Ford: No insult intended

Ford insists shutting its Broadmeadows assembly and ending production of the Falcon the same day the racing version of the last model, the FG X, is qualifying for the iconic Bathurst 1000 is an unavoidable clash, not an intended slight.

Ford has won at Australia's 'Great Race' 19 times, including 14 times with the Falcon and most recently in 2014.

However, it no longer has an official connection with Supercars racing, having ended its sponsorship of Ford Performance Racing (which won the race in 2013 and 2014) at the end of the 2015 championship, when FPR driver Mark Winterbottom claimed his first driver's title.

The perceived insensitivity of the decision has been panned in some quarters. Notably Wheels magazine editor Glenn Butler used his editorial in the June issue to declare "Ford's decision to close Broadmeadows on the Bathurst 1000 weekend shows scant respect for generations of Ford fans, or to the country that supported it for 56 years".

Butler wrote the timing must be the result of "coincidence or ignorance" rather than being deliberate.

Ford Australia president Graeme Whickman revealed the company was aware of the date clash but for multiple reasons had no choice except to proceed with it.

"We will suffer the slings and arrows, we understand that somebody might consider that an affront," Whickman said.

"There is no ill-feeling behind that decision. It's not supposed to be inflammatory to Bathurst. What happens if we do it a week later, or two days after? I think there is going to be some energy around that, so it's a no-win situation.

"It is not a negative flip of the cap towards our customers or Bathurst at all."

Whickman explained the hard date that had to be hit was the hand-over of the plant for decommissioning at the end of October.

"That is the end date so to speak. You get from a warm idle to a cold idle in not days, it's weeks, and it has to be carefully choreographed. It's bringing down paint shops, it's bringing down casting, it's bringing down high voltage energy.

"We have to chronologically deliver that and that basically drives an October 7 date. It's as simple as that."

While most focus is on Broadmeadows, where the Falcon sedan and ute and the Territory SUV are built, the Geelong engine plant, where the inline six-cylinder six-cylinder is built, will close weeks earlier in September, as part of the decommissioning process.

None of these closures will be conducted with any fanfare. The Broadmeadows plant will be out of bounds to outsiders from September and the final day a private affair only, for directly-affected workers.

That means no media, no politicians, not even Ford dealers will be in attendance.

"We have a people-first principle and we are not going to expose what is essentially 800 individuals to anything other than dignity and respect," said Whickman.

"We are not going to have those employees who have worked very hard for us over many years be treated like they are in a fish bowl or objects of people's idiosyncratic interests.

"We want to honour that group of people privately. There will be a series of events at the factory which will be important to them and for them."

As has been previously confirmed, a Falcon will be the last car off the line, although Whickman wasn't saying what model it will be or what will happen to it or other cars that are built on the last day.

"We are going to talk about it closer to the time. I know we are thinking about some interesting things to do with those vehicles," he said.