Major Ford announcement

[Wretched]

Well that was a shock, that it was announced so quickly.
Sad news for all the employees affected. Hopefully they can find something else soon.
Sad also, Geelong and Victoria loses another iconic organisation and the historic buildings.

It is unfortunate that this has happened but not really a surprise, sales have plummeted and Ford have been scaling back the models for a while now. The writing has been on the wall since FG.

[BroadyFord]

As bad as it sounds, I would rather Ford close down in October this year than in another 3 years - there would be a funeral atmosphere until the end of 2016 and it would be a painful drawn out process for the workers.

Also, sales will plummet from today so there's really little point of keeping a loss-making operation open for an unnecessarily long period.

[barra240t]

This is the earthquake, wait for the tsunami..

[DJM83]

What a sad day indeed. So many folks be out of a job. Feels like a death in the family.

[RegSpec]

In a way.....we are all victims of the decisions of this sham of a government!!....carbon tax, tariffs and a general lack of concern for manufacturing in this country....its no wonder they are closing up :(

[Charliewool]

Originally Posted by BroadyFord

With this as well as the likely closure of Shell and Alcoa, Geelong will be quieter than a ghost town after 2016.

And that right there is a very REAL concern...
With any business closure, local industry absorbs a lot of the impact.
But in Geelong's case.. WHAT local industry with the 3 majors GONE???

[neptune blue]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

I've been telling this forum for the last five years that 2016 is the end but most people did not want to hear it.

This is terrible news but many of us knew it was comming
There were alot of dicussions about platform sharing and low volume production lines that were goimg to be profitable.

perhaps Im over simplifying things but
Revenue
less cost
equals profit
No profit = no business

I cant understand why as Australians, the federal government included that we are abandoning our own products
I have always purchased locally made cars
The car buying public has forced Fords hand ... this is awful

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by BionicXR6T

In a way.....we are all victims of the decisions of this sham of a government!!....carbon tax, tariffs and a general lack of concern for manufacturing in this country....its no wonder they are closing up :(

There are many factors that would have pressed this issue.
The above you have mentioned would have played a part but Ford AU and NA need to take some responsibility with the lack of product development and market foresight.
They got it right under Geoff Polities with the Territory but after he left they dropped the ball once again. Territory had so much potential but they didn't want to take it further instead internal quarreling is what brought the house of cards down.

[luibagtp]

Very Sad day for Melbourne and Australia I feel sorry for all the workers and Geelong and Broadmedows

[Kable72]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

Sorry, I'm allowed to feel how I do!! And I'm ****ed at Ford for letting it come to this!!!

That PR person better not come on here, or I'll let her know exactly how I feel!!

And then what mate? They change the Falcon so dramatically it's not even a ******* falcon anymore? There would be uproar that it's just a badge instead of an icon. Ford Australia have done all they could have done with a struggling image in an ever changing market to try to keep the Falcon current without making it cost 60 grand for an entry level Falcon.

[MAD]

I find these comments degrading those that haven't bought new cars absolutely wrong.
Not everyone is in a position to buy a new car, often, or ever.
If the majority of car sales is to fleets, why blame the punters?

Plus if everyone bought new cars (under finance), the housing sector would be stuffed.

[Vesper Martini]

Originally Posted by stevz

I feel sick and empty inside reading yhis news. I am really hoping that this is just a rumour or an attempt by Ford to secure funding.
If it is true, then it is an extremely sad day.

Quite possible, and with a pending Government change, could change the votes of 3000 Ford workers.. let alone the 25000 in supporting companies for the Auto Industry in Victoria.

But unfortunately I think it’s inevitable it’s just too expensive to build a car in Australia

[RegSpec]

Originally Posted by Wretched

There are many factors that would have pressed this issue.
The above you have mentioned would have played a part but Ford AU and NA need to take some responsibility with the lack of product development and market foresight.
They got it right under Geoff Polities with the Territory but after he left they dropped the ball once again. Territory had so much potential but they didn't want to take it further instead internal quarreling is what brought the house of cards down.

Agreed 100% mate.....

[Trump]

Originally Posted by barra240t

This is the earthquake, wait for the tsunami..

I hate pumping up and giving energy to negative news, but this is sadly accurate.

[Terror_Tree]

All I ask is they let the Falcon name die, please don't put a Falcon badge on a Taurus.

[bobthebilda]

This must only be an opinion, but the following article

http://www.news.com.au/business/ford...-1226648895882

states -

The move means Ford will not go ahead with the updated versions of the new Falcon Sedan and Territory SUV next year as planned.

If that is true (and like i said, its not likely to be based on fact), then Ford will be closing down alot sooner than October 2016.

[frd906]

http://soundcloud.com/triple-m-melbo...of-ford-worker

[Brazen]

What really gets me, is that it feels like they didnt even try towards the end. No price drop, no campaign to boost sales. Sorry just angry.

[MickyB]

If they aren't releasing any further updates, as has been suggested, then there is really no point in going on to 2016. I agree with the calls to end it quickly, so we can all start to move on.
And save for the 2015 Mustang.

[Sinead Phipps]

Folks, we'll post our official announcement here soon. We're sorry you had to hear the speculation on the news first but, as I'm sure you can appreciate, it was important that we talked to our employees first. Sinead

[GTP534]

I heard last year that Graziano was way too qualified to be the president of Ford Australia and was sent here to do a job. Problem at the time was Territory sales were well up making it harder to decide to close up manufacturing.

Anyway, personally, this is very sad news and leaves me with an empty feeling inside; particularly for those who will lose jobs and I hope they will be treated well and respectfully.

The other side though is that this is probably necessary for Ford Australia to continue operations in Australia and hopefully we can get some great cars here albeit "tuned" for Australia.

[Brazen]

When you hear bad news you always hope there has been some kind of mistake, Im secretly hoping there will be something positive at the announcement. Like local production of Falcon will be replaced by Ranger or a new car???

[EVL BOS]

It's a sad day like many others I grew up around ford my dad always had a falcon for a company until recently, I learnt to drive in my mums ef fairmont, i have many good memories of the drive up and down the highway from Melbourne to sydney first in the back of my dads ea spac and then his ed fairmont, like many of us we all have good memories of growing up around our parents falcons/fairmonts. My mum bought her first ever new car back in 2011 being a 50th anniversary XR50. It was a hard decision for me back in october last year when after personally owning 3 falcons, (ed classic, Au XR6 VCT and my dream car BA XR8) The time came for my ageing XR8 to be traded on my first new car and deciding on a focus st, I seriously considered getting an XR6T but the bang for your buck wasn't there as the focus offered more for less money I had to go with my head and not let my heart rule. But when I signed my contract and put the deposit down on the focus I vowed and declared then that with in the next 5 years I'd be back to buy a Brand new GT as I love my falcons my blood bleeds blue and always will. So Its time for me to knuckle down a save for the gt and hope that in 3 years fpv are still selling them so i can purchase one of the last :(
I went to uni to become a car designer for ford and design falcons guess that dreams gone :(
My thoughts go out to all the people and families directly affected by fords decision as this will be a great loss to this country part of our identity has died and i feel that holden and toyota wont be far behind Ford is just the start. All those part suppliers that loose fords support because the falcon has more locally made parts in it than any other car manufactured here all the skills this country will loose because of this is devastating. after 2016 we will no longer drive past their factories and marvel at the size and the products they produce and feel that sense of australian pride knowing we manufacture world class cars. I hope ford do release the 2014 update and let the falcon go out with a bang by releasing the GT-HO we know they can do and show the world what Australia is capable of by smashing all records for fastest production cars.

I like many buyers out there who didn't purchase a new falcon/territory we shoulder a good deal of the blame for not supporting our local industry but its also partly the governments fault yes they gave ford money but they didnt make a policy stating that their own fleets have to have a majority of australian made cars in them, when you stop and think about the cars we as a country currently produce we could cater for the majority their needs, for the large car commodore/falcon for the suv territory, for the small car cruise, for the ute falcon, commodore for the hybrid camry for the medium car camry.

So like i said and I hope others out there can go out there and in the next 3 years go out and purchase a falcon/territory and let ford Australia go out with a bang.

[MickyB]

Originally Posted by Brazen

What really gets me, is that it feels like they didnt even try towards the end. No price drop, no campaign to boost sales. Sorry just angry.

This is so true! Ford NA have obviously directed them to spend nothing on marketing or creating awareness of the product. I don't blame Ford Aus for this, I blame head office. I share your anger.

[TheInterceptor]

Was doing a delivery while listening to radio national, said Ford will be annoucning something big this hour regarding broadmeadows and sacking staff. I come back to HQ and my work colleagues said Ford is no more, Falcon is dead yadda yadda.

I logged onto AFF with the hope they were wrong......
Pretty gutting and sad.

[Mighty Reds]

Might as well close the doors now, sales will be abysmal for the near future.

[2011G6E]

They said 85% of cars people purchase here are "built overseas". Once again, you can't blame them...why pay a premium for a lower-equipped car purely because it's built here? My loyalty is my hip pocket, and I'm not going to purposely put myself out of pocket for something with less equipment and which is dearer to run just because it says "made in Australia".
If it has the same or better equipment, and is cheaper, then I'll buy it, but Ford (and Holden) haven't managed to do this with their big cars.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Mr Graziano was sent here to do the deed.

I have said this all along. Ford have not tried with Falcon in particular. Territory was just lucky it had an update in 2011 which they were committed to. The game changed sometime in 2010 from my point of view, especially in regards to Falcon and how they stocked it.

[Charliewool]

What about us?.. Australian Ford Forums?...
Will it become a "vintage" forum?.. A memorbillia forum?
Like the forum for old steam trains, or WW2 fighter planes?

[BroadyFord]

Ford are due to release their financial results today - they've obviously made a substantial loss hence choosing today to put the lid on the coffin.