FORD Australia shutdown Announcement

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Mitsubishi had the opportunity to be Australia's Audi. Too much resistance to FWD so go all out AWD. And set up for export while the $ was cheap. Cars had potential that went unrealised.

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

Mitsubishi had the opportunity to be Australia's Audi.

LOL really?

I think Subaru beat Mitsushiti to the low end AWD market.

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

LOL really?

I think Subaru beat Mitsushiti to the low end AWD market.

I guess you have not driven in an up spec domestic Japanese model at the time we are talking? Better than the run of the mill Audis for sure.

[D4D Addicted PP Member Find all posts View Profile Close D4D]

I owned a B5 A4 TQ Sedan and a B6 S4 Avant, I am pretty sure there was no comparison to the equivalent Magna 'Elite'

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

An S4 is run of the mill? Ok.

[Jeffers Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jeffers]

I owned a B5 A4 TQ Sedan and a B6 S4 Avant, I am pretty sure there was no comparison to the equivalent Magna 'Elite'

I'll second that...

[wooley Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close wooley]

I owned a B5 A4 TQ Sedan and a B6 S4 Avant, I am pretty sure there was no comparison to the equivalent Magna 'Elite'

My awd supercharged vrx went like the clappers and I can promise you it handled our roads a lot better than our neighbors Audi wagon.

The rally suspension and a/t tyres I put on it in its later days made it a wild machine. Haha.

[rags Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close rags]

I have just had the work BA ute replaced with a new one ,always dedicated LPgas,always white and i always like driving the Falcon ute. I guess i will still have time to get 1 more new one before the 2016 dead line,as my ute is leased for 30months /100km so i should just cut it in time,i hope!

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

Guess you are talking about the Button plan John. I agree with some of what you have said but to be brutally honest before that the amount of protection just didn't result in any R&D worth a damn. Local cars were povity pack specs and base Corollas and Sunnys had better fruit. I may be totally wrong but the level of spec and safety in the VF that is coming seems to be pretty impressive.

Just a pity most people have turned their backs on the locals whether it be brand snobbery or simple economics.

I attended a Budget discussion lunch the other day and the guest speaker is a well known economist and lobbyist who is on mega $. He drives a Caprice V and supports the local industry and has for many years. This is a guy who could probably afford to drive anything. He related a story from last year when he was speaking to industry in Adelaide and there were 5 or so local business men and women and another 5 or 6 other leaders with him giving presentations. One of the media asked his views of supporting the ailing local car industry and he gave the usual talk about the flow on effect, etc etc. He then asked the audience who drove an imported car in place of a Holden or Ford. On the platform he was the only one with a local car and of the rest fewer than 15% had locals of one form or another.

As fido said none of the locals make a viable Prado substitute so that is one choice I made without hesitation but as for the other cars in the household two are made here and two are distributed by the locals as part of their global associations. Yes and it is time to cull the fleet.

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

The high labour rates and AUD does not help Aussie manufacturers get enough volume for manufacture in order to sell to other countries.

We keep hearing this line get trotted out. But countries like Germany seem to do quite nicely.

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

Guess you are talking about the Button plan John. I agree with some of what you have said but to be brutally honest before that the amount of protection just didn't result in any R&D worth a damn. Local cars were povity pack specs and base Corollas and Sunnys had better fruit. I may be totally wrong but the level of spec and safety in the VF that is coming seems to be pretty impressive.

Just a pity most people have turned their backs on the locals whether it be brand snobbery or simple economics.

I attended a Budget discussion lunch the other day and the guest speaker is a well known economist and lobbyist who is on mega $. He drives a Caprice V and supports the local industry and has for many years. This is a guy who could probably afford to drive anything. He related a story from last year when he was speaking to industry in Adelaide and there were 5 or so local business men and women and another 5 or 6 other leaders with him giving presentations. One of the media asked his views of supporting the ailing local car industry and he gave the usual talk about the flow on effect, etc etc. He then asked the audience who drove an imported car in place of a Holden or Ford. On the platform he was the only one with a local car and of the rest fewer than 15% had locals of one form or another.

As fido said none of the locals make a viable Prado substitute so that is one choice I made without hesitation but as for the other cars in the household two are made here and two are distributed by the locals as part of their global associations. Yes and it is time to cull the fleet.

Good points. I think I saw part of the same talk.

This is indeed a big blow, but (part of) the truth of it is that our "Aussie" car makers have been making products that less and less people want as the years tick by.

Not only that, Ford and Holden are both guilty of falling quality and disgusting after sales treatment of customers. Its not hard to find someone that has a fault with a Commodore or Falcon, only to be told its "within spec" when trying to get a warranty fix. I personally know one person that paid big bucks for an upspec XR Falcon. A weld failed, resulting in the steering rack collapsing. Upon inspection, any idiot could see it was a dodgy weld. Not only did Ford refuse to fix it, they fought tooth and nail via every legal means not to honour the warranty. The owner spent a fortune on legals, then eventually had to pay for the fix. He sold the vehicle, massively out of pocket, never to return. Since then he has owned a couple of Toyotas and now drives a Mazda.

Some other friends bought a new Commodore in 2009. From day one the auto box was a dogs breakfast. Somedays it was good, somedays it just did what it wanted. The car was horrible to drive. Holden maintained there was nothing wrong. That couple stepped out of a Camry to buy the Commodore when they had their first child. They were stuck with this pile of cack for three years. They went back to Toyota as soon as their finances allowed.

This is only two of many, many examples. In all likelihood, Holden won't be around for much longer.

[Beach Advanced Member Find all posts View Profile Close Beach]

..................

[mjrandom Out of control poster! Find all posts View Profile Close mjrandom]

MJ, I am not talking about Button's plan, or the details in the auto industry. Just my disappointment at the people that are steering the ship. That is all.
John.

I think we are all there Roo! Sometimes voting for least worst still isn't an option. And to think we can have a PUP or KAP to chose from too. Political detritus unfortunely, the bloody lot of them.

I still think Palmers Independent Members of Parliament or Palmers United Servants would have been better options for a party name.

[kav Avid PP Poster! Find all posts View Profile Close kav]

Interesting to see that Holden got 12 billion over 12 years but ford only got 1 billion over 10 years , no wonder Holden are still surviving

[Guest Close Guest]

We keep hearing this line get trotted out. But countries like Germany seem to do quite nicely.

Yes, that's true. People seem happy to pay a premium for German stuff. However, they make a large range of models which caters for what their population and the rest of the world wants.