Ford fuels the economy debate

The fuel economy war between Ford, Holden and Toyota has spilled off the advertising arena and into boardrooms, legal departments -- and media lunches.

In the latest round of mud flinging, the boss of Ford Australia, Marin Burela, described the Toyota Aurion sedan as a "wounded animal", referring to its weak sales performance this year.

When asked about how much money Toyota was spending on advertising the facelifted Aurion during recent football grand final telecasts, Mr Burela told a table of journalists: "The Aurion is a wounded animal. If you turn around and you really look at it, I think they're in trouble.

"How long can you sustain [those sales numbers]? I mean, it's not for me to speak about a competitor, but if I was selling 800 Falcons a month I'd be worried. Could I sustain that level of production based on the volume and the cost?"

He then added: "The feedback we're getting from dealers across the country, if someone comes in to trade-in an Aurion, the dealer won't take it. There are too many, auction prices have gone down like crazy."

Aurion sales are down by 35 per cent according to data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

Fewer than 10,000 have been sold in the first nine months of this year, compared to 22,500 Falcons (down 6 per cent) and 32,500 Commodores (down 13 per cent).

The Commodore has been posting an average of 3600 sales per month, the Falcon an average of 2500 and the Aurion an average of 1100 a month.

At a glance, the Aurion numbers seem close to those of the Mitsubishi 380 sedan in the lead-up to its demise, however the Aurion has an ace up its sleeve.

When sales of Aurion and Camry are combined (both are made on the same Melbourne production line and share their core structure) Toyota averages 2700 sales of locally made cars each month -- and that doesn't include the company's exports. Local production of a hybrid Camry from next year should also boost sales numbers.

Furthermore, most of Toyota Australia's local production is exported. Last year Toyota built 141,000 Camrys and Aurions, of which more than 100,000 were exported. Ford on the other hand sold a total of 57,418 locally made vehicles including Falcon sedan, wagon and ute and Territory, plus a handful of exports.

As for Ford's comments on the Aurion's used-car values, on the contrary Aurions yield higher prices than do Falcons of similar age and condition, according to a sample of auction results researched by the Carsales Network. Data compiled by the Red Book supports this too.

Several car valuers interviewed said they were surprised by the Ford boss's comments.

"I find that hard to believe, he sounds out of touch to me," said a former Sydney Ford dealer with more than 25 years' experience in the trade. "Aurions pull more money than Falcons all day long. That's because there are far more Falcons on the road than Aurions. The new-car sales show you that. Aurions are harder to come by and so they're good property when they come up."

A check of recent auction catalogues show that two year old Aurions fetched about $16,000 to $17,000 wholesale, whereas Ford Falcons of the same age and condition fetched $13,000 to $14,000. Commodores of the same age and condition split the pair, averaging between $15,000 and $16,000.

When the Ford boss's comments were put to Toyota Australia's senior executive director of sales and marketing, David Buttner, he told the Carsales Network: "I have no comments in relation to Mr Burela's comments. It is not my practice to criticise our local industry because I believe it's important to the economy, our respective employees and our suppliers to ensure that local manufacturing is viable."

As for the Aurion production numbers, Mr Buttner said:  "We build Camry and Aurion for both domestic and international markets. Our production volumes are predicated by demand in those respective markets. Aurion to date has achieved all targets that were set for it at launch, and has given Toyota for the first time a true competitor in the all-important Australian large six segment. We are confident about the ongoing viability and success of both our locally made Camry and Aurion sedans."

With sales of large cars in steady decline, the companies that build Australia's three locally-made sedans have been burning the midnight oil trying to find improvements in efficiency of their six-cylinder engines.

They've also been sharpening their tactics.

In recent months Ford has embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign, highlighting the revised fuel economy ratings for the Falcon.

Holden, meanwhile, has also been spruiking the benefits of its new direct-injection V6 engines.

But Ford's campaigns, controversially, have taken direct aim at its rivals.

One media campaign has compared the efficiency of a six-cylinder Falcon with the four-cylinder Toyota Camry, also comparing the running costs of an LPG-powered Falcon with a Toyota Corolla.

This week, Ford took out full page newspaper advertisements highlighting the results of a recent road test, in which the Ford Falcon was found to be more fuel-efficient than the Holden Commodore following a 1000km economy run around the famous Mount Panorama Bathurst circuit -- despite the Commodore having a smaller capacity engine and a lower figure on the government rating label.

Holden responded by emailing motoring journalists that it stands by its claims that the Commodore is more efficient in real world conditions.

During his frank discussion, Mr Burela also revealed some of the behind the scenes shenanigans regarding the recent ad campaigns.

Apparently Toyota was not flattered to be the centre of attention in a Ford ad about fuel economy.

"When we did the first 9.9L/100km Falcon advertisement, when we said it was more fuel efficient than a four-cylinder Camry, then we went out and said 'and by the way, our [LPG] Falcon costs you less to run than a Toyota Corolla', they [Toyota] absolutely blew it ... they could not cope with that. There was deadly silence for about a week," he said.

"And then [eventually] in came the question. And then we said to them, all we did was put the facts on the table. We didn't say anything other than what's the truth. So they went out and verified the truth and they then withdrew all their concerns and complaints very quickly."

But Toyota's approach gave Burela an idea.

"After that I had our legal team write to them [Toyota] and tell them they better go and change their web advertising which was saying they had the most efficient large car in the country. And you know what? To their credit, they didn't complain, they did it the same day. They're very honourable -- Toyota -- when it comes to that sort of stuff."

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