Future of Ford Motor Company in Australia?

Question

Just seeking some opinions here in a public forum. I am an employee/tradesman at the Ford Falcon assembly plant in Broadmeadows, Melbourne Australia.

With all the news of Ford losing $8.7 billion dollars last quarter, and closing many plants and sacking tens of thousands of workers in the US, how much longer can the Australian manufacturing division of Ford go untouched?

We just launched the new Falcon model inj April and are already planning to reduce shifts and we have down days (production employees stay home, paid 50%) once a fortnight. And we just launched a new model!

There is plans to build the new 2010 Ford Focus in Australia and not South Africa, but I don't understand why, in the current climate, it makes sense to do so.

What is the future of Ford in Australia? I think the morale of Ford manufacturing employees in Australia must be about as low as that of Mitsubishi workers before that plant closed in March this year...

Ford Broadmeadows Assembly employee

Answer 1

if our dollar weakens, then it seems likely that Australia could become the rear-wheel drive production centre of Ford globally. Ford in US would save quite a lot of money.

If our dollar stays as strong as it is, or worse, gets stronger, than I doubt that this would happen. It would not be profitable enough, and production could halt all together, and (as much as I wouldn't like this to happen) Australia could be left without any of its own models, and minimal production here.

Ford could even end up just selling US models here, or just surrender all its fleet sales to Holden...

Whatever happens, I wish you the best of luck. At least all the Chrysler blokes, got to go to Mitsubishi when they first opened here....