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Date Posted: 14:36:13 05/23/13 Thu
Author: Tremendous fall Qantas from 190 Tue 30/4==to 157
Subject: Ford to stop manufacturing here by 2016==on Yahoo Thursday 23/5/2013

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......ads not by this site ......YOU ON YAHOO! FINANCEYour Activity |Social: OFFON Turn Social ONRemind me when I share|Options What is this?Not you? Log out of FacebookHow to remove this experience.......Ford to stop manufacturing here by 2016

AAP – 20 hours ago
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Ford will cease its manufacturing operations in Australia by October 2016 with the loss of 1200 jobs.
Ford Australia President and CEO Bob Graziano said the company made a loss of $141 million after tax in the last financial year, with a loss of $600 million over the last five years.

Ford Australia employs more than 3500 people at its manufacturing plants at Broadmeadows, in Melbourne's north, and Geelong.

Death notice for the Falcon

The iconic Ford Falcon will soon be extinct, after more than 50 years in Australia.

Recent yearly sales of the Falcon model disappointed after falling to about 20,000, down from 80,000 two decades ago.

Ford Australia president and CEO Bob Graziano says the next Falcon, set for release in 2014, would be the last.

"The Falcon name is inextricably linked to Australia and to being produced here," Mr Graziano told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

"We will retire that name when we retire the vehicle."

The Falcon has been one of Australia's most popular cars since first rolling out of the company's Broadmeadows plant in 1960.


Ford Falcon

Government funding

In January last year, the federal government contributed $34 million to Ford's $103 million production upgrade, and the Victorian government an unspecified amount.

At the time the company said the upgrade would mean the Territory and Falcon models would continue to be made in Victoria until 2016.

Mr Graziano said the costs of manufacturing cars in Australia was uncompetitive.

"Manufacturing is not viable for Ford in the long term," he told reporters at Broadmeadows on Thursday.

Mr Graziano said all entitlements would be protected for the 1200 employees whose jobs are affected, and the company will work through the next three years to provide support.

The reduced demand for large cars was a factor in the company's decision, Mr Graziano said.

"There's been a significant change in terms of the total number of vehicles sold in the large car segment," he said.

The company would still roll out the new models of the Falcon and Territory next year but production would cease in October 2016, Mr Graziano said.

Ford would maintain a presence in Australia beyond that date.

"Ford will remain a significant employer in Australia, with more than 1500 team members, as will our network of more than 200 dealers around the country," he said.

Mr Graziano said despite efforts to restructure the business, locally made products continued to be unprofitable while imported products were profitable.

"Our cost structure remained uncompetitive ... it is double that of Europe and four times that of Ford in Asia," he said.

Mr Graziano said the company had made aggressive assumptions about possible future government car industry support and lower labour costs, which he did not think would be acceptable by Australians and would not have made the business profitable.

"We did not leave any stone unturned but even with these assumptions the business case did not stack up," he said.

Mr Graziano said around 650 jobs would be lost in Broadmeadows, while 510 positions would go at Geelong.

He said no decisions had been taken on the company's motorsport teams or about its premium car brand Ford Performance Vehicles.



End of domestic car manufacturing industry

The Australian car manufacturing sector has been under pressure for at least 20 years. As Soaring production costs and a high Australian dollar have ultimately made it cheaper for most Australian consumers to buy foreign-made cars.

Analysts say 85 per cent of cars sold here are imported, and that number is expected to rise to 90 per cent after Ford today announced that it would cease local production by 2016.

Ford is not the first carmaker to announce that it will end car manufacturing in Australia.
Mitsubishi ceased local production five years ago, and today's news also raises questions about how long Toyota and Holden will continue to make cars here.

Both those companies are expected to announce their intention to keep doing so, but last month Holden managing director Mike Devereux said the company would cut about 500 jobs.

He cited higher manufacturing costs, saying they had risen by about 60 per cent over the past decade.

Holden's final Commodore model is due for release next week, as sales of big family cars fall fast.

Sales of Toyota's Camry model are holding steady, but the Toyota Aurion last month slumped to a miserable 469 sales.

The shrinking car manufacturing industry is bad news for the Australian economy.

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