au/47833/fo...sales-figures/

Burela said price adjustments for the Falcon and Territory are being considered but insisted that the movements of the market would most likely determine his company’s strategy.

With Falcon sales up 3.4 per cent on October 2008 and Territory rising by almost 11 per cent in the same period, Burela says Ford is looking to boost production above the current 270 cars per day by the end of the year.

He also confirmed that there is no non-production days planned for the rest of this year or for 2010, but stopped well short of implying that overtime could make a comeback.

We don’t want to be too optimistic. We’re in a good place right now, we’re selling everything we can make, our imported cars are doing great work for us. We’ll make a decision in the next couple of weeks in terms of what we need to do, how we go out there and get those cars that we’re looking for.

These are the pertinent points to this article.

vztrt · 16-11-2009, 02:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phillyc

Exactly, was trying to find a link to that. Building 270 cars a day with 95% of Falcon sedans being XR or G series is great. Territory is moving further up the model mix too.

Cars built to demand, with a good volume and a high spec mix = profit.

http://www.freep.com/article/2009110...-bright-future

imugli · 16-11-2009, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phillyc

Exactly, was trying to find a link to that. Building 270 cars a day with 95% of Falcon sedans being XR or G series is great. Territory is moving further up the model mix too.

Cars built to demand, with a good volume and a high spec mix = profit.

The figure quoted is for Asia-Pacific & Africa, which includes Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. No breakdown of FoA - does anyone have one?

irlewy86 · 16-11-2009, 03:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caradvise.com.au

“What a great success story for the Australian industry between two main competitors who are really going at it and competing out there,” Burela said.

Gee, isn't it refreshing to see someone talking up the Australian manufacturing sector.

vztrt · 16-11-2009, 05:30 PM

Car boom takes a breather in golden West

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...257670001C52F4

Quote:

WA car market follows resources boom down – this year, at least

16 November 2009

By JAMES STANFORD

A SCRUFFY miner in need of a wash and a shave walks into a Holden Special Vehicles dealership in Perth and asks how fast the green Maloo ute on the floor can go.

Assured it is quick, he says he will take it. No haggling, no phoning around for the best price; he just hands over about $70,000. It’s a true story from a dealership that was the top seller of HSVs in the country when the resources boom triggered a car sales surge in Western Australia in the past few years.

More recently, things haven’t been so rosy out west, due to a cloud over resources exports during the global financial crisis.

Data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ VFACTS service shows WA is on track for 99,206 car sales in 2009. That represents a 14.9 per cent drop on its 2008 performance and an 18.2 per cent decline from the state’s best-ever 121,275 in 2007.

WA sales are off across all segments. Passenger sales are down by 15.3 per cent, SUVs down 11 per cent, light commercial vehicles have dropped by 15.5 per cent and heavy commercial sales, reliant on all industries and, crucially, the mining sector, have plummeted 26.9 per cent.

If WA new car sales do come in at about 99,000 for this year, it will be the first time the state has sold fewer than 100,000 vehicles in a year since 2004.

WA sales had been on the rise since 2001, when they stood at 68,790. The number rose to 72,949 in 2002, 83,113 in 2003, 90,533 in 2004, 100,595 in 2005, 110,874 in 2006 and 121,275 in 2007 before easing off to 116,652 in 2008 with the effects of the financial crisis starting to hit towards the end of the year.

Early signs of confidence, including rising share prices of the big miners, suggests the WA resources sector is rebounding. Vehicle sales should start to come back accordingly, but how long this will take is anyone’s guess.

WA is not the only state to suffer a decline this year.

Sales are down 10 per cent in Victoria, 7.5 per cent in New South Wales, 8.5 per cent in South Australia, 3.6 per cent in the ACT, 15.5 per cent in the Northern Territory and 11.9 per cent in Tasmania.

While WA has been a strong performer over the past decade, Queensland has been another star performer.

From 1998 to the end of 2008, Queensland’s new-car sales increased 31.94 per cent, while WA’s rose 31.37 per cent.

Sales in Victoria rose by 23.7 per cent in that time, South Australian sales moved up by 22.1 per cent, Northern Territory sales increased by 14.49 per cent and the ACT improved by 3.04 per cent.

The New South Wales market grew, but not by as much as the market, increasing just 6.16 per cent in the decade.

For the record, NSW remains the largest buyer of new cars, with 282,049 vehicles expected to be sold on that state this year.

Victoria is number two, with 239,694 sales. Queensland should account for about 195,110 vehicles by the end of December, ahead of WA on 99,206, while SA is on track to shift 58,805 cars.

Tasmania is expected to end the year with around 16,530 sales in front of the ACT, which should wrap up the year with about 14,945 sales, while the NT is likely to shift just 9005 cars.

Road_Warrior · 16-11-2009, 06:46 PM

That will be short lived, the amount of new 'D' plated cars I see on the road is crazy, and everyone is talking about Gorgon and just waiting for boomtime MkII.

Joe5619 · 16-11-2009, 06:53 PM

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25766F007E0F2D

From the above article:
"Mr Burela said Ford was now selling more Falcons to private customers rather than fleets and as result was selling far fewer base model XTs than in the past."

Very nice to see more private sales, then Fleets sales for Falcon.. What a turn around Burela has made in such a short time.. Going to be very good for resales values in years to come..

uranium_death · 16-11-2009, 07:03 PM

How people can touch the Corolla, I don't know.
The 3, Cruze and Focus are all far, far better cars.

Do these people drive the car and decide it's best, or do they decide before they've even left their house on what car they're going to buy?

It is good to see the Falcon/G-Series continue to do well, but I am still unsure whether the general public knows about the existence of the Fiesta, Mondeo and Focus.

vztrt · 16-11-2009, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uranium_death

How people can touch the Corolla, I don't know.
The 3, Cruze and Focus are all far, far better cars.

Do these people drive the car and decide it's best, or do they decide before they've even left their house on what car they're going to buy?

It is good to see the Falcon/G-Series continue to do well, but I am still unsure whether the general public knows about the existence of the Fiesta, Mondeo and Focus.

You'll find the rolla does a lot of fleet sales.

burnz · 16-11-2009, 11:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uranium_death

How people can touch the Corolla, I don't know.
The 3, Cruze and Focus are all far, far better cars.

Do these people drive the car and decide it's best, or do they decide before they've even left their house on what car they're going to buy?

It is good to see the Falcon/G-Series continue to do well, but I am still unsure whether the general public knows about the existence of the Fiesta, Mondeo and Focus.

toyota have a bullet proof name in reliability, people think holden ford are problematic.

uranium_death · 16-11-2009, 11:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burnz

toyota have a bullet proof name in reliability, people think holden ford are problematic.

And three year olds think their parents are invincible, that Santa brings them presents, and that the Earth is a magical place of wonder and love. The point: What people think is not always right.

I have friends who have had a VN for about 13 years and it's been reliable. They had a Hilux for 7 years, and the engine packed in twice.

I admit that Holden and Ford had terrible quality control for years but due to international competitors playing a massive role in the market, they're both lifting their game, with Ford especially really serving up some quality products, while Holden has provided value-driven choices that for their price, are respectable.

People need to stop relying on perception alone, because cars are improving a lot now. That was visible when we went from the XF to the VTII.

Now since 2000, Australian-built cars resemble Euro offerings more than ever before (with Euro somehow being seen as vastly superior)...

I feel the Australian car market, despite the gloom and doom, should be proud of its improvements in refinement, quality etc.

Once people actually give the product a go, they may be surprised.

As was once asked many, many years ago:

'Have you driven a Ford, lately?'

Wally · 17-11-2009, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uranium_death

........I admit that Holden and Ford had terrible quality control for years but due to international competitors playing a massive role in the market, they're both lifting their game, with Ford especially really serving up some quality products, while Holden has provided value-driven choices that for their price, are respectable.

People need to stop relying on perception alone, because cars are improving a lot now. That was visible when we went from the XF to the VTII.

Now since 2000, Australian-built cars resemble Euro offerings more than ever before (with Euro somehow being seen as vastly superior)...

I feel the Australian car market, despite the gloom and doom, should be proud of its improvements in refinement, quality etc.

Yes, spend a full day at a big wrecking yard and compare how well Australian cars have held up to their Euro counterparts from the same year and the Oz stuff is usually in much better condition (sans damage).

Perception can be fickle, e.g. for years Peugeot fed off the Redex Run victory, then apparent problematic quality, ugly models and nuclear testing reduced their fan base to all but the diehards. Burnz is correct when he implies Toyota have the rep to beat, it's going to be a real hard ask for Holden and Ford to knock out that perception.

Road_Warrior · 17-11-2009, 11:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uranium_death

How people can touch the Corolla, I don't know.
The 3, Cruze and Focus are all far, far better cars.

Government and corporate fleets buy heaps of Corollas, and Toyota can churn them out cheap with some reduced features on a massive scale. They probably offer national fleet discounts that Ford or Mazda can't (or are unwilling to) compete with.

Actually I'd rather a Corolla than the 'standard government issue' 07 plate Camry that I have been using. That is a truly horrible car to drive.

Romulus · 17-11-2009, 11:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

That will be short lived, the amount of new 'D' plated cars I see on the road is crazy, and everyone is talking about Gorgon and just waiting for boomtime MkII.

Yep, January is when it is expected to kick off. It's expected to create some 10,000 jobs.

vztrt · 17-11-2009, 05:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by uranium_death

And three year olds think their parents are invincible, that Santa brings them presents, and that the Earth is a magical place of wonder and love. The point: What people think is not always right.

Unfortunately perception will sell cars, Ford/Holden dont have the reliable tag that Toyota does. The perception cannot be changed overnight.