July price rises for Falcon

Ford has upped the list price of the FG Falcon and BF MkIII Falcon wagon with effect from July 1. New pricing is $1000 higher for the FG models (sedan and ute) or $1500 higher for the wagon.

The news of the adjusted pricing comes at a time when Ford is selling all its production capacity through to September (more here).

During the monthly sales briefing for June, Ford president Marin Burela explained the whys and wherefores of the new pricing.

"[It's] mainly driven by the cost of raw material…" Burela responded to a question from the media, "and in some cases, exchange [rate fluctuations].

"Where you have the balance between imported material and local material, you then suffer the pain associated through exchange and commodity increases -- which really have been there for the last 18 months.

"We've been very cautious, we're not pricing over the top.

"I'd have to say to you that our costs have increased significantly more than we've flowed through. We have not been passing on the costs through to the consumer -- and the reason we haven't is because we know that it's a very competitive market in the auto industry right now."

According to Burela, Ford has found ways of cutting costs to offset the higher prices of raw materials. These have included such measures as the elimination of "non-efficient design execution", improved logistics, reduced holding costs and revised material sourcing patterns ("so we're not caught with a lot of material" -- and neither is the supplier).

Asked whether Ford was more confident it could impose higher prices in light of the rapidly improving sales, Burela countered with his opinion that the company had found "the right balance". He was confident that the price increases would not have a significant impact on Falcon sales, even though the pricing advantage Ford enjoys over archrival the Holden Commodore is no more. Are dealers concerned by that?

"Our dealers? Absolutely not. No concern at all. In fact, the only concern our dealers have expressed to me and our sales & marketing team is that they can't get enough cars," says Burela.

Pricing for the Falcon range now commences from $39,290* for the FG model Falcon XT with five-speed automatic. The G6 is now priced at $42,490* with the same five-speed transmission. Graduating to the G6E with six-speed ZF transmission now costs $49,490* and the G6E Turbo has stepped up to $57,490*.

On the sporty side of the V-shaped model range, the XR6 rises to $42,490* with either the six-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission. Both the XR6 Turbo and the XR8 are now priced at $47,990*. Pricing for the BF III Falcon wagon is now $41,220*.

* Recommended price before statutory and delivery charges.

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