End of the road for Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore

TWRv12 · 1 Aug 2012, 10:35 (Ref:3114631)

Quote:

Companies and advisers involved in the car industry have begun talking openly about Ford, the No. 3 car maker, quitting local production in 2016.

Ford’s demise is seen as inevitable and suppliers are starting to factor it into business plans that are increasingly focused on product and geographical diversification.

http://afr.com/p/national/car_indust...LmpuveABX3eyOI

**GTRMagic** · 1 Aug 2012, 11:53 (Ref:3114668)

There have been a few big name Ford dealerships change hands in recent times for prices that seem undercooked..

Former Britek & Formula Ford championship winning (with Mr Larkham & Mr Ingall) sponsor Coffey Ford recently changed hands for $2m Here, which perhaps reflects the state of volumes in the blue oval dealerships

Ford hasnt tried to tickle business along with fancy financing packages to stimulate demand. Nissan, VW, Toyota, Renault, Subaru, Mercedes, Volvo and friends have all participated in low interest rate financing most recently, and from the look of the sales numbers, this has been helping shift a lot of product.

Whether there is money to be made out of financing is the challenge... being able to flex the interest rates on a customer's borrowings is where many dealerships have made their money.

What will happen going forward with fixed price servicing, as against full price servicing which is another post-sale source of strong margins and indeed ongoing cashflows, will be interesting..

TWRv12 · 1 Aug 2012, 15:48 (Ref:3114773)

Hope they are all wrong, sad to hear of anyone thinking of closing a factory

Downoz · 15 Nov 2012, 11:38 (Ref:3166628)

http://www.news.com.au/national/ford...-1226517474664

It does not matter which company, Ford, GM or any other it is workers in our Country that are on the scrap heap.

**GTRMagic** · 15 Nov 2012, 19:02 (Ref:3166791)

The thing I still havent worked out is why there is still a healthy trade in selling Ford dealerships. The likes of AHG & AP Eagers have more than a few in the portfolio, and have kicked tyres and/or consummated deals to eat up a number of family dealerships

Just like Mitsubishi and Nissan before them, if/when Ford pulls out, surely the market value of some of these dealers simply evaporates?

Chris - Melb · 15 Nov 2012, 21:40 (Ref:3166858)

Ford sells the world's most popular car (the Focus) unlike Nissan or Mitsubishi. Not to mention the other world Ford models which are doing well here in Australia.

Or are you saying that unless you sell locally produced cars your dealership is worthless? On that basis Mazda dealerships must be dirt cheap to buy.

**GTRMagic** · 15 Nov 2012, 22:50 (Ref:3166881)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris - Melb

Ford sells the world's most popular car (the Focus) unlike Nissan or Mitsubishi. Not to mention the other world Ford models which are doing well here in Australia.

Or are you saying that unless you sell locally produced cars your dealership is worthless? On that basis Mazda dealerships must be dirt cheap to buy.

What I am suggesting is that the Ford dealer network is arguably still set up as if they sold 3 times as many cars as they do now, meaning each dealer is likely to be struggling as a standalone with 1/3 the cars leaving the showroom floor

Which would have an impact on profit and dealer valuations..

Chris - Melb · 15 Nov 2012, 23:13 (Ref:3166885)

That's true. It will also start to apply to Holden dealerships sometime soon.

Holden Cruz sales are going down and will have to compete against the cheap imported Thailand Focus. Not to mention the other competition in a class and the biggest competition of all, the high Australia dollar.

Commodore sales are now crashing too, so there won't be the need for so many Holden dealers.

This is a race that neither Holden or Ford are going to do too well in.

I guess what I was trying to say in my post was that Ford sales are not going to crash dramatically if local production ends, so there will still be value in owning a Ford dealership in the long-term.

GROUPA · 15 Nov 2012, 23:23 (Ref:3166888)

Ford marketing is just hopeless….the Ford Ecoboost is a decent car but there has hardly been any marketing of the car. Also might help if they brought out a diesel for the Falcon and a few other models to boot. You would be bonkers to purchase a Falcon now if you were a private buyer (let alone fleet), Mondeo makes more sense

**GTRMagic** · 16 Nov 2012, 00:04 (Ref:3166902)

Just wait til Toyota brings its new finance model into the retail market

There is a strategy apparently to mimic the US concept of a fully maintained operating lease, charging a set price per month, and all you have to do is keep the mileage within agreed numbers (reflected in the price), the car serviced at genuine Toyota dealers, and put fuel in it, and there should be no other costs

Supposedly this is scheduled for a 2013 Q1 launch

It should be an absolute gamechanger in the industry!

Imagine driving a brand new Corolla for say $400 a month.. No more to pay. Then get a new one for the same money in 3 years time..

bluesport · 16 Nov 2012, 01:08 (Ref:3166912)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GROUPA

Ford marketing is just hopeless….the Ford Ecoboost is a decent car but there has hardly been any marketing of the car. Also might help if they brought out a diesel for the Falcon and a few other models to boot. You would be bonkers to purchase a Falcon now if you were a private buyer (let alone fleet), Mondeo makes more sense

The 2 litre ecoboost 4 cylinder has been getting rave reviews and is arguably the best petrol engine in the Ford range with 74kg less weight, more power and comparable torque to the old venerable SOHC 4 litre six cylinder.

GROUPA · 16 Nov 2012, 01:42 (Ref:3166925)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bluesport

The 2 litre ecoboost 4 cylinder has been getting rave reviews and is arguably the best petrol engine in the Ford range with 74kg less weight, more power and comparable torque to the old venerable SOHC 4 litre six cylinder.

Yes I know but rave reviews have not translated to rave sales and hence the market has spoken.

Ford missed the boat years ago first dropping the V8 after the XE they lost a generation of potential buyers for kids having an interest in Australian cars followed HDT/HSV....later they lost it again with no replacement for the Laser and relying on the Falcon....sure a few years there the XR6 Turbo was the ducks guts but the market moved again and Ford was reading from another book

As for the finance package luxury brands like Mercedes have been doing this for sometime...now trickling down to mainstream cars will put a further nail in the coffin of big Aussie 6.

Chris - Melb · 16 Nov 2012, 01:55 (Ref:3166927)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GROUPA

Yes I know but rave reviews have not translated to rave sales and hence the market has spoken.

How could the market have spoken if the market doesn't know that the car exists?

Tourer · 16 Nov 2012, 02:10 (Ref:3166931)

Quote:

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

It should be an absolute gamechanger in the industry!

Sorry, can't agree - those types of finances packages have been around literally for decades from the luxury brands plus have also been available from finance companies for quite some years.

Could be new to Toyota or for that matter to a volume manufacturer finance arm but game changer? Not even close.

bluesport · 16 Nov 2012, 02:58 (Ref:3166935)

Ford should put the ecoboost 4 cylinder in an AWD Fiesta.......I'd like to see that, it would be a pocket rocket.