End of the Line

[mercman from oz]

It is a very sad day for Australia's once booming motor industry. For over 100 years, Australia has been manufacturing motor vehicles that have served the buying public very well, even before the big three established themselves in Australia, our motor industry was flourishing.
Ford opened their manufacturing plant in 1925. General Motors took over Holden's Motor Body Builders in 1931. Chrysler Australia was established in June 1951. These three companies were subsidiaries of the parent companies in the USA and were just three of the car manufacturers in Australia, all vying for sales.
Starting in the sixties, competition really heated up with General Motors Holden manufacturing the Holden (the first Holdens were produced in 1948), Ford Australia started manufacturing the Falcon and Chrysler Australia had the Valiant. While the first Falcons and Valiants were close copies of the ones sold in the USA, they gradually became fully Australian designed and built. Each had their own fan base and loyal followers. Chrysler departed the Australian market in 1981 when it sold the remainder of it's shareholding in Chrysler Australia to the Mitsubishi Motors Corporation of Japan. The last Australian built Valiant rolled off the production line on August 1981. During the first decade of 2000's, sales of "big" (if you call the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore big) began to decline. Sales further declined in the second decade. With sales of the Falcon hitting an all-time low, the management of Ford decided that the last day of production of the Ford Falcon would be October 17, 2016. For the last 12 months, the Holden Commodore has been the only vehicle from the "big three" that has been manufactured. However, today, October 20, 2017, the last Holden Commodore will roll off the assembly line, thus ending what has been an Australian institution for so long. Just for the record, the Chevrolet SS, which was sold in the USA up until recently, was actually a Holden Commodore in disguise. During these years, Australia has produced some very interesting and unique vehicles. We invented the Coupe Ute, and all three manufacturers offered Slopers during the thirties. It is a very sad day for Australian manufacturing. In future all vehicles will be imported from around the world, including the next model Holden Commodore. Toyota stopped producing the Toyota Camry on October 3, 2017. Thousands of loyal workers have lost their jobs, as well as workers in companies supplying components, tyres, upholstery and the list goes on. It is a sad day all around.

[Hot Rod Reverend]

Sad indeed. Why do you think the sales had dropped so much?

[mercman from oz]

Sales dropped as people moved into buying SUV's and smaller cars. Ford did make a large SUV type vehicle called the Ford Territory which did sell well when released, but once again, people moved towards smaller SUV's. Unfortunately, neither Ford or General Motors Holden manufactured a wholly Australian small car, but relied on imports. The other factor was the high cost of wages, and we just couldn't compete with cost of the imports. Ford Australia still design vehicles here, such as the Ford Ranger Pick-up, but these are all built overseas and imported ready for sale.

[scicala]

That is very sad to hear. I didn't realize sales were dropping that much.

When I first saw the title of your post, it made me think of the great old Traveling Willbury's song.

Sal

[mercman from oz]

This is what the Australian designed and built Ford Territory looked like. The lower picture shows the final model that was produced on October 7, 1916. The End of the Line for the Ford Territory.

[mercman from oz]

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Continuing on, the last Falcon Ute was produced on July 26, 2016. The lower picture shows it together with all of the workers. Production of the Falcon Utes finished before the Sedans.

[mhsprecher]

How big is the Australian market? Actually, I looked it up, about 1.2 million vehicles.

With world trade the way it is, it's so much cheaper to build in one place and ship elsewhere. Back in the days when Australia was more remote, it probably made sense, but not any more. A sad day, for sure. It's all about the bottom line, but there are human costs, too.

[scrapiron]

Very sad,,,indeed.

That UTE is really slick. Instead here we have monster PU's that cost 40 grand.

Former owner of 2 '63 Falcons.

[mercman from oz]

These pictures show the final Australian Ford Falcons, Code Named FGX.
The lower photo shows the final Ford Falcon leaving the production Line on October 17, 2016. It was an XR6 Falcon Sprint. Ford Australia auctioned this car off and it sold for A$81,500. The money realized was then donated to charity.
This last series was the best model that Ford Australia built. It is sad to see that there will be no more.

[mercman from oz]

A bit of history on the Australian Ford Falcons, the first XK model of 1960 is shown in the above photo:-
The very first Aussie Falcon left the Ford factory in June 1960. The last Falcon is number 3,578,689, a number that includes sedans, wagons, utes and panel vans built over more than 56 years of production, making the Falcon Australia’s longest running nameplate.
In its heyday, Falcon sold in numbers large enough to top Australian sales sheets. The biggest single year of Falcon sales came in 1995 where the changeover from EF to EL garnered 89,679 sales for the Blue Oval, including 81,366 sedans, 6922 utes and 1391 vans.

[mercman from oz]

I know that these pictures are not of Fords, but between the Holden Commodore and the Ford Falcon, both provided many years of great service to Australian families and enthusiasts. The lower photo shows the final VF II Holden Commodore October 20, 2017. Thus ends all motor vehicle production in Australia. A sad day for all Australians.
It marks the end of 69 years of local production for Holden and almost a century of car making for Australia.
The final tally for Holdens built since the first car was assembled in Port Melbourne in 1948 is 7,687,675.

[Crankster]

So they are all out of a job? Why are they smiling?

[Dobie Gillis]

Originally Posted by Crankster

So they are all out of a job? Why are they smiling?

Maybe they got fat severance packages...

[5851a]

Ford should have imported the Utes here and it would have helped there CAFE numbers. Always been a fan of them. Odd how the mfgs can transport a whole cargo ship of autos and make a profit and I couldn't afford to ship a Ute. Let alone try to register it here.

[mercman from oz]

How many jobs will go after Holden stops making cars in Australia?

It assumes that the GM closure will be offset by growth in other sectors, but does not consider what benefits would have arisen from the redirection of government subsidies, or what it would take to keep GM manufacturing in Australia.

Holden managing director Mike Devereux on Wednesday announced the car maker would be leaving Australia at the end of 2017, after a row with the federal government over subsidies.

In that detailed assessment, released last month, the researchers estimated that the loss of GM’s Elizabeth plant could mean up to 13,200 lost jobs and $1.24 billion lost in gross state revenue for South Australia.

The model produces a more dire picture than the national modelling as it makes different assumptions about the “additional lost value" that the closure of the GM plant will have, due to “a tipping point effect, resulting in the closure of businesses that are heavily, but not solely, reliant on GMH (General Motors Holden)".

The University of Adelaide researchers walk through their complex assumptions about the number of job losses that would result from closing the GM plant in their state.

They begin with the 1750 GM workers at the plant losing their jobs and add in another 4000 job losses from suppliers who predominately deal with the company.

The authors then estimate another 3400 workers would lose their jobs from “second-tier" companies involved in the GM supply chain.

Finally, they estimate that another 4100 jobs would be lost due to reduced consumption from all the workers from the first two groups who cannot find new jobs, or who reduce their spending as a result of the plants shutting.

[jehagado]

the researchers estimated that the loss of GM’s Elizabeth plant could mean up to 13,200 lost jobs and $1.24 billion lost in gross state revenue for South Australia.

https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/l...143000790.html
Australia should ban all auto imports, jobs are important, cheap cars don't matter.

[Ole Don]

I visited Australia in 1995, and saw the utes up close. As a life long Ford worker, I understood that if Ford brought Assie built utes to the US, the coveted sales leader would loose sales. They still hold number one with F150 sales, and have for many years.
If the newer utes were sold here, they guys building them would be on overtime for life. The styling is just so cool, everyone who see's one loves it.

[5851a]

Originally Posted by Ole Don

I visited Australia in 1995, and saw the utes up close. As a life long Ford worker, I understood that if Ford brought Assie built utes to the US, the coveted sales leader would loose sales. They still hold number one with F150 sales, and have for many years.
If the newer utes were sold here, they guys building them would be on overtime for life. The styling is just so cool, everyone who see's one loves it.

Exactly, I was disappointed that Ford quit making Ranchero's. 99% of the time I'm the only person in my car and 50% of the time I need to haul something that's not big enough to need a truck and to big for what they call a trunk.