Why? I heard the pm and cronies saying it was because our dollar was so strong and made it expensive for Ford to manufacture. I thought with our dollar being so strong the opposite would. Be the case. Hey I'm a printer by trade and have seen way more three 1600 redundancies and the government were not throwing money at these companies. it sh1ts me that we want to look after blah blah blah blah

Ford,,,,,ppppffttwwww,,,, if it was Holden then it would matter.

But on a serious note, sad for the thousands of Aussies loseing jobs Good luck ford workers.

chrispychru said..

Why? I heard the pm and cronies saying it was because our dollar was so strong and made it expensive for Ford to manufacture. I thought with our dollar being so strong the opposite would. Be the case. Hey I'm a printer by trade and have seen way more three 1600 redundancies and the government were not throwing money at these companies. it sh1ts me that we want to look after blah blah blah blah

A high dollar makes it difficult to export any models made here overseas. I think Ford always wants to be able sell models overseas, as do Holden if they get the chance.

I think it also makes it easier for imported cars to be sold cheaper here than they otherwise could be. If the Australian dollar was worth half what it is now, would a Hyundai cost $40k?

1600 redundancies in Ford. What about the component suppliers that supply all the little bits and pieces that go into a car? Lots and lots of jobs will be affected because there will no longer be local demand for these parts. The government subsidises local car manufacturers as it creates more jobs than just the direct ones at the factory.

FormulaNova said...

chrispychru said..

Why? I heard the pm and cronies saying it was because our dollar was so strong and made it expensive for Ford to manufacture. I thought with our dollar being so strong the opposite would. Be the case. Hey I'm a printer by trade and have seen way more three 1600 redundancies and the government were not throwing money at these companies. it sh1ts me that we want to look after blah blah blah blah

A high dollar makes it difficult to export any models made here overseas. I think Ford always wants to be able sell models overseas, as do Holden if they get the chance.

I think it also makes it easier for imported cars to be sold cheaper here than they otherwise could be. If the Australian dollar was worth half what it is now, would a Hyundai cost $40k?

1600 redundancies in Ford. What about the component suppliers that supply all the little bits and pieces that go into a car? Lots and lots of jobs will be affected because there will no longer be local demand for these parts. The government subsidises local car manufacturers as it creates more jobs than just the direct ones at the factory.

about paper. ink.chemical.manufactures? What about the graphic designers. Technicians ? Engineers. IT people sales reps blah blah blah sorry does not wash. Wasted money for a so called icon.

FormulaNova said..

ikw777 said..

Were they building anything else here other than the Falcon and territory models?

I think the Ford Ranger is made here now.

Pretty sure it's Thailand.

^^^ and it is a rebadged Jap car anyway.

Disgraceful that the most resource rich country in the world can't build a car.

Mark _australia said..

^^^ and it is a rebadged Jap car anyway.

Disgraceful that the most resource rich country in the world can't build a car.

Travel to a few Asian countries and you'll see why we can't compete on labour through the supply chain.

chrispychru said..

FormulaNova said...

chrispychru said..

FormulaNova said...

chrispychru said..

Why? I heard the pm and cronies saying it was because our dollar was so strong and made it expensive for Ford to manufacture. I thought with our dollar being so strong the opposite would. Be the case. Hey I'm a printer by trade and have seen way more three 1600 redundancies and the government were not throwing money at these companies. it sh1ts me that we want to look after blah blah blah blah

A high dollar makes it difficult to export any models made here overseas. I think Ford always wants to be able sell models overseas, as do Holden if they get the chance.

I think it also makes it easier for imported cars to be sold cheaper here than they otherwise could be. If the Australian dollar was worth half what it is now, would a Hyundai cost $40k?

1600 redundancies in Ford. What about the component suppliers that supply all the little bits and pieces that go into a car? Lots and lots of jobs will be affected because there will no longer be local demand for these parts. The government subsidises local car manufacturers as it creates more jobs than just the direct ones at the factory.

about paper. ink.chemical.manufactures? What about the graphic designers. Technicians ? Engineers. IT people sales reps blah blah blah sorry does not wash. Wasted money for a so called icon.

Hey, I don't know anything about your industry. Was there take-up of the other indirect trades by other printers? Who knows?

If it wasn't worth it, why do you think the government persevered with it for so long, and still do provide funding to Ford, Holden, Toyota (Mitsubishi?)? Surely the people there must see some advantage in it for either the economy or themselves. 3200 votes aren't much, so you would hope there are a lot more indirectly employed people than you think.

Maybe because they are a so called icon worshiped by bogans who all received their $1000 cask wine payouts. Plenty of voters in that bunch. Why not put all that money into helping small business who employ way more people than Ford would have employed in all of its existence.

Seriously, I don't think the government supported the local car industries to appease bogans. Half of these people were probably driving Hyundai Excels, and not many of them would be buying new cars anyway.

Every government has supported the car industry, so you can't even argue its about which party is in power.

Those same bogans will happily adapt to having a US designed Ford car on a world platform, and not even remember the Falcon after a couple of years, so I don't think that's the reason.

The older commodore was designed from an Opel (Kadett?), and just widened a bit. The local Holden fans didn't care. Why would Ford fans either?

Was it the 'Burnet plan' or something like that, that was brought in to reduce the subsidies on local cars, many years ago. The intent was to improve the quality of the local car industry, by pushing it to improve by slowly reducing the rate of taxes on imported cars. It was meant to make the industry more efficient, not to kill it.

I think Ford just got caught out by a market place that prefers imported cars, and a high AUD that makes it not as competitive.

As for quality, I have two FG falcons, and I think they are exceptional cars. A lot of motor reviews have said they are better than the Commodore. If I was more worried about image I would buy an imported car, but I like the falcons just fine.

Mark _australia said..

^^^ and it is a rebadged Jap car anyway.

Disgraceful that the most resource rich country in the world can't build a car.

I think that's part of the problem. Rich in resources, high dollar, and thus cheap imported cars.

^^^ and insert that we all want good wages & conditions in australia too Chris

thePup said..

^^^ and insert that we all want good wages & conditions in australia too Chris

Hey pup, long time no speak

It's a vicious cycle we are feeding, wanting great wages and living conditions but cheap stuff to buy.

Even mining is pricing itself out of the labour game on the construction side and with established operating mines. With Africa coming on line if they can sort out the political instability and sovereign risk over there the only impediment to iron ore being cheaper from Africa is the extra shipping cost to China, then we are really in trouble.

Mark _australia said..

^^^ yeah agreed but what buggered us was

the strikes over no covered walkway to the dunny
knock off at 38.5deg
strike over one bloke who got sacked and probably deserved it
strike over a fridge in the lunch room at 4.5deg not 4.0 deg
OH&S stuff cos somebody got a sore finger so have to do a JSA and employ a consultant to show us how to bang a nail into wood
etc etc ad nauseum

nobody is saying we need to be like asia and treat workers like sh!t - but all the little bits have added up.
We are reaping what we have sown.

People seem to forget when the aussie dollar was 75c US, not on par, and we were still shutting steel mills and a car manufacturer pissed off overseas. You can't blame ONLY a strong dollar for Ford closing up

Australia is a resource rich country that could do anything but it is hamstrung by red tape, OH&S, militant unions (not saying unions are bad, just the militant attitude), over governance and a pussy attitude by workers.

I think a lot of people prefer to buy imported cars. I don't know if this is a style choice, a price choice, or a perceived (or real) quality choice. Going back a few decades, I don't think this was such a big thing.

All around me I see (dead people) lots of new cars, and very few of them appear to be Holdens or Fords.

Imported cars are cheaper, probably because of the AUD as much as anything else, and people obviously have shifted from buying locally made to imported.

I find it troubling that people associate Falcons or even Commodores with taxis. Gee, I wonder what they use in Germany and Austria as taxis? There even seems to be some status in not owning an Australian car.

Again, I am impressed with the build quality of Aussie cars. You hear of problems, but you hear that with all cars, and usually proportionate to the number of them sold. VW Transporter transmissions anyone? Ford (UK) Transit turbo diesels anyone?

If working conditions are the problem, what extra percentage would it add to the cost of a brand new car?

I've lost track where I read this (here?) but if Ford sell 15,000 new Falcons a year, then approximately $5,000 of that price is for R&D. If you sold 30,000 or 45,000 a year, then obviously the R&D is only $2.5k or $1.7k. So, the number sold, really does make a difference.

On another site people were saying that Ford should have produced cars more suited to most buyers. I don't know how they could have done this, with such a small market. They already sell from small up to large cars, so what else is missing?

I worked for an American multinational that was supported by Aust government on the basis of investing in high tech skills. Our operation was incredibly efficient but a combination of competition and currency change (55c - 75c) killed it, kinda similar to Ford. When they pulled the pin there were several complaints about wasted investment of govt funds but I can tell you the skills learnt in Aust stayed in Aust and i see those workers all around the country now.

I heard that for every Ford worker there were 8 suppliers, so it's not $600M / 2000, more like $600M / 18000. And those skills will now go into other areas, and we'll continue to see benefits.

I think that the Govt always tries to keep steel based manufacturing going to add to the defence capability of the country - if the sh!t hits the fan, those guys and gals from Ford can bring rare skills to help defend our country... that's also worth investing in.

Anyways, commiserations and good luck to all the ford crew.

if we protected our industries as much as our competitors protect theirs, and if our population weren't so singlemindedly selfish, ignorant and moronic..

then maybe your kids might have a chance

Mark _australia said..

'nova (and others) I hear what you're saying - apart from build quality.

Falcons and Commodres fall to bits. They are made to be a fleet car, so it gets everything it needs (almost to excess) in all services then dumped on the secondhand market after 80,000kms

I have never yet spent a single dollar on a Jap car that I did not want to spend - that covers Toyota hatch and sedan, Mitsi (errgghh) 4WD, Subaru and Mazda sports models. A couple of them were flogged liek buggery and never needed anything.
But a Commodore and Falcon is continual crap going wrong at 100,000 - 200,000km. A $500 problem every couple of months. Stuff just falls off or turns to crap!

Just seems there is a sh!tload more 'Friday' cars made in Australia than in Japan.

Once you've had Jap, you never go back.