WHEELS Jan 2016 The Future of Ford Australia.

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by Express

I disagree, the public are not showing any interest in Ford and its image problem includes the company’s heritage.

Henry Ford may have been an innovator in his day but now he's ancient history and so is all the Ford product of yesteryear.

Consumers have it set in their minds that companies like those from Asian do it better and Ford needs to change that thinking.

The company needs to be seen as a modern vehicle manufacturer designing and building a great product and therefore Ford needs to tell the public where the cars are being built, how many international awards they win, how well they sell in other markets and why they are good cars.

No humorous ads, no ads belittling or comparing other brands, no heritage ads, no ads focusing on an age specific target and no ads touting tech that is considered to be everydayish for most consumers.

Their ads should be single minded in stating for example this car comes from Europe or it comes from Asian, it’s a big seller and highly regarded in other overseas markets and it is now available to Australians, get on board.

Ford needs to change the consumer’s mindset by showing what a modern manufacturer of world class vehicles they are and not reinforce its past.

A grassroots change is needed.

Most people don’t know anything about their cars, not even where they come from and they are easily led by something as inane as Ford makes good taxis and sells the leftovers to us mentality and that kind of thinking needs to be killed dead.

One of the problems when discussing marketing strategies with informed consumers like those on this forum, is those strategies usually have no chance of achieving their desired results when used on the uninformed.

Teach the consumer about who Ford is these days and then a change may occur.

You make good points, especially the need for change at the grassroots level.

However, you can be seen as a modern maker - with the credibility of basically being the INVENTOR of the mass produced car.

Whether people are Ford fans, they should at the very least, respect the brand. That is not happening. That needs to change.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by tempted

$1.12 an hour is appalling even by Thai standards.

You need to get out more, or at least Google a bit more if nothing else, before making Slave labour rants.


http://asiafoundation.org/in-asia/20...d-controversy/
Thailand Adopts Nationwide Minimum Wage Policy Amid Controversy
Share
January 30, 2013
By Sarah Alexander, Véronique Salze-Lozac’h, and Arpaporn Winijkulchai
From January 1 of this year, Thailand’s employers must pay all employees at least 300 baht (about $10) a day.
If they don’t, they will face six months in jail and/or a 100,000 baht fine for not complying.

[PG2]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

You need to get out more, or at least Google a bit more if nothing else, before making Slave labour rants.[/I]

No, no, no you're missing the point GasOLane. Slave labour is OK but only if we get cheap Everests and Rangers.

[GCRXR6]

���� Its quite OK to have our electronics, our clothing, our sporting goods, our household goods etc,etc made by "slave labour", and often still pay dearly for it, but not our beloved cars??������

[simon varley]

Originally Posted by tempted

I agree. The dirt cheap Thai production combined with the FTA should have seen at least some sort of benefit passed onto the consumer

why? ford is a privately owned company beholden only to their shareholders. The only thing they have to do is pay as high a dividend to those shareholders as they can, which they can only do if they maximise their profit.

The market will determine if the prices are set too high, not some internet forum.

by the way - I'm a shareholder, employee and customer.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by tempted

And your point is?

$1.12 an hour x 8 hours = $8.96 per day. Close enough to the $10 a day which your link states.

My point was that you think it's slave labour, in Thailand it's a fair days wage.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by tempted

FYI the mininum wage in Thailand has now been scrapped, while cost of living has doubled.

Yeah, that's fair.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/learning/...ends-next-year

Keep reading down the page.....
"The old regime where wages vary by the cost of living and the economy of each province"

But it looks like you're another one who just has to have the last word.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

But it looks like you're another one who just has to have the last word.

Bingo

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by simon varley

why? ford is a privately owned company beholden only to their shareholders. The only thing they have to do is pay as high a dividend to those shareholders as they can, which they can only do if they maximise their profit.

The market will determine if the prices are set too high, not some internet forum.

by the way - I'm a shareholder, employee and customer.

On one hand, yes what you say is 100% true, we are a capitalistic society and they are a privately owned (and foreign) company, but they've also held out their hand and received billions of local tax payer money as incentives.

Its effectively the same as the scandal surrounding the Chinese families and local baby formula, except in the case of the local auto manufacturers they have received tax payer money.

[GTMOND]

Also they don't live a western lifestyle where you have to have a 70" Tv ect.. Or keep up with Jones as they say.
And I'm sure that no one is holding a gun at their head, making them stay. We would all love more but most of us are just happy to be employed at the present.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by GTMOND

Also they don't live a western lifestyle where you have to have a 70" Tv ect.. Or keep up with Jones as they say.
And I'm sure that no one is holding a gun at their head, making them stay. We would all love more but most of us are just happy to be employed at the present.

They'll change eventually, you'll see that they will start demanding a better lifestyle, which will come with more wages, China is already in the early stages of it.

They've got us all sucked in, today they're working for SFA, tomorrow they'll be demanding better wages.

Then the manufacturers will move onto the next third world nation who will work for SFA, and again it changes.

Is the collapse of the manufacturing industry going to effect us like the media and the doomsayers say it will (particularily SA and VIC)?

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by simon varley

why? ford is a privately owned company beholden only to their shareholders. The only thing they have to do is pay as high a dividend to those shareholders as they can, which they can only do if they maximise their profit.

The market will determine if the prices are set too high, not some internet forum.

by the way - I'm a shareholder, employee and customer.

Huh? If you own shares in it, it's not a private company.

[neptune blue]

Ford Australia= Gay cars
After the falcon is gone there isn't any car I am remotely interested in other than the mustang and that won't sell 100,000 units per annum

I don't know who they are building their cars for and who they are supposed to be marketing them to

Some skinny ***** on TV acting like she knows something about cars or some hipster telling me I can get a courtacy car when I get my focus serviced . Big ******* deal

Many wont want to hear this but the rot set in with the AU and they have never been able to recover but that's the truth - the sales figures don't lie

I've been buying cars from the general since 1999 cos ford Australia turned its back on their customer base with ugly cars. The recovery from the AU was too slow and there performace vehicles well behind the oposition for many years and now we are stuck with a range of vehicles that can best be described as tampons on wheels

[MethodX]

Originally Posted by tempted

Well the market has spoken, that's why Ford's sales in this country keep hitting new lows.

maybe its karma.... for some of the attitude of ford "fans" on here.

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by neptune blue

Ford Australia= Gay cars
After the falcon is gone there isn't any car I am remotely interested in other than the mustang and that won't sell 100,000 units per annum

I don't know who they are building their cars for and who they are supposed to be marketing them to

Some skinny ***** on TV acting like she knows something about cars or some hipster telling me I can get a courtacy car when I get my focus serviced . Big ******* deal

Many wont want to hear this but the rot set in with the AU and they have never been able to recover but that's the truth - the sales figures don't lie

I've been buying cars from the general since 1999 cos ford Australia turned its back on their customer base with ugly cars. The recovery from the AU was too slow and there performace vehicles well behind the oposition for many years and now we are stuck with a range of vehicles that can best be described as tampons on wheels

Enthusiasts like yourself only account for a small number of sales though. Its not like Ford was number 1 in the 90s because everyone was buying XR8s. People have moved on from large sedans. The AU may have prematurely ended the Falcon but it still would have fallen away even if there was no AU. Commodore has dropped a lot too it can barely crack 2500 a month now. The AU sold twice that.

[Franco Cozzo]

The only thing Ford has going for it at the moment is the Ranger, everything else is selling SFA.

The previous owner of my EF was downsizing to a new small car and she wanted to go with Ford again and was looking at the Fiesta, but we talked her out of it due to the crappy DSG trans it and the Focus had due to all the issues.

She ended up in a new Mazda 2 instead.

Like F you would recommend anything with a DSG trans to your family and friends, especially after the recent effort with the Focus.

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by neptune blue

The recovery from the AU was too slow and there performace vehicles well behind the oposition for many years and now we are stuck with a range of vehicles that can best be described as tampons on wheels

You're saying that Ford's performance range has been behind the opposition (Holden) for many years?

You obviously haven't heard of things such as the XR6 Turbo, FPV F6, Supercharged 5.0 GTs and XRs.

Please. It ain't 1972 anymore. People need to deal with it.

[eb2fairmont]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

The only thing Ford has going for it at the moment is the Ranger, everything else is selling SFA.

The previous owner of my EF was downsizing to a new small car and she wanted to go with Ford again and was looking at the Fiesta, but we talked her out of it due to the crappy DSG trans it and the Focus had due to all the issues.

She ended up in a new Mazda 2 instead.

Like F you would recommend anything with a DSG trans to your family and friends, especially after the recent effort with the Focus.

Decent buy the Mazda 2. Tried on on for size and can say I'd happily own one. Currently have a dsg golf. Not one ounce of trouble and would happily buy another.

Well it's sad that the only thing selling is ranger, but why is that? It's because the value proposition is correct. Everest titanium, forget it not when I can get the Toyota prado or highlander with the associated backup service and quality.

Focus and Mondeo don't even hit my list, and they should. Both are good cars, but given that choice or dealing with a ford dealer...

Image and value is the companies problem, and after sales service

[neptune blue]

Originally Posted by Windsor220

Enthusiasts like yourself only account for a small number of sales though. Its not like Ford was number 1 in the 90s because everyone was buying XR8s. People have moved on from large sedans. The AU may have prematurely ended the Falcon but it still would have fallen away even if there was no AU. Commodore has dropped a lot too it can barely crack 2500 a month now. The AU sold twice that.

I drive a dead stock WM caprice , why cos ford who were once the market leaders don't have a long wheel base car any more . I want a large rear wheel drive sedan and that's what I'm going to continue to drive and it doesn't need to be performance model either.

As for your sales comparisons you haven't got a clue . Don't compare AU sales with the current model commodore, that has absolutly no relevance what so ever . You need to compare them to the VT commodore Sales figures - no contest.
Stop defending a company that has turned its back on customers , employees and Australia

[neptune blue]

Originally Posted by P6LTD351

You're saying that Ford's performance range has been behind the opposition (Holden) for many years?

You obviously haven't heard of things such as the XR6 Turbo, FPV F6, Supercharged 5.0 GTs and XRs.

Please. It ain't 1972 anymore. People need to deal with it.

They dropped the V8 for how many years ? And were out of motor sport for how many years ?

Holden seized on this by introducing HSV . Then ford played catch up first with tickford and then FPV

Yes this isn't 1972 but if you want to drive a festiva with a storage compartment under the passenger seat for your high heals please don't let me stop you

I don't need to deal with anything as I'll continue to buy the car with the features that I want ( large rear wheel drive sedan) regardless of the manufacturer . Ford however need to deal with falling sales cos their tampon range of cars aren't selling.

[Maka]

Ford are massive corporation, a change in marketing direction would be a slow process because of its own internal bureaucracy. They need to address its own internal culture before a seachange is evident, this is where they need to be proactive & informed car boffins are watching with interest when this process will start to happen.

cheer's, Maka

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by neptune blue

I drive a dead stock WM caprice , why cos ford who were once the market leaders don't have a long wheel base car any more . I want a large rear wheel drive sedan and that's what I'm going to continue to drive and it doesn't need to be performance model either.

As for your sales comparisons you haven't got a clue . Don't compare AU sales with the current model commodore, that has absolutly no relevance what so ever . You need to compare them to the VT commodore Sales figures - no contest.
Stop defending a company that has turned its back on customers , employees and Australia

Its actually very relevant. If the "lemon" AU could even outsell the current Commodore by double then it really does show that consumers have moved on from large cars. Its a dead market in Australia now. Yeah there may be a handful of people that still want them but 500 sales a month isn't really viable for Ford.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by simon varley

why? ford is a privately owned company beholden only to their shareholders. The only thing they have to do is pay as high a dividend to those shareholders as they can, which they can only do if they maximise their profit.

The market will determine if the prices are set too high, not some internet forum.

by the way - I'm a shareholder, employee and customer.

Looking at Ford Australia's sales for 2015, I believe the market has spoken. Apparently Ford and some of its shareholders haven't been listening.

[elgt146]

Ford Marketing has always sucked.
I can't recall the last time I got excited seeing a Ford advert.

Their range of cars such as Mondeo doesnt cut it with the "phyche" of Australian people.
Australians don't want a refined European family car from Ford, but would rather pay the coin for a BMW or Merc.

Ford marketing need to be sacked.

They have made that many car name changes nobody knows what type of Ford people drive.

F6, Typhoon, GT, GTP, GTE, Pursuit, G6, G6e, Fairmont, Tickford, XR8, FPV.

Ford Australia marketing have always been one of my big disappointments. They never created any excitement compared to Holden or HSV.

With so many other car manufacturers in the market now, the Ford name alone isn't enough. And pricing & follow up service needs to be as good if not better to bring people into showrooms.

Ford only ever released "sticker type" specials and never gave Ford owners something genuinely different. It was always a catchup.

And looks like HSV once again with the LS9 will knock Ford out of the ground.

If they want to pull in customers they need to promote each model, and any history or sentimental value attached to it. Focus / Twin Cam Escort Rally relationships for example.

Decisions at Ford have been for the best part inexcusable. Dropped V8, Dropped Wagon, Dropped Tickford, Dropped FPV, Dropped V8 Supercars, and delivered "sticker packed" cars to enthusiasts.

No, concept cars, creativity or excitement in those doors at all.

rant over..

[Franco Cozzo]

Another interesting thing I've noticed is that there seems to be 10x as many Holden supporters (especially Gen Y) then there is Ford ones, and the Holden ones are fanatical about their support.

Holden could release a baby crap brown car with dildos for seats and they'll all still pull their knob over how good it is and yell from the rooftops about it.

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by elgt146

Ford Marketing has always sucked.
I can't recall the last time I got excited seeing a Ford advert.

Their range of cars such as Mondeo doesnt cut it with the "phyche" of Australian people.
Australians don't want a refined European family car from Ford, but would rather pay the coin for a BMW or Merc.

Ford marketing need to be sacked.

They have made that many car name changes nobody knows what type of Ford people drive.

F6, Typhoon, GT, GTP, GTE, Pursuit, G6, G6e, Fairmont, Tickford, XR8, FPV.

Ford Australia marketing have always been one of my big disappointments. They never created any excitement compared to Holden or HSV.

With so many other car manufacturers in the market now, the Ford name alone isn't enough. And pricing & follow up service needs to be as good if not better to bring people into showrooms.

Ford only ever released "sticker type" specials and never gave Ford owners something genuinely different. It was always a catchup.

And looks like HSV once again with the LS9 will knock Ford out of the ground.

If they want to pull in customers they need to promote each model, and any history or sentimental value attached to it. Focus / Twin Cam Escort Rally relationships for example.

Decisions at Ford have been for the best part inexcusable. Dropped V8, Dropped Wagon, Dropped Tickford, Dropped FPV, Dropped V8 Supercars, and delivered "sticker packed" cars to enthusiasts.

No, concept cars, creativity or excitement in those doors at all.

rant over..

I agree to a point, the marketing does have a lot to answer for. Nothing to stir the emotion. Even going back to the motorshow days, very little in the way of concepts being shown to draw the crowds. Holden though, always had them, they're still talked about (who doesn't like Efijy?).

Though I wonder how much of that has been influenced by the HO in USA and how much $$ are given to Ford AU vs the $$ given to Holden from GM.
Arguably, this has been highlighted in the last 15 years or so, Ford release a Falcon (and then Territory), it is good, but no means outstanding. In one area is dominates but other areas is lacks. Each subsequent model update and release doesn't rectify the issues but refines them. Whereas Holden with Commodore went a different path with VE and then VF, totally revamped the whole platform, engines, etc. they still lacked in areas but more than made up for it in most.
Ford just sat on their hands and milked out the initial investment, didn't bother with any further. BA->BF FG-FGX

Ford AU as a company will be ok in the future if they change their way of selling cars. Their marketing and advertising is a little cringeworthy. Stop belittling the competitors and get on with showing your cars for what they are. The Everest advertising is a good start.
It'll take some time for them to pick up but with the shackles of manufacturing broken they are now set up for design and engineering alone and that's not something to shy away from. We have the talent, just not the $$. Just look a what we have done, Ranger, Everest, GT.
We can also hopefully leverage off local business for these global cars. Small but significant was the use of Geelong business for the carbon fibre wheels on the GT350.

Ford AU are not in the dolderums, they are just going through a significant change. Future looks good on paper, they just need the team across the board (corporate, dealers, etc) to all step up and work together.

Truth be told, my company has done something similar in the last 3 - 5 years, expanded to use global resources, it hasn't been smooth but they're maturing and adjusting to market feedback. Hopefully Ford AU can do the same.

[neptune blue]

Originally Posted by Windsor220

Its actually very relevant. If the "lemon" AU could even outsell the current Commodore by double then it really does show that consumers have moved on from large cars. Its a dead market in Australia now. Yeah there may be a handful of people that still want them but 500 sales a month isn't really viable for Ford.

Your statement is stupid. You obviously don't have a business or marketing brain
How can you compare the sales figures of the AU to the sales figues of the current commodore and say that thae AU is out selling it ?
Do you even realise how dumb that is ?

You need to compare the current falcon v commodore sales for the figures to have relevance.
If the market is dead in Australia why are other manufactures bothering to sell cars here ?

People don't want large sedans any more so why is the ford tampon range of cars not selling ?

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by tempted

I've got to hand it to you, that comment is pure gold.

I was sitting in a quiet waiting room whilst reading this thread and got some funny looks from people when I started laughing uncontrollably.

"Holden Service" waiting room ?

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by neptune blue

Your statement is stupid. You obviously don't have a business or marketing brain
How can you compare the sales figures of the AU to the sales figues of the current commodore and say that thae AU is out selling it ?
Do you even realise how dumb that is ?

You need to compare the current falcon v commodore sales for the figures to have relevance.
If the market is dead in Australia why are other manufactures bothering to sell cars here ?

People don't want large sedans any more so why is the ford tampon range of cars not selling ?

I dont think what Im trying to say is that hard to undestand. 15 years ago Commodore and Falcon were combining for 15000 sales a month. Now they would be lucky to push 4000 together. People have moved on. Ford know this so aren't going to waste money on a dead car.

No offense but some people on here are living in a generation thats still in the 70s and dont have an idea of what most people buying or are interested in these days. Ford isnt turning their back on their customers they are just getting rid of a model that no one wants anymore.

As for me I run my own business and have been in the car industry for 15 years.

[Adamz Ghia]

Originally Posted by neptune blue

Your statement is stupid. You obviously don't have a business or marketing brain
How can you compare the sales figures of the AU to the sales figues of the current commodore and say that thae AU is out selling it ?
Do you even realise how dumb that is ?

You need to compare the current falcon v commodore sales for the figures to have relevance.
If the market is dead in Australia why are other manufactures bothering to sell cars here ?

People don't want large sedans any more so why is the ford tampon range of cars not selling ?

Would expect better from a mod. However seeing as you went there you're the one who is being stupid. People don't want large sedans in enough numbers to warrant manufacturing them here. I really don't understand what people find so hard to understand?

It's simple- they aren't selling enough of them