12 production days cut for next 3 months

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by Brazen

Ford had the chance to build the new gen Focus here with its associated SUV and electric vehicle bodystyles.

Yes, but now they can import one, that will be cheaper & packed with waaaaay more goodies that will sell better against the 3 & make more profit for Ford Australia!!! It is not like the new foucs is not coming here!!

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by Brazen

My dealer reckons they make more money on the Cruze than they do the Commodore as the amount of fleet buyers Commodore has, if they end up making a softroader on the Cruze platform here then that could mean more cashola.

The dealer making money on a car doesn't mean production is. The cars are sold to the dealer and then there is his mark-up. What it cost production is not relevant to the dealer.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

Yes, but now they can import one, that will be cheaper & packed with waaaaay more goodies that will sell better against the 3 & make more profit for Ford Australia!!! It is not like the new Focus is not coming here!!

The 3 is also being built in Thailand....

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by jpd80

The 3 is also being built in Thailand....

exactly.. And an australian built one will NEVER compet!!

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by Brazen
My dealer reckons they make more money on the Cruze than they do the Commodore as the amount of fleet buyers Commodore has, if they end up making a softroader on the Cruze platform here then that could mean more cashola.

Originally Posted by vztrt

The dealer making money on a car doesn't mean production is. The cars are sold to the dealer and then there is his mark-up. What it cost production is not relevant to the dealer.

Great extrapolation there Daniel. Brazens talking about what a dealer says (they make more money on a cruze than commodore), and your criticism relates to something not even covered by Brazen.

Originally Posted by vztrt

But you push your tiring agenda

I only wish I knew what that agenda might be. Maybe you could pluck an agenda out of your hat for me.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

exactly.. And an australian built one will NEVER compet!!

Labour is about 10% of a car's build cost, I was stunned when i found that out.
The bulk of savings with vehicles manufacturing happens at the supplier level.

[Jesmol]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Labour is about 10% of a car's build cost, I was stunned when i found that out.
The bulk of savings with vehicles manufacturing happens at the supplier level.

Its a little higher than than, but if you look at the labour content within the component prices it gets loser to 40~50%

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

I only wish I knew what that agenda might be. Maybe you could pluck an agenda out of your hat for me.

Maybe explain why someone who has never owned a Falcon, comes onto a Ford site and goes on like a broken record. You don't like subsidies on Australian manufactured cars we get it. You don't need to say it 200+ times.

Or is it those pesky Arabs that your trying to protect us from?

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Jesmol

Its a little higher than than, but if you look at the labour content within the component prices it gets loser to 40~50%

That's why I said build cost - as in factory assembly workers at the car plant.

The labor in the parts is at the supplier level and like I said, that's where huge savings are made.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by vztrt

Maybe explain why someone who has never owned a Falcon, comes onto a Ford site and goes on like a broken record. You don't like subsidies on Australian manufactured cars we get it. You don't need to say it 200+ times.

Stop feeding the troll.

[Flat Top]

just general slow down customers saving more and sitting on their wallets. Harvey norman same.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Flat Top

just general slow down customers saving more and sitting on their wallets. Harvey norman same.

exactly. there are many factors at play these days. spare change is getting extremely rare in most people's situation.

i'm of the opinion that there are many on here who grab every oportunity to stick the boots in to falcon. its always the same people in these sort of threads.

[Flat Top]

i can tell you the parts suppliers arent making money either. The local content has gotta be below 40% by $ cost now that the drive train is sourced overseas. Its really a question do we want a maufacturing base in Australia or not? we need to have balanced economy dont we ?

[Flat Top]

i can tell you the parts suppliers arent making money either. The local content has gotta be below 40% by $ cost now that the drive train is sourced overseas. Its really a question do we want a maufacturing base in Australia or not? we need to have balanced economy dont we ? The chinese will start dumping product below cost soon to wipe that out . Then what??? be a service economy ???

[JG34JA]

Originally Posted by Flat Top

i can tell you the parts suppliers arent making money either. The local content has gotta be below 40% by $ cost now that the drive train is sourced overseas. Its really a question do we want a maufacturing base in Australia or not? we need to have balanced economy dont we ? The chinese will start dumping product below cost soon to wipe that out . Then what??? be a service economy ???

We do need to have a balanced economy, but no, that's not the direction we are headed in.

[Bobman]

No-one's making any money except those who tax us and those who rely on slave labour.

I was reading a review of the G6ET from 2008 and one of the commenters below the article mentioned how he could buy a BMW for 60k with more features than the G6ET.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/17031/20...-turbo-review/

I only agreed with a few points:

* Why doesn't the G6ET have auto power up/down on all four windows? (handy)
* Why doesn't the G6ET have a full electric passenger seat?
* Xenons? (I think they're crap tbh)
* Climate controlled seats (gimmick but it sells itself)
* A real (quality) audio system (premium is bloody woeful for a 50k+ car)
* LED tail lights

Hope some of the above do make it onto FG2 and beyond as I'm sure not having some of those features is turning people away from high-end Falcons into Audi/BMW etc.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Id like to see what bmw you could buy for 45 kay with 270 kw's of power!!

To get anything that performs simliar to a G6ET you would have to spend atleast 100 kay!

320 BMW's start at around $65 kay and in standard form dont have anything flash in them. You have to add a vision package to get things like Xenons etc, which ends up costing closer to 75 kay on the road.

Maybe Ford should offer some silly optoins on these G6ET's to make every body happy... E.g. Xenon / Leds for $3500 more, becuase thats what people pay for these options when buying Beemas!!

[Bobman]

Yeah, I agree. But not as many people care about power these days with speed cameras on every corner (I do care about power, but Mr & Mrs Average don't).

The FG model is far superior to many cars, but some people still tar it with the "Ford" or "taxi" brush, because they "heard" something from their "mate" or bad experiences with older models.

I still think get rid of the XT. Make G6 base model with a price advantage over the VE Omega and a few more features along with excellent marketing can turn things around, but it's a tough climate. Plenty of businesses are shutting down because people just have no money. Ford credit could do with a revamp too to help get as many people as possible into new Falcons.

[WOTDAH]

Although production has been reduced to 3 days a week, sales are currently that bad that Ford have taken over about 1/3 of the employee car park to store unsold cars.

[Road_Warrior]

What are the (Falcon) variants that are piling up at the plant? (i.e. XT, G6 etc)

[Brazen]

Geesh and they are already giving them away, im predicting a big 'demo' sale soon.

Remember how they got rid of the wagon to increase sedan production.... Lucky!

[WOTDAH]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

What are the (Falcon) variants that are piling up at the plant? (i.e. XT, G6 etc)

Everything.

[JPFS1]

I think there's another reason for the build up..

[Road_Warrior]

Don't tell me they've been secretly beavering away at that secret LHD Falcon export version over January...

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by JPFS1

I think there's another reason for the build up..

Lack of sales ......

No LPi.

No Wagon.

That's 20 % of the daily build rate !!

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by JPFS1

I think there's another reason for the build up..

Do tell!!!

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Brazen

Geesh and they are already giving them away, im predicting a big 'demo' sale soon.

Remember how they got rid of the wagon to increase sedan production.... Lucky!

Wagon wasnt killed to help sedan production..
Wagon was killed because there was no money to be made making an FG wagon which would have eaten potentially into Territory sales..

Scary times ahead, not sure why they are building up stock, unless it has something to do with FG2 coming.

[Bobman]

Originally Posted by DASH GT

Wagon wasnt killed to help sedan production..
Wagon was killed because there was no money to be made making an FG wagon which would have eaten potentially into Territory sales..

Scary times ahead, not sure why they are building up stock, unless it has something to do with FG2 coming.

Have to wonder how they have money to make a different tail light from XT to G6 or XR6 to G6E (minimal differences) or continue making XTs.

Even the G6 and XR6 could be merged and the amount of money saved in trim differences or other nonsense would surely help. No wonder things are going bad.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by Bobman

Have to wonder how they have money to make a different tail light from XT to G6 or XR6 to G6E (minimal differences) or continue making XTs.

Even the G6 and XR6 could be merged and the amount of money saved in trim differences or other nonsense would surely help. No wonder things are going bad.

Then we would have everyone whinging about there being no differentiation between products...

At the end of the day hella is probably paying for the different lights neways as part of their contract to supply. Ford wouldnt have to cover the cost.

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

What are the (Falcon) variants that are piling up at the plant? (i.e. XT, G6 etc)

My guess would be XR6's... They can easily sell them to the rental market to move them. They seem to have alot of XR6 utes floating around too..

50th Anniversary was pulling them along, now they have none of them left I think they are in a bit of a pickle... XR6s for $29990 anyone, that would be my guess.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

Do tell!!!

There's nothing to tell.

Poor sales, no other reason.

You don't have 17 plus downdays in the first few months of the year because you're doing anything but trying to balance production with sales.

The scary thing will be if FoA decide to rebalance and reduce the daily rate in the assembly plant. A lot of people will then be redundant across manufacturing.

Most of this can be attributed to poor product planning and the LPi "Balls up".