Ford Australia has confirmed it will close its Broadmeadows and Geelong production facilities in October 2016 and retire the Falcon nameplate in a move that will cost at least 1200 jobs.

Company president and CEO Bob Graziano announced the news at a press conference this morning, declaring manufacturing ''no longer viable for Ford in Australia in the long-term", citing a $600 million loss for Ford Australia over the last five years.

"As you know the Australian manufacturing industry has been facing challenging conditions," Graziano said.

"In light of that we will cease our manufacturing in October 2016," he said.

"Approximately 1200 jobs in Broadmeadows and Geelong will become redundant.

"The decision was not made lightly ... we understand the very real impact of this decision.

"It just doesn't make sense for us [to manufacture here] longer term."

Ford Australia employs about 3100 people in Broadmeadows, Geelong and its five regional offices.

Mr Graziano said the Falcon name-plate would be "retired" when production of the locally-made car ceased.

"The Falcon name is inextricably linked to Australia, and to being produced here," Mr Graziano said.

"During the next three years it's our intent to manufacture [the Falcon, Territory and Falcon Ute].

"We will continue to work with our workers here during that transitional phase."

Ford Australia announced operating losses of $141 million after tax, with Graziano putting the company's total loss for the past five years at $600 million.

"Today's announcement is challenging for the Ford team ... we are confident about Ford's future in Australia," he said.

Ford has produced cars in Australia continually for almost 90 years, starting in 1925 with the Model T.

The Prime Minister Julia Gillard reacted to the announcement shortly after the news broke.

"This is a sad day for the workers at Ford who have heard the news today their jobs will come to an end in October 2016. This is a very sad day for those workers and for their families," Ms Gillard says.

"The government will be providing the most intensive form of employment assistance that we can provide to help people as they source opportunities for the days beyond October 2016 when Ford ceases to manufacture in Australia and those jobs come to an end."

The government says it will offer $40m of assistance to the local communities affected by the closures, and nearly $10m of help to parts manufacturers.

Treasurer Wayne Swan promised the government would ''do everything within our power to support workers and local communities that may be affected by a decision taken by Ford".

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union national secretary Paul Bastian told Melbourne radio station 3AW manufacturing was ''in crisis'' in Australia and called for a stakeholders meeting with government.

"We want to take politics out of it and have a bipartisan approach to ensure we have a manufacturing industry,"
he said.

"We don’t want jobs played as a political football ... it’s a disaster for workers.

"We just can’t stand by and say 'that’s how things go'."

Ford Australia employee Jason Andrew has worked at the Geelong plant for 12 years. Speaking to Fairfax outside of the press conference, he said he was not surprised by the announcement of the closure.

"We knew it was coming, it is no big shock," Andrew said, blaming high petrol prices, the federal government and imported cars for the closure.

"Mostly, petrol prices, people get scared. Falcon uses less petrol than a Camry but people buy a Camry," Mr Andrew said.

Elo, a robot operator who had worked at Geelong for 35 years but did not wish to give his surname, was saddened by the closure. He said Ford workers were like family and were friendly outside the factory floor as well.

He blamed the federal government, high petrol prices and the Australian dollar for Ford's demise. He said there had been talk of closures since 2006 and it was a relief to know the future.

"There is not much future for me working, this is it," Elo said.

The locally-produced Ford Falcon has been in sales freefall for the last decade. In 2002, the Falcon sedan and wagon accounted for 54,629 sales locally, while last year that number had dropped to just 14,026.

Ford was expected to launch an updated version of the Falcon in 2014, however those plans may be put on ice.

Ford Australia also produces the Falcon Ute, which has also seen a drop in sales over the past 10 years. In 2012 just 5733 units were sold, compared to 17,883 in 2002.

The Falcon-based Territory SUV has bucked the trend, however, cashing in on the growing consumer preference towards SUVs. It sold 13,583 units in 2004 when it was introduced, and in 2012 managed 14,646 sales.

Australian-made car sales have recently hit record lows, including the Holden Commodore, which held the top spot on the sales charts for 15 years straight.

The Ford announcement comes at the same time as Holden is launching its new-generation VF Commodore.

Source: smh.com.au

Very, very sad.

Ford Australia has had it's head up its a** for a long time not supporting Motorsport killing off well known models not adapting to the times etc. I am a huge ford fan but f**k me, Holden isn't as good (in a sense related to plant closure and jobs etc) but at least they back their Motorsport, export cars out of Australia to places like America and South Africa and the Middle East etch.

Reading so much on the internet from the public on the pull out of Ford in Australia, it is actually amazing what people think and write. I have said for 2 years now, come on Australia purchase Australian built cars.. Issue was with the Australian currency being so strong that imports became cheap and better bang for your buck. The sad part on all this is Ford are more Australian then Holden and most don't seem to realise Toyota build cars in Australia. Ford make more parts in Australia, not imported, then Holden and Toyota combined. Over the next 10 years we will see Holden and Toyota leave Australia. Manufacturing in Australia has become expensive and not worth the thought of production. whilst most of you are thinking, it's nothing to worry about just think about this... Holden and Ford have lost many sales since the Australian dollar has been strong, due to import costs down (been a great 10 year run for the dollar) give it 5 years and see how much new cars cost. We are destroying mining, our number one export. Taxing everyday items such as gas, power and water beyond comprehension. I could go on, but Australia, you got very greedy and wanted more, higher wages, cheaper food, better jobs etc.. when the Australian dollar drops back to $0.70 - $0.50 lets see you all complain then.. YOU DID IT..

yep

"The government will be providing the most intensive form of employment assistance that we can provide to help people as they source opportunities for the days beyond October 2016 when Ford ceases to manufacture in Australia and those jobs come to an end."

The government says it will offer $40m of assistance to the local communities affected by the closures, and nearly $10m of help to parts manufacturers.


Chances are this government wont be in power, so easy to spin this kind of promise 2 years from date of closure. such s**t.

Who will uphold the warranty of the new cars after 2016?

You are spot on mate I'm so passionate about this issue that when I heard the news I nearly cried lol.
I just don't get it. Australians have lost their pride and most people these days cannot even comprehend true patriotismit makes me so so angry to see people on the tv on australia day with chinese made aussie flags in hand - it seems everyone is a patriot when it suits them.

I try so hard to buy Australian made. It angers me when other people don't.
The flow on effect for Australian manufacturing will be pretty tragic I think.

The government a long time ago should have put in place tax and rego concessions for buying australian made vehicles but no they just let in a million other vehicle manufacturers that don't give anything back to the country.
I think I read somewhere that we have the most vehicle brands available to us than any other country which is disgusting how could 2 australian manufacturers compete with so many others that have none of the overheads that they have here.

You are spot on mate I'm so passionate about this issue that when I heard the news I nearly cried lol.
I just don't get it. Australians have lost their pride and most people these days cannot even comprehend true patriotismit makes me so so angry to see people on the tv on australia day with chinese made aussie flags in hand - it seems everyone is a patriot when it suits them.

I try so hard to buy Australian made. It angers me when other people don't.
The flow on effect for Australian manufacturing will be pretty tragic I think.

The government a long time ago should have put in place tax and rego concessions for buying australian made vehicles but no they just let in a million other vehicle manufacturers that don't give anything back to the country.
I think I read somewhere that we have the most vehicle brands available to us than any other country which is disgusting how could 2 australian manufacturers compete with so many others that have none of the overheads that they have here.

Why are we where we are now ? or How I learned to stop worrying and love the subsidy .

So how did we reach the momentous announcement Ford were forced to make this week . Believe it or not this all started back in 1972 when the dye was cast by the then inept Whitlam governments monumentally stupid decision to radically wind back tariff protection . In the deft stroke of a pen Whitlam and his cohorts swept away what John McEwan had worked so hard to institutionalise in the Australian economy , tariff protection for Australian manufacturing . In 1973 less than a year after taking power and justifiably having spent decades in the political wilderness of cluelessness and ineptitude Whitlam and his equally moribund trade minister Jim Cairns without any submissions to treasury cut tariffs by a whopping 25% overnight with the net result that one year later we had a 30% increase in imports and a $1.5 Billion increase in the trade deficit ( To put things into perspective that’s $ 1.5 Billion in 1974 when a house in Sydney cost less than $ 25,000.00 , and an XB Falcon cost about $ 3,500.00 ) They cited a report from a taskforce chaired by Tariff Board chairman Alf Rattigan, set up in secret three weeks earlier, to look at ways of stimulating imports to relieve shortages of supplies and restrain prices. It was a long-term answer to a short-term problem. Yet the report was not submitted to cabinet, the issue was brought on without notice, and ministers had little or no opportunity to seek advice. In 1972-73, Australia recorded its last current account surplus. A year later, after the tariff cuts, import volumes jumped by a third, and the current account deficit was here to stay. Manufacturing lost 138,000 jobs in two years, and high unemployment became entrenched. The tariff cuts were only one factor in all this, but they symbolised the defects in Whitlam's "crash through or crash" style of decision-making. So here started the foundation every subsequent government has had to deal with ever since .
There is currently , and has been in the last decade much gnashing of teeth by about 75% of the great unwashed populace about the subsidies paid to Australian manufacturers especially Car makers . Obviously any sense of parochialism or national pride has been effortlessly swept away in the greed fuelled generations since the baby boomers and that any sentimental attachment to Australian made cars is a relic of the distant path . In the last decade Ford have received $ 1.1 billion and Holden $ 1.9 Billion ( I’ll leave Toyota out as they are relative latecomers and Mitsubishi as they have long since departed ) . To put it into context however including ALL taxpayer funded subsidies paid to ALL car manufacturers in the last decade if amortised across our population of 22,000,000 it amounts to less than $ 18.00 per person man , woman and child . So it has cost us the taxpayers the princely sum of $ 1.80 per year each to prevent the collapse of plants such as Elizabeth , Fishermans Bend , Altona , Geelong and Broadmeadows as noted by Kim Carr . The champions of “ FREE “ trade who opine that subsidies should be removed at all costs , invariably have NO answer to the systematic deindustrialisation and unemployment that follows such short sighted narrow minded blinkered policies . It follows that these “ FREE TRADERS “ say anything that can not be produced efficiently locally should be imported .
Imports , in this case , of SUBSIDISED cars from overseas .
I wonder how those of you so vehemently opposed to subsidies will feel when all your subsidies , YES YOUR subsidies are also stopped dead . You know subsidies like your child care , your private and public health insurance , your private schools , your universities , your accountant , your first home , your nursing home , your ABC , your Salary et al et al .
I am not in any way shape or form defending every decision made by Australian car manufacturers but in an industry protected by tariff barriers since its effective inception in 1948 up until 1973 little was done by the manufacturers to improve the quality of the local product because effectively they did not need to as essentially they were only catering to a local market largely precluded from buying imported products due to their price . Governments are not entirely blameless either in that along with subsidies should have gone performance clauses guaranteeing constant product improvements .
Manufacturing provides stable wages and working conditions across a range of industry sectors and generally speaking careers in manufacturing are long term with many Ford and Holden workers working in the “ same “ job / place for 30 to 40 years . But when deindustrialisation thins out manufacturing and downsizing occurs the following problems emerge .
1 . How do you retrain and redploy workers aged 40 to 55 to be productive contributors to society and give them a sense of self worth . Ageism is already rife in Australian employment markets .
2 . The intendant retraining costs will fall to governments ( read taxpayers ) with NO guarantee of employability regardless of how successful the retraining is .
3 . What labour intensive industries will replace heavy industry in Geelong , Broadmeadows , Elizabeth , Fishermans Bend and Altona ?
4 . It is criminal to squander the considerable investements in both capital and skills accumulated over decades .
Our current federal Labour government is so monumentally and overwhelmingly bereft of ideas or even the most basic clues of a market economy as was their predecessor Labour colleagues from Whitlam , Cairns , Button with the notable exception of Kim Carr .
Maybe they should look to the Chinese , Americans and Europeans who value manufacturing and PROTECT it via subsidies to a far greater extent than we ever did in this country . Case in point Germany with like us a first world labour rate subsidise their car industry to the tune of US$ 95.00 per person per capita , a far cry from our $ 1.80 , America again with a first world labour rate subsidises its car industry to the tune of $ 260.00 per person per capita . Both the Germans and the Americans are NOT stupid , they realise their car manufacturing sector is strategically essential to their overall economic wellbeing and future security .
Australia has first rate engineers ( the FG platform is a far better rear drive platform than the current Mustang and the Barra engine is after BMW the finest inline 6 in the world ) and Ford recognise this fact leaving Australia as a technology centre for world excellence continuing to employ 1000 people beyond 2016 .
Sadly however Australia is let down by second rate unions , third rate management and a fourth rate government ( in bed with the second rate unions too ) .
It is beyond gauling in the extreme to hear this countries MOST MONUMENTALLY INEPT , OUT OF TOUCH , CLUELESS and by such a massive margin WORST ever prime minister leading a party purportedly with the “ WORKERS “ Interests at heart babbling platitudes to the masses in Geelong this week and having the temerity , the sheer audacity to cast aspersions at Ford who have copped massive losses for many years now due to her side of politics accumutively immesurable failures and somehow attempt to shift blame onto them .
Ford have given three years notice , THREE YEARS , NOT the overnight cessation of tariffs Whitlam and Cairns FORCED on an unsuspecting country and workforce by stealth by even lying to and hiding from their own party their decision to axe tariffs IMMEDIATELY to the tune of 25% . Buttons subsequent tampering around the edges without any true understanding of the industry or what the hell he was doing and now this final blow on her watch .
I have absolutely NO doubt whatsoever that Ford WILL do the right thing by all their unfortunate employees who will ultimately lose their jobs in 2016 . Alan Mullaly is a highly ethical man who has turned Ford around and rebuilt it without ANY government funded bail out packages from the US taxpayer and the winds of change he has breathed throughout Ford worldwide will ensure this . The blood of the loss of these jobs is NOT on Fords hands in any way shape or form whatsoever .

what he said

I work for a local government and we all buy camry's because Toyota offer a deal to government fleet. Why couldnt Ford do that, plus the Federal government offer an incentive to other gov dept's to buy local product such as rebates, etc. Could also offer a rebate to mum and dad purchasers such as no SD. There are a few things to blame though not just one.

1. No incentive to buy local product, both from Ford and Government
2. Ford made some silly decisions over their time (ridding the wagon, should have made Falcon and Terry a bit smaller, should have offered a coupe, not well marketed, no exporting - that Barra motor is a beaut)
3. no-one is buying them - we (you) are to blame.
4. The workers all want executive level pay packets. Nothing wrong with that I say, but its gotta come from somewhere, i.e Fords profits.
5. The bloody Unions

Unions are NOT whipping boys you know. The upper echelon workers, the executives take a fair slice out of Ford's profits as well.
When you have executives who command in excess of $500,000.00 and yet put little or nothing into the actual building of the car, the money for them has to come from somewhere?

Will Falcons still have the fast depreciation once they are discontinued?

One thing we can be glad of is that there's still heaps of falcons around so grab em, keep em and treasure them. They will be respected in Australian history forever.

so....hold on to your falcons!

agree, especially the GT-P and GS and turbo's