Nothing Ventured, nothing wholesaled

Ford lost six days of production during August at the company's Geelong and Broadmeadows plants; a consequence of the industrial strife at supplier Venture Industries.

2300 cars were delayed from 'wholesaling'. The cars in question had already been ordered and 'sold', but could not be retailed.

Happening as the company-wide stand-down did -- virtually in the last week of the month -- it almost certainly blocked Ford from meeting the 3000-unit per month sales target for the BF II Falcon.

"That number would have been a little bit stronger, had we been able to get those units out of the plant," Ford's president Tom Gorman advised.

For the month, Territory lost its 'top-selling SUV' crown to the Honda CR-V and -- given the ratio of Territory to Falcon sales -- it's not too far-fetched to suggest that the Territory might have retained that top sales position if not for the industrial unrest.

Ford's revelations concerning the lost production were offset by generally good sales results for August, although the Territory was one of two Ford products guilty of 'soft' sales -- the other being Focus.

With industrial relations being a hot topic at the moment, Ford's move to outsource upholstery trimming duties could have been another briquette on the fire, although Gorman says it merely brings the Aussie plant into line with other Ford plants around the world.

"We're not confirming that Futuris is a source... we have an intention to outsource seat trim for us.

"I think we're the only Ford plant in the world that still does that.

"We think that there are suppliers -- maybe Futuris is one of those suppliers -- that we have a great relationship with and may be able to take over that business, so we have not confirmed that.

"What we have confirmed to our own people is that we have the intention to outsource and we have also told our people that we have available to them 100 per cent re-deployment. So all affected employees will have an opportunity to stay with Ford if they elect to do that."

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