– Company Press Release
Thursday, May 23, 2013 » 11:00am
Ford will cease its manufacturing operations in Australia by October 2016 with the loss of 1,200 jobs.
Ford Australia President and CEO Bob Graziano said the company made a loss of $141 million after tax in the last financial year, with a loss of $600 million over the last five years.
Ford Australia employs more than 3,500 people at its manufacturing plants at Broadmeadows, in Melbourne’s north, and Geelong.
In January last year, the federal government contributed $34 million to Ford’s $103 million production upgrade, and the Victorian government an unspecified amount.
At the time, the company said the upgrade would mean the Territory and Falcon models would continue to be made in Victoria until 2016.
Mr Graziano said the costs of manufacturing cars in Australia was uncompetitive.
‘Manufacturing is not viable for Ford in the long term,’ he told reporters at Broadmeadows on Tuesday.
Such a shame. That Falcon GT would have been perfect in America as a 4 door performance sedan to compliment the mustang. Why doesn’t Ford simply move the manufacture of the Falcon to the USA ?
My dad drove Fords and my grand Dad drove Fords. They’ve been been part of Australia for nearly 100 years and now no more ?? What does that say about Australia’s REAL economy and government. We keep getting told that we are the lucky country and that we have the strongest economy in the world, but Ford and Holden will soon be gone our shores. They’ve been as aussie as meat pies for a long time. What is Julia Gillard doing about it ? Blaming Ford no doubt !!
this might mean that Falcons become a collector’s item!