Ford will rebound, says Carr

[BroadyFord]

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25788600298D0B

By RON HAMMERTON

FORD Australia will rebound from its current sales slow-down that has forced a three-day working week at its Victorian factories, federal industry minister Senator Kim Carr said in Melbourne today.

Senator Carr said the arrival of the four-cylinder EcoBoost engine and liquid-injection LPG engine in Falcon and the new diesel Territory should result in a significant lift in Ford sales.

He also said he saw a future for Ford’s Geelong engine plant “through to at least 2016”.

The reference to 2016 appears to apply to the change-over date for Falcon from the current platform to whatever comes next – widely rumoured to be an Australianised Ford Taurus with a choice of front- or all-wheel-drive.

Senator Carr was commenting after VFACTS figures released today showed Ford last month posted one of its worst monthly sales results, selling just 1457 Falcons and 599 Territorys in a total 6465 vehicles – down 21.1 per cent on the same month last year.

He said Ford had been hurt by the absence of its Falcon LPG variant for several months ahead of the arrival of its new liquid-injection variant.

“Twenty per cent of their sales would have been around LPG, and there have been some issues with regard to the LPG – decisions by the company – and that has had an affect on their sales as well,” he said.

“These are issues that the company is working through and we are working closely with the company. We are confident of the long-term viability of Ford in Australia.”

Senator Carr said he and his department had been well aware of Ford sales figures “for some time”.

“I expect though that those sales figures will improve,” he said.

Senator Carr said the high Australian dollar was impacting manufacturing, including the car-makers.

“We obviously need to work through that, and we are obviously working with the companies on those issues,” he said.

Senator Carr said he expected Ford’s Geelong to be supplying engines “for the foreseeable future”.

“If it wasn’t for the actions of this government Geelong (Ford) would have closed three years ago,” he said.

“So my expectation is that we will be supplying engines out of Geelong for the current line-up of vehicles as an option for consumers through to at least 2016.”

Senator Carr lambasted comments by former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett in a Melbourne newspaper column that Australia could not support three car-makers and that one would close.

“Jeff Kennett has always been a bloke who has shot from the lip without thinking,” he said. “He has always a tradition of shooting before thinking.”

[TC200six]

I think it would be good if they actually last until 2016 since the word out there is that the Falcon is soon to be replaced with Mondeo, Taurus, etc.

[trippytaka]

The rumours and speculation floating 'round about F's future are pretty frightening

[Poetic Justice]

How wide is the word 'soon' though? It the grand scheme of things, 2016 is soon, Laser '81.

[TC200six]

Originally Posted by SCUD

How wide is the word 'soon' though? It the grand scheme of things, 2016 is soon, Laser '81.

When I'm around people talking about cars who aren't even aware Ford are updating the Falcon this year, they say the Falcon is about to be dropped. They were just saying what they've been led to believe, they aren't talking about exact dates.

[bobthebilda]

In 2005 australia produced 389,000 cars
2006=327,000
2007=335,000
2008=324,000
2009=223,000
2010=240,000
2011= At current rates = Approximately 200,000

The dramatic destruction of the australian car industry, only started after Kim Carr came to power. His wife shouldnt let him control the chequebook, instead of us allowing him to allocate billions of dollars to be repartiated overseas by foreign companies. Please bring back Jeff Kennett.

[mr_xr8]

Kim Carr wouldnt have a clue what he is talking about let alone know what his profile actually relates too

bobthebilda has it in one, and its not only the automitive sector its all manufacturing in australia that is being slowly killed

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by mr_xr8

Kim Carr wouldnt have a clue what he is talking about let alone know what his profile actually relates too

bobthebilda has it in one, and its not only the automitive sector its all manufacturing in australia that is being slowly killed

Considering he and Marin Burela tag-teamed to halt the I6 decommissioning, I would suggest that he has more than a clue as to what is going on strategically with FoA.

[mr_xr8]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

Considering he and Marin Burela tag-teamed to halt the I6 decommissioning, I would suggest that he has more than a clue as to what is going on strategically with FoA.

yeah no

it was cheaper to keep the i6 in production and bring it up to standard then to pay out redundancy to workers

[dimka100]

Personally I think that if Ford wants to be successful they need to do the following:

1. Drop the standard petrol I6, while keeping the LPI and Turbo variant only.
2. Separate LPI and Turbo variants into different development streams.
3. Further develop each engine stream to better suite the intended application of each engine (i.e. Turbo is for performance, LPI is for economy/running costs) – this will easily yield better engines of each kind since they will be better optimised for intended application (with less compromises).
4. Continue improving the EcoBoost I4 while offering it as the base option to economy buyers.
5. Introduce the 2.7V6 Diesel from the Territory as an option for those in need (country people will love it).

This will easily cover all market needs (government buyers, performance buyers, economy/budget buyers, country buyers) while keeping the existing local manufacturing/tuning going … keeping the base Petrol I6 is silly as that engine is NOT ideally suited to any of the buyers above as it’s trying to be the jack of all trades and hence is not competitive in each market segment … the market these days simply just does not need that and hence the sales figures clearly represent the future trend.

Ford needs to adapt or eventually they will go the Mitsubishi way …

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by dimka100

Ford needs to adapt or eventually they will go the Mitsubishi way …

Theres probably a few heads in Dearborn thinking, gee if only we had gone the way of Mitsubishi in australia in 2008. If we had, we could have a car regularly in the top ten sales, we could be 100% dependant on money making imports at A$1 to $US1.09.

[dimka100]

As a Company overall yes you are right, being a pure importer they would make more money for sure …

However there any many people in the company who manage the areas of engineering, design, testing, manufacturing, and so forth … and they would not want that as they would lose their jobs to never be replaced with another car makers … as let’s face it, manufacturing is continuously declining in Australia.

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

Theres probably a few heads in Dearborn thinking, gee if only we had gone the way of Mitsubishi in australia in 2008. If we had, we could have a car regularly in the top ten sales, we could be 100% dependant on money making imports at A$1 to $US1.09.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

Theres probably a few heads in Dearborn thinking, gee if only we had gone the way of Mitsubishi in australia in 2008. If we had, we could have a car regularly in the top ten sales, we could be 100% dependant on money making imports at A$1 to $US1.09.

Which car are you suggesting would have now been in the top ten?

And while you ponder that remember than we were 70 cents US around
two years ago and all transactions are negotiated in US dollars at the rate
applicable at the time if signing (2008) so we would be getting far less than
you think.....

[vztrt]

http://www.caradvice.com.au/117567/f...fe-until-2016/

Ford Falcon, Geelong engine plant safe until 2016
By Tim Beissmann | May 5th, 2011

The current-generation Ford Falcon is likely to be sold in Australia for at least the next five years.

Federal Industry Minister, Senator Kim Carr, told reporters in Melbourne he expected the Geelong engine facility to continue manufacturing engines for the locally produced Falcon and Territory until “at least 2016”.

From that time the future of both models is unknown, with many predicting the locally designed and manufactured rear-wheel drive Falcon could be replaced by the front- and all-wheel drive Ford Taurus from the US. It is likely an imported large car like the Taurus would be re-engineered locally to better suit Australian consumers and conditions.

The Taurus is currently powered by Ford’s Duratec 35 V6 engine – a 3.5-litre units which produces 196kW of power and 338Nm of torque. The performance-oriented Taurus SHO scores the twin-turbocharged EcoBoost version of the Duratec V6, with significantly enhanced performance of 272kW and 475Nm.

Ford’s Geelong engine plant currently produces the ‘Barra’ inline six-cylinder petrol engine, and the EcoLPI LPG variant based on that engine will go into production in the coming months before going on sale mid-year.

The Barra was introduced into Ford Australia’s range in 2002 with the launch of the BA Falcon, and despite undergoing a number of upgrades and enhancements, the core elements of the engine will be 14 years old by 2016.

The engine is currently produced in three tunes: 195kW/391Nm naturally aspirated for Falcon, 270kW/533Nm turbocharged for XR6 Turbo and 310kW/565Nm turbocharged for FPV F6 models.

Ford Australia is likely to make further performance and efficiency enhancements to the engine before the end of its production lifecycle – potentially coming as early as September/October this year with the facelifted Falcon model – although this is yet to be confirmed.

The Barra engine is currently supplemented by the UK-sourced 2.7-litre diesel engine in the Territory and the 5.0-litre ‘Coyote’ V8 from Canada, and will be joined by the 2.0-litre EcoBoost four-cylinder engine from Spain early in 2012.

Ford Australia is currently manufacturing vehicles on a three-days-per-week schedule as a result of decreased demand for its Falcon and Territory.

Five-day production will resume in July, although daily vehicle production will decrease from 260 vehicles per day to 209.

Like the entire Australian automotive industry, Ford Australia’s sales took a heavy hit in April. The brand sold 2233 less vehicles than it did in March 2011 and 1727 less than April 2010, and as a result slipped to fourth in the sales race behind Toyota, Holden and Hyundai.

After three months of the year, Ford Australia’s sales were 3.4 percent ahead of the same time last year, although a horror April sent them 7.7 percent backwards to 3.3 percent behind year-to-date.

The Escape, Falcon Ute, Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo, Ranger 4×2 and Territory all endured their worst sales month for the year in April, while the Falcon sedan’s result was its second-lowest for the year, ahead of only the record-breaking January low.

[vztrt]

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-new...505-1e8yu.html

Ford's big-six thrown five-year lifeline
Barry Park
May 5, 2011 - 9:31AM

Federal Government says Falcon and Territory's locally built six-cylinder engine has a few more years in it yet.

"Barra", the locally made engine that has faithfully powered generations of Australian-built Ford cars, will be around for at least the next five years, the federal government has confirmed.

According to Federal Industry Minister Kim Carr, the engine — made at Ford's Geelong-based casting plant — is likely to be a member of Ford's powertrain arsenal until at least 2016, after which its future is uncertain.

''For the foreseeable future, Geelong will be supplying engines to Ford,'' Senator Carr said today.
Advertisement: Story continues below

''Remember ... if it wasn't for the actions of this government, Geelong would have closed three years ago. So my expectation is that we will be providing engines out of Geelong for the current line-up of vehicles as an option for consumers through until at least 2016.''

Ford Australia is expected to switch to a mix of engine choices for its future Falcon and Territory line-up, including an imported V6 ''Duratec'' engine that potentially lacks the same low-down pulling power as the Barra, but improves fuel economy, and an even more economical turbocharged 2.0-litre four-cylinder ''EcoBoost'' engine that will power versions of the Falcon from next year.

The car maker has also recently launched the Territory with a 2.7-litre turbocharged V6 engine in an attempt to sway buyers back to the vehicle that may have been put off by the high fuel-use figures of the petrol version — although it commands a $3000-plus premium.

The diesel engine has replaced the petrol version as the default powertrain on the more expensive, all-wheel-drive versions of the Territory in a move that Ford says reflects a ''strong customer preference for a [diesel] powertrain combination with the AWD capability''.

The company has already struggled to keep the Barra up with increasingly strict emissions laws, with turbocharged versions of the Territory last year failing to meet a July 1 deadline to clean up the engine's exhaust gases.

The turbo variant joined the Territory range in 2006, two years after the model first launched, surprising an industry that was expecting the more fuel-efficient, diesel version that was only launched this year.

According to Senator Carr, problems with the roll-out of the dedicated LPG version of the Falcon — changes to the way the system feeds the fuel into the engine are expected to provide power and fuel economy figures that shadow the petrol version — have hurt the car's sales.

According to Ford, the decision to stop making the dedicated LPG version of the Falcon in September last year has eroded the car maker's sales since its demise, with gas-powered models at one time accounting for almost one in four Ford sales in Australia.

However, Senator Carr's reference to future generations of the Barra engine as an ''option'' for buyers suggests it won't be the showroom staple that we've come to expect.

Ford Australia spokeswoman Sinead McAlary said the company did not have an ''end date'' for its Geelong-made engine or the plant that builds it.

''We're continuing to invest in our local line-up, including all the new technologies we're launching this year,'' she said.

''The in-line six-cylinder engine remains the standard engine for Falcon but will be supplemented later this year with the addition of the new liquid-injection LPG system and the introduction next year of the EcoBoost four-cylinder engine.

''Neither of those will be standard fitment, however. They'll both be optional on various vehicles within the range,'' McAlary said.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by mr_xr8

yeah no

it was cheaper to keep the i6 in production and bring it up to standard then to pay out redundancy to workers

That may well be true, but Ford still needed Federal Government approval to modify the terms of the grant they were given which was supposed to be spent on building the Focus here and was instead spent on upgrading the I6 to Euro 4. Read this article for more info:

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25750700209A60

As for those articles and the I6 itself....very interesting. We could see one (or maybe two?) upgrade before the E8 platform is done. All I can say is Ford must be very very confident of selling cars with this engine going forward...makes me wonder what the punchline is considering an orphan engine shouldn't go that long in the scheme of things...

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by dimka100

Personally I think that if Ford wants to be successful they need to do the following:

1. Drop the standard petrol I6, while keeping the LPI and Turbo variant only.

Thats one of the dumbest things i've ever heard. Without the standard petrol I6 the others 2 variants are pointless, cause the NA 6 makes up probably 75% of Falcon sales and around 50% of Territory sales, so eliminating it makes the other 2 versions dead overnight cause the build numbers would be so low. We're only making around 10 turbo engines a day, compared to say 180 petrol I6's. LPi may only be 25 a day to start with, ramping up to match demand.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by dimka100

Personally I think that if Ford wants to be successful they need to do the following:

1. Drop the standard petrol I6, while keeping the LPI and Turbo variant only.
2. Separate LPI and Turbo variants into different development streams.
3. Further develop each engine stream to better suite the intended application of each engine (i.e. Turbo is for performance, LPI is for economy/running costs) – this will easily yield better engines of each kind since they will be better optimised for intended application (with less compromises).
4. Continue improving the EcoBoost I4 while offering it as the base option to economy buyers.
5. Introduce the 2.7V6 Diesel from the Territory as an option for those in need (country people will love it).

This will easily cover all market needs (government buyers, performance buyers, economy/budget buyers, country buyers) while keeping the existing local manufacturing/tuning going … keeping the base Petrol I6 is silly as that engine is NOT ideally suited to any of the buyers above as it’s trying to be the jack of all trades and hence is not competitive in each market segment … the market these days simply just does not need that and hence the sales figures clearly represent the future trend.

Ford needs to adapt or eventually they will go the Mitsubishi way …

I think Ford have a good handle on the drivelines and engines for Falcon, the problem now is materials, content, fit and finish. They need to raise the impression of Falcon a couple of notches above Commodore and Camry.

They are also several decades past due to sort out the dealer network.

The days of the cost cutted Falcon is over. Throw the kitchen sink into it and sell what you can. The platform only had three years to go anyway.

Dan

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by DanielXR8

I think Ford have a good handle on the drivelines and engines for Falcon, the problem now is materials, content, fit and finish. They need to raise the impression of Falcon a couple of notches above Commodore and Camry.

They are also several decades past due to sort out the dealer network.

The days of the cost cutted Falcon is over. Throw the kitchen sink into it and sell what you can. The platform only had three years to go anyway.

Dan

2016 from 2011 certainly seems like 5 years to me, not 3 and as far as we all know, it could be continuing past that date (or not). There is a model update this year and Graziano himself has said there is another between then and 2016.

Granted if they don't pull something special out of the box for the update then I am officially done making excuses for them, however until then I am prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt.

[mr_xr8]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

That may well be true, but Ford still needed Federal Government approval to modify the terms of the grant they were given which was supposed to be spent on building the Focus here and was instead spent on upgrading the I6 to Euro 4. Read this article for more info:

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25750700209A60

As for those articles and the I6 itself....very interesting. We could see one (or maybe two?) upgrade before the E8 platform is done. All I can say is Ford must be very very confident of selling cars with this engine going forward...makes me wonder what the punchline is considering an orphan engine shouldn't go that long in the scheme of things...

yes becasue the goverment would been winning even more votes not allowing the redirection of funds to the i6 upgrade to save jobs.

dont get me wrong the i6 is a great engine and deservies to live on espically the turbo i6. however i doubt he or the goverment had a choice and im sure they wouldnt be crying if there was no manufacturing australia unless they where seen as green jobs

[Bobman]

Have to laugh at the doom sayers on here who said the I6 will go soon.

[aussie muscle]

What does Kim Carr know that we don't?

[mr_xr8]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

What does Kim Carr know that we don't?

nothing