Ken Gratton•6 Dec 2013
NEWS
Why Aussie manufacturing is unsustainable: Ford
Domestic sales volumes in excess of 100,000 simply can't be achieved by the localsChill winds are blowing through the halls of the Australian automotive manufacturing industry.
Ford has already announced the end of local production and speculation is rife that Holden will pull up stumps in 2016 also. Toyota's exports may or may not stave off an end to production at its Altona facility.
With the Productivity Commission's review of the local automotive manufacturing industry yet to deliver a finding, the last post is being played for Holden in some quarters – the GM brand facing the same business pressures that drove Ford to announce an end to local production with effect from October 2016.
Ford's decision basically boiled down to scale, motoring.com.au was told earlier this week by the company's Communications & Public Affairs Director, Sinead Phipps.
"We've made our decision; it was a very hard decision to make, but ultimately the right decision," she explained. "The Australian dollar was a factor, but not a stand-alone issue. It really comes down to the scale of manufacturing that we have here – and our ability to do that in a cost-effective manner.
"If you look at the top-selling vehicle in Australia last year, Mazda3 – 45,000 units. Top-selling vehicle in the US was the F Series truck – 650,000 units. So in Australia, even to gather and to be able to produce for the domestic market – say 100,000 or 120,000 units, which would be what you would need to justify on-going investment – you'd need to produce the Mazda3, the Corolla and the HiLux.
"Now you're obviously not going to do that; no manufacturer's going to develop two different small cars – so it just doesn't work for us."
"We could have gone back to the government and asked for a ridiculously large amount of money; that would probably have put them in the position of having to say no – and we couldn't guarantee that would be the only time we'd have to ask for a ridiculously large amount of money. So in the end, the right decision for us, we believe... for the company's integrity, was to make the hard decision.
"I don't know of any other company that has given the industry three years' notice of what they're doing..." Ms Phipps concluded.
Before long, however, there may indeed be another company taking the same principled stance as Ford's...
Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...
Don't forget to register to comment on this article.
Tags
Ford
Falcon
Territory
Holden
Commodore
Cruze
Toyota
Aurion
Camry
Car News
Sedan
Family Cars
Performance Cars
Tradie Cars
Written byKen Gratton
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalists
Related articles
Disclaimer
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Please see our Editorial Guidelines & Code of Ethics (including for more information about sponsored content and paid events). The information published on this website is of a general nature only and doesn’t consider your particular circumstances or needs.
Love every move.
Buy it. Sell it.Love it.
®Contact
Advertise with us
Local marketplaces
International marketplaces
Scan to download the carsales app
Want more info? Here’s our app landing page
App Store and the Apple logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. Google Play and the Google Play logo
are trademarks of Google LLC.