Australia is home to four major automobile manufacturers whose combined domestic sales total just under 1m cars per year. As this Herald Sun article points out, Ford of Australia faces a stark choice: export or die. At the moment, the automaker is heading in the wrong direction. With a lineup bereft of fuel sippers (sound familiar?), the automaker's Australian sales fell 9.9 percent in the first six months of '06, even as the country's total vehicle sales rose 8.5 percent. Ford is now closing its Geelong plant, ceasing production of its locally built in-line six, switching to a US-sourced V6 engine after 2010. On the positive side, by holstering the U.S. compliant powerplant, Ford of Australia's all-new, rear wheel-drive Falcon (due in 2012) could become a "global car." The article posits that this model could replace the doomed Crown Vic. But will it? Will an unfavorable exchange rate scupper any such plans? Will the Ford corporate mothership even be around to make it so?
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If there’s one car that captures the essence of Ford Oz, it’s the Mad Max Interceptor.
Definitely the coolest movie car ever. I think it was powered by a 351 Cleveland, correct? I know the Aussie’s had their own heads for the 351C that were superior to the NA heads.
Ford Australia looks at Holden’s successful exports and sees a way out of their financial spiral, and you know, they are probably correct in that regard. You can read Exports Key, Says Ford Australia right HERE, if you want a little more information.
But as usual, saying it is one thing, and doing it is another. Ford is seeing the ground beneath them give way in Australia, and they need to act instead of just talking about what they might do.
B Moore – Autosavant.net
Well, bringing the Ford Falcon would be a start. And give us the turbocharged straight six instead of the V8.
Ford Australia, because of the strength of the Aussie Dollar, will have the same problems exporting as GM now faces with the Belgian (Euro priced) Astra for Saturn. Don’t expect this to happen.
I’ve taken a couple of long road trips in Australia driving Ford’s great Falcon inline six, one of the best highway cruising motors I’ve ever driven.
Ford AU should make a LHD version of their performance Utes for the US market. What have they got to loose? It is a something that is new and different.
Take a look at their Falcon XR series. The XL ain’t bad at all. And I like their Falcon RTV.
Ford as a winner in their own back yard and they don’t even know it.