Ford Australia closing assembly plants

[*Glenn* 855]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/8708396/Fo...-plant-closures

[M5V8 337]

been on the cards for years, someone finally pulled the trigger.

[Ultrarandom 3]

When I heard about this originally it pretty much confirmed my shift from Ford being the favorite manufacturer to BMW

[Allanw 1072]

That'll get rid of some crap off the roads!

I can believe how badly BA Falcons rust! A mate was looking at around 2006 model xr6's, and quite a few had rust breaking though! He brought a Commodore instead, which he says is still like a tractor, but fits 3 car seats across the back.

[M5V8 337]

not really.

they are just going to manufacturer them somewhere else (world car program) and Aus will just import them with a few minor local changes. IE - The Falcon will just be a rebadged Taurus or they drop the Falcon badge altogether.

Mind you this might not be a bad thing. I hired an Ford Edge whilst in Canada last year. I loved it.

(now I feel all dirty for saying I liked a Ford).

Edited May 23, 2013 by M5V8

[vtgts300kw 90]

been on the cards for years, someone finally pulled the trigger.

Should have happened 20 years ago.

[Michael. 2313]

So where will they be made now, USA?

[Ahmedsinc 414]

So where will they be made now, USA?

Have heard Ford followed the VW/Audi move to producing a fair bit of their North American product to Mexico.

Not sure about the rest of the world though. Poland maybe?

[huff3r 347]

I stopped caring when they stopped selling them in Manual over here. I love mine.

[sp8s 1]

So I already have my piece of motoring history

Still waiting for the right e34 to come up

[kiwi535 538]

So I already have my piece of motoring history

Still waiting for the right e34 to come up

they dont come much more "right" than this 540 six speed

[5amchris 45]

^^ Someone buy it and sell me the wheels =)

[deeveus 81]

I imagine FordNZ will concentrate on the far better product offered from Europe. We have a Territory here for the wife and I can confirm they are nothing but a mongrel to own. The Falcon's that I have come across post BA have been total rubbish. No wonder the NZ Police only buy Holden!

[NZ BMW 368]

not really.

they are just going to manufacturer them somewhere else (world car program) and Aus will just import them with a few minor local changes. IE - The Falcon will just be a rebadged Taurus or they drop the Falcon badge altogether.

Mind you this might not be a bad thing. I hired an Ford Edge whilst in Canada last year. I loved it.

(now I feel all dirty for saying I liked a Ford).

Agree, I usually end up with a Ford Edge when I'm in the US and they're a good SUV. I think it's FWD and thus has not much off-road capability but if you're like most SUV drivers and stick to the roads, it's a good car.

IMO Ford USA's products are actually superior to the GM ones. The Ford Fusion is another good 4 door they make, I actually thought it was a falcon of sorts when I drove one.

[E30 325i Rag-Top 2963]

The Aussie car industry has had it's head up it's own arse for a long time. If it wasn't for the protective laws keeping out imports and making it more expensive for overseas cars then this would have happened many years ago.

Rather than use the protection to their advantage and get up-to-date efficient and productive practises in place the Unions took the opportunity to make things cushy for their members, and generally resist any attempts at becoming competitive - thinking the golden goose would not stop laying eggs.

Well now those birds have come home to roost in a big way!

At least Holden and Toyota export a large proportion of their production, not just relying on local sales of a dinosaur of a car. However, with only two manufacturers the pressure will be even more extreme on the supply chain (where even more job losses will be felt) to keep going.

Hopefully the two remaining will see this as a "wake up call" and the unions and management will be able to work together to develop their methods, fingers crossed.

[Apex 693]

Get a Holden c**t.

[M5V8 337]

The Aussie car industry has had it's head up it's own arse for a long time. If it wasn't for the protective laws keeping out imports and making it more expensive for overseas cars then this would have happened many years ago.

so true

'imports' (ie - all other cars but holden/ford) are ridiculously priced over there.

[Allanw 1072]

'imports' (ie - all other cars but holden/ford) are ridiculously priced over there.

Yeah... cause they're good, and people want them

[sp8s 1]

Get a Holden c**t.

So says the one with all the frog s**t

[deeveus 81]

So says the one with all the frog s**t

Ahahahaha!!!

I'm no Ford fan, but that is quite funny. Sorry Apex

[Apex 693]

I am not a brand man so I don't care, was a wind up, I have have owned dozens of different cars over the years including both Holden's and Fords both new and old, all cars have idiosyncrasies and I wont even begin to bore you with what cars have been reliable and what haven't.

I doubt Paul has even seen anything French in Timaru let alone a French car, but to be fair I was surprised they even have the internet so anything is possible.

[central3 31]

not really.

they are just going to manufacturer them somewhere else (world car program) and Aus will just import them with a few minor local changes. IE - The Falcon will just be a rebadged Taurus or they drop the Falcon badge altogether.

Mind you this might not be a bad thing. I hired an Ford Edge whilst in Canada last year. I loved it.

(now I feel all dirty for saying I liked a Ford).

I saw a few of these in Vancouver 2 weeks ago and they looked great - much better than the pic's (sh*t - did I say that - now I feel dirty too)

[kingkarl 136]

I saw a few of these in Vancouver 2 weeks ago and they looked great - much better than the pic's (sh*t - did I say that - now I feel dirty too)

nice indeed. Needs much bigger wheels/guards though

[Allanw 1072]

I saw a few of these in Vancouver 2 weeks ago and they looked great - much better than the pic's (sh*t - did I say that - now I feel dirty too)

I think they're just the new Mondeo aren't they?

[elmarco 56]

I suspect that Holden will be not much further behind Ford - I think they already announced a bunch of redundancies recently. They are lucky (smart?) in that their main product is engineered for LHD as well, but the value of the AUD makes it bloody tough to export it and make some cash to pay back the billion dollar development costs. I'd hate to see the NPV at the moment...

Agree with Jon - the unions in the industry over there are ridiculous to the point of going out of their way to make business difficult & inefficient. I've seen this personally and was gobsmacked that management hadn't sacked the bloody lot of them already.