Adrian Brien Dealership - Ford no longer the main make?

[ShootsWithFilm]

Every day I go past the Adrian Brien dealership in the southern suburbs of Adelaide on my way to and from work.

For those who are unfamiliar with them, they have always been a Ford dealership, but over the last few years, they have also picked up Hyundia and Chrysler/Dodge.

This week something strange - very strange - happened. The main showroom was converted from having substantial Ford Signage to now having Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep and of all things Fiat and Alfa-Romeo signage. The Ford part of the dealership is now off to the side.

I never thought I would see the day a dealership would relegate Ford to 'Others'.

What the F..k are Ford doing wrong?

[cram_it_frog]

I also was reading Perths main ford Dealership center ford is now sold or gone into liquidation car sales is a tough business and sales are down

It is funny how things move around the Globe UK and Australian and USA were the top manufacturers when I grew up

The Japan took over a huge chuck of the car sales now Korea and India and China are slowly moving in

Does any one r ember the top gear show where they looked at Chinese cars and said in ten year they will be making better cars well that is now

what I find hard to take is cars used to be made to last a long time now that is no longer true most asian made cars will be in a crusher in 20 or less years because the technology driving them will no longer work

[ShootsWithFilm]

I often wonder, apart from the Fiesta and the Ranger, if Ford globally, don't actually have the capacity to sell cars at any volume in Australia.

Look at their marketing - Fiesta and Ranger are the only cars that get pushed on TV. You wouldn't even know that they had the Mondeo in the range.

[LeadFoot81]

Originally Posted by ShootsWithFilm

I often wonder, apart from the Fiesta and the Ranger, if Ford globally, don't actually have the capacity to sell cars at any volume in Australia.

Look at their marketing - Fiesta and Ranger are the only cars that get pushed on TV. You wouldn't even know that they had the Mondeo in the range.

I'd expect to see a big push when the new '15 model is released.

[cram_it_frog]

when I moved to Broken Hill we had nissan Ford and Holden toyota and 3 small private yard s selling high millage low cost

That was just over 14 years ago now we have


the Holden / Toyota/Mazda in one yard in the Holden and Kia / nissan are in another year both owned by smith motor group

Ford/ Mitshbishie were sold to far west a new company who also have Dmax and Hyudia are all one company now and they have shredded the work force

One small private yard selling High millage cars from Mebourne auctions

Many are ex hire of lease cars like a 2013 holden with over 180k on the clock for $16k

most country dealers and struggling to keep up with city prices also many Broken Hill locals who have family in Adelaide with go down there buy a car and put that into there family members address now that is ilegal but this works for older cars no pink slip or green slip cheaper to rego and no inspection


same thing happens in wagga

I do not know if any one members a 70s movie called roller Ball where the girls have a roller derby type thing but the thing of the movie is there are only 2 companies who own every thing in the world and there is no competition any more prices are fixed and that is what will happen here


look at how many car yard owned by one company like smiths who own car yard in South Australia Victoria and NSW in Perth how many are owned by John Huges and it slowly weeding out the small family companys

[mik]

At some stage in the future we will probably only have a couple of car brands, all the others will be absorbed , anyone wanna guess which two car makers that might be ��.

[pottery beige]

just an imported car dealer

no big deal

[cram_it_frog]

mik I think the biggest question will be who is the maker Korea North or South china ,Vietnam India are all posible and have the work forces to mass produce cars and other product at very low cost

[mik]

yeah i was thinking probably Korea or china brands, i didn't think of Vietnam or India, but your probably on the money, and i think the main reason being is the majority of people these days think about buying cars based on best price/value as a whole package, and this type of thinking came about from the global financial crisis,

you can see it a mile off even on the forums, cars are bought on how many boxes are ticked in the accessories and base price, rarely on driving experience.
the days of the average non enthusiast buying for one or two specific features are becoming less and less, and the car company's that can afford to throw shed loads of kit in reasonably well made cars and sell them for peanuts will be the low cost labor country's as already mentioned.

[danzvtil]

When I bought my rio off adtrans (owned by ABrien)12 months ago at st marys, the guy was telling me then their plans to consolidate the kia brand into the Hyundai yard at the Clovelly park yard just behind the ford yard. They have since rebuilt the Hyundai/kia showroom, and gain economies of scale by having al their brands serviced on the one site.
The days of single brand car yards are behind us I think.

[Kieron]

Dunno about all of that, Chrysler/jeep vehicles sold here are made in the USA and look at the Grand Cherokee sales.

Was looking around Hyundai/kia dealers, some of their cars are made in Czechoslovakia iirc, honda is Thailand.

Reason why dealers are selling multiple brands and the likes of AHG/DVJ are swallowing the one make/family owned dealers is simple, the market is now saturated with choice which dilutes brand sales, single brand dealer sales volumes have dropped so to get that volume back, they need more brands, merge or potentially face closure.

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by Kieron

Was looking around Hyundai/kia dealers, some of their cars are made in Czechoslovakia iirc, honda is Thailand.

When Hyundai has capacity shortfalls in Korea, some vehicles for Australia are sourced from their European plant in Czech Republic. (There is no longer a country called Czechoslovakia!)

Kinghorn Ford in Nowra has expanded to VW, Skoda and Great Wall. I'd say they have to do it to keep running a viable business.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by Kieron

honda is Thailand.

The only car we get from Japan from Honda now is the Accord Euro, and subsequently its the only Honda worth buying these days, even then it was good 4 years ago when I was working there, now its getting a bit long in the tooth.

[cram_it_frog]

India and other Asian countries have the cheapest labor and like all other manufacturers it is the third party parts made off site that often a big cost but with the cost of labor and such out side parts will be as cheap as chips

the difference is many companies in Asia are working is same condition that the UK did back in the 30s

I have a good Friend here in Broken Hill he now is senior health and safety guy in one of the local mines

he has said several times a huge chunk of the Asian work places have little or know work place safety and many Australian companies still buy products from them many through 3 rd party so not to get there hands dirty

So the same will be with motor cars and they will win us over with things like
Kia's announcement of an Australian-first seven-year warranty

7 years peace of mind if ford offered that they would still be working and selling cars for a long time

[duaned]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

The only car we get from Japan from Honda now is the Accord Euro, and subsequently its the only Honda worth buying these days, even then it was good 4 years ago when I was working there, now its getting a bit long in the tooth.

Even then I believe this car has now been boned as well.

[littlered]

Originally Posted by cram_it_frog

I also was reading Perths main ford Dealership center ford is now sold or gone into liquidation car sales is a tough business and sales are down

Centre Ford went under due to bad management and business direction... not related to the Franchise it carried.

First and final mistake was selling the used car land to City Toyota... once you lose used cars and their flow on for the business for service, finance and aftercare then you will struggle just trying to be a new car dealer only.

[Tassie f100]

Saw a report somewhere where they reckoned Lexus was as good as any Mercedes or BMW and Hyunda was better than an Audi.When the badge snobs realise this it will increase Asian sale and slowly put some of the Euro dealers out the door too

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by Tassie f100

Saw a report somewhere where they reckoned Lexus was as good as any Mercedes or BMW and Hyunda was better than an Audi.When the badge snobs realise this it will increase Asian sale and slowly put some of the Euro dealers out the door too

Yes they are better built and more reliable but badge is a powerful thing. However driver enjoyment does come into it too. Some cars (e.g. BMW, Merc) are proper driver's cars, some aren't (e.g. most Asian cars). The mechanics at Kinghorn tell me that of the cars they sell, those with the most downtime are VWs - the ones with the most badge snobbery attached. The most reliable are the Fords and Skodas.

Mind you, I've never understood how people can be badge snobbish over a brand that translates as "people's cart", created by an insane dictator using a design stolen from a conquered country.

As for Audi, that's just an even less reliable VW ;)

[commodorenutt]

When I was growing up you'd see the odd Skoda (not sure if they were personal imports or officially brought here in the 70s) but they were absolute piles of junk. Worse than 180B Datsuns.

Now people are dropping $45k on a new one. Sure, they may be part of the VW group now, but that will never change my memory of the junk they used to assemble. Shows how powerful the VW badge is when people older than me are buying those things.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

When I was growing up you'd see the odd Skoda (not sure if they were personal imports or officially brought here in the 70s) but they were absolute piles of junk. Worse than 180B Datsuns.

Now people are dropping $45k on a new one. Sure, they may be part of the VW group now, but that will never change my memory of the junk they used to assemble. Shows how powerful the VW badge is when people older than me are buying those things.

Yep, back then if you owned a Skoda you only drove it at night so no one would see you

[new2ford]

You can't go by what was produced during communist control, but they were still very solid. Yes they use a VW platform now but they're better built and more reliable. The dealers down here tell me they no longer have to mention the VW connection, buyers are in fact not associating them with VW. So they were pretty immune from the PR fallout from the DSG issue. Skoda pretty much do their own thing, they just use VW platforms.

[MethodX]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

When I was growing up you'd see the odd Skoda (not sure if they were personal imports or officially brought here in the 70s) but they were absolute piles of junk. Worse than 180B Datsuns.

Now people are dropping $45k on a new one. Sure, they may be part of the VW group now, but that will never change my memory of the junk they used to assemble. Shows how powerful the VW badge is when people older than me are buying those things.

They were officially imported. the 120 series.

[commodorenutt]

The point I was making though, was how a badge & poor reputation 30 years ago doesn't seem to have harmed the Skoda brand image today.

As far as not needing to rely on VW - my not-so-informed workmates think they are good because of (and I quote) "the VW connection", so that has had an effect on them.

[XR Martin]

Originally Posted by new2ford

When Hyundai has capacity shortfalls in Korea, some vehicles for Australia are sourced from their European plant in Czech Republic. (There is no longer a country called Czechoslovakia!)

Kinghorn Ford in Nowra has expanded to VW, Skoda and Great Wall. I'd say they have to do it to keep running a viable business.

As far as im aware only the IX35 is made in the Czech republic, I20 is made in India and the rest Korea
Oh I30 wagon is made by the Czechs too

[new2ford]

Originally Posted by commodorenutt

The point I was making though, was how a badge & poor reputation 30 years ago doesn't seem to have harmed the Skoda brand image today.

As far as not needing to rely on VW - my not-so-informed workmates think they are good because of (and I quote) "the VW connection", so that has had an effect on them.

OK I get your point now. The two dealers I talk to say that nowadays they're calling on the VW connection less (but they still mention it if they have to) and people are coming specifically for Skoda. In Nowra the salesman told me how he'd sold 9 Yetis and only 1 Tiguan, he couldn't shift the VWs against the Skoda. People are starting to cotton on. Five years ago I couldn't imagine I'd keep seeing Skodas all over this country town!

The beauty of the VW design platform is that they do FWD very well and the engines are good, there's no doubt about that. They're a great drive, whatever the marque across the four companies. The downside is when things go wrong (like the DSG) and how the various VAG companies deal with it. From the industry grapevine a quote from an ex VAG person:

Škodas do better because they are more carefully assembled and because Škoda are more proactive about chasing down problems. For example, we might have problems with the software that controls one of the gearboxes. Audi will change the software the next time the customer comes in for service, without telling them. Škoda will upgrade the customer’s software at the earliest opportunity, Volkswagen will wait for the customer to complain.

We recently had a bad example of the last in Australia!

I suppose this is getting a little OT but shows how the NSW south coast Ford dealers are diversifying. The Wollongong dealer handles even more brands - Ford, the VAG brands, Land Rover, Jaguar, Suzuki and Nissan.

[Cobra]

Originally Posted by ShootsWithFilm

Every day I go past the Adrian Brien dealership in the southern suburbs of Adelaide on my way to and from work.

For those who are unfamiliar with them, they have always been a Ford dealership, but over the last few years, they have also picked up Hyundia and Chrysler/Dodge.

This week something strange - very strange - happened. The main showroom was converted from having substantial Ford Signage to now having Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep and of all things Fiat and Alfa-Romeo signage. The Ford part of the dealership is now off to the side.

I never thought I would see the day a dealership would relegate Ford to 'Others'.

What the F..k are Ford doing wrong?

I only drove past a month ago and didn't see anything like this. It doesn't surprise me though. Ford's sales are up **** creek and many dealerships that sell Chrysler Jeep Dodge are aligning themselves with Fiat/Alfa now. I used to work at AB's many years ago, back then (mid 2000) it was about 60% Ford, 25% Hyundai and 15% Chrysler/Jeep. It's sad but was always inevitable.

[ford71V8]

Originally Posted by ShootsWithFilm

Every day I go past the Adrian Brien dealership in the southern suburbs of Adelaide on my way to and from work.

For those who are unfamiliar with them, they have always been a Ford dealership, but over the last few years, they have also picked up Hyundia and Chrysler/Dodge.

This week something strange - very strange - happened. The main showroom was converted from having substantial Ford Signage to now having Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep and of all things Fiat and Alfa-Romeo signage. The Ford part of the dealership is now off to the side.

I never thought I would see the day a dealership would relegate Ford to 'Others'.

What the F..k are Ford doing wrong?

I drive past everyday too and saw the same thing.
Had a quick scan and was happy to at least see the big Ford logo still sitting high up on its post.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

The only car we get from Japan from Honda now is the Accord Euro, and subsequently its the only Honda worth buying these days, even then it was good 4 years ago when I was working there, now its getting a bit long in the tooth.

Always pestered me why they don't call it the Accord Japan or Accord JDM. There is absolutely nothing Euro about the car

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Cobra

I only drove past a month ago and didn't see anything like this. It doesn't surprise me though. Ford's sales are up **** creek and many dealerships that sell Chrysler Jeep Dodge are aligning themselves with Fiat/Alfa now. I used to work at AB's many years ago, back then (mid 2000) it was about 60% Ford, 25% Hyundai and 15% Chrysler/Jeep. It's sad but was always inevitable.

Chrysler Jeep / Fiat Alfa are the one group now, thats why dealerships sell all brands (because they have to under their FA.

[ShootsWithFilm]

Originally Posted by ford71V8

I drive past everyday too and saw the same thing.
Had a quick scan and was happy to at least see the big Ford logo still sitting high up on its post.

Was it? I must admit I didn't check that.

I'd be curious what the other Adtrans dealerships are doing.