Ford to build Focus in Australia

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Ford to build Focus in Australia
Toby Hagon, drive.com.au, 23/07/07

Ford Australia will build the Focus small car in Melbourne alongside the Falcon and Terrritory, starting in 2011.

Disappointing Falcon and Territory sales have prompted Ford Australia to announce it will begin assembling the Focus small car at its Melbourne production line.

Ford Australia president Tom Gorman confirmed Drive's exclusive report two weeks ago that the Focus would be produced in Australia in an effort to increase output at the company's Broadmeadows plant, in an announcement earlier today.

Ford says the decision to begin producing the Focus in Australia from 2011 will create another 300 jobs at its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants.

The Focus will be built alongside the Territory 4WD-style wagon and the Falcon sedan, wagon and ute - a move certain to increase complexity at Ford's Broadmeadows plant.

Ford says it will produce 40,000 Focuses annually, including diesel and petrol variants.

Ford says the move to build the Focus in Australia makes Ford the first Australian car maker "to respond to the increasing popularity of smaller vehicles".

The statement continued: "rising fuel costs and changing consumer lifestyles have create a dramatic shift in customer buying preferences with small cars accounting for 21.7 per cent of all new cars sold in Australia, up from 15.4 per cent in 1998".

Gorman says the addition of the Focus to the company's locally-produced models is a boost for the company.

"Manufacturing the Ford Focus in Australia will allow us to deliver key business requirements of improving our capacity utilisation and strengthening Ford Australia's integration into the global Ford Motor Company," says Gorman. "it also reflects the contemporary market demands for smaller vehicles and opens up significant export opportunities within the region."

Ford's Broadmeadows plant is capable of producing up to 120,000 vehicles a year, but the capacity is running at about 80,000 since the well-publicised drop in large-car sales; large car sales have been in decline for a decade.

In 2006 Falcon sales were at their lowest level in more than 40 years, finishing behind the Toyota Corolla small car for the first time.

Ford's arch rival, Holden, has taken a different strategy to Ford with its Elizabeth plant in South Australia.

Holden has set itself up as the global leader in the General Motors world for large, rear-wheel drive cars, and is exporting various versions of the Commodore to countries as far flung as China, Korea, the United States and the Middle East.

Ford is believed to be considering a similar position for its Australian outpost, although the company is years behind Holden. It is not known what impact this announcement will have on Ford Australia's global aspirations for its rear-wheel drive models.

The production of the Focus at Broadmeadows represents the first time a local car maker has assembled a small car in Australia since the demise of the once-loved Laser, which was imported here from 1994 before being replaced by the Focus in 2002.

Australia's four local car makers - Toyota, Holden, Mitsubishi and Ford - have stuck predominantly to large cars (and derivatives), creating a global niche of sorts.

In 1998, Holden built the Vectra mid-sized car alongside the Commodore at the company's South Australian plant, but the move was short-lived having brought with it complications on the production line. The last of the Australian-made Vectras rolled off the line towards the end of 2000.

News that Ford would begin producing the Focus in Australia was broken by Drive two weeks ago. Various media outlets questioned Drive's exclusive story about the Focus being produced locally, despite strong industry sources backing up the deal. One rival outlet went as far as to say our exclusive report was "off target".

Have your say and see our readers' opinions on Ford's decision at Drive Blogs.

Ford's big year

It's been a busy year for Ford in terms of announcements and leaks.

Early in 2007 the company announced it would discontinue two of its oldest nameplates, Fairlane and LTD, due to dismal sales.

More recently the company confirmed it would be ceasing local production of its decades old in-line six-cylinder engine and be replacing it with a new V6 to be imported from America.

The company then suffrered the potentially damaging effect of pictures leaked of its heavily-revised Falcon, 10-odd months before the car goes on sale early in 2008.

Then there's the announcement that the Focus small car would be built in Australia.



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