Ford Australia posts $191m loss

Ford Australia has posted a $190.7 million loss for the 2014 financial year, bringing to $1.3 billion its total losses over the past decade as sales declined to their lowest since 1966.

The Blue Oval says $167.2m of its red ink last financial year was attributable to employee redundancy costs associated with the closure of its manufacturing operations by October 2016.

It also points out that its total operating loss was significantly less than its $266.7m loss in the previous financial year, and that its $23.5m operating loss was $2m less than in 2013, thanks in large part to a higher proportion of more profitable imported vehicles.

"Other than the headline number, we think a key is that these results show our long-term business is strengthening as our operating results improved nearly $3 million (the loss was reduced from $26 to about $23 million) based on a better mix of sales," said company spokesman Wes Sherwood.

"We have been emphasising this each month as our sales have declined because a big reason is we are shifting to more private retail sales and less large fleet business.  In fact, we only have about five per cent of the rental car business we had just a few years ago.

"We also think it’s important to note we invested another $367 million in R&D in Australia last year, on top of nearly $6 billion the past six years and significantly more than any other auto company."

Although it currently employs fewer plant workers than Australia's other two remaining car-makers, Ford has about 1500 designers and engineers developing models built overseas and expects to become the nation's largest automotive employer after Holden and Toyota close their factory doors in 2017.

Ford's Australian sales have been in decline since 2005, but plans to double its current model range by introducing 20 new vehicles by 2020 – including the first global Mustang in December.