Ford Australia President optimisitic on 2010 sales figures
November 16, 2009 by Matt Brogan
Ford Australia President Marin Burela is hopeful that the automotive industry will continue to fight back in 2010 with predictions of national sales up to 950,000.
The self-confessed “glass half-full” forecaster expects the sales to soften in the first quarter after a solid end to 2009 before a kick-up in the second quarter continuing through the rest of 2010.
“I would not at all be surprised if we start to see some 930s/940s (thousands of sales) on a regular basis when we get into the second quarter and into the second half of 2010,” he said.
His optimism comes on the back of strong October sales where Ford sold 8240 vehicles and the industry as a whole was up 2.2 per cent on October 2008 with 80,813 sales.
“We exceeded our expectations in terms of volume in the month of October. I’m very confident that we will continue to see that trend in November, and I think the industry overall will probably finish up somewhere around that 920,000 maybe 930,000.
“We’ve seen a significant uplift in the last few months which is really helping all of the manufacturers as well as all of the employees.”
Burela says the result is a far cry from 12 months ago when figures of low-800s were feared, and believes that the combined efforts governments, unions, manufacturers and suppliers working together have had a great impact.
“When we really get focused on what it takes to get out there and move forward there’s a lot that can be achieved.
“It’s exciting times for us, but we need to be cautious in terms of our optimism because there’s a lot more work that we need to do to truly get the industry back to where it needs to be,” he said.
Tariff reductions – halved to 5 per cent from next year – are just one reason to exercise caution according to Burela.
He says while the reductions will place significantly more pressure on the industry’s ability to absorb changes, his company has not been sitting on its hands.
“We have been working very diligently across our total organisation, with our suppliers, with our manufacturing teams, with our distribution network to find efficiency opportunities to offset some of those tariff changes that we’re going to see.
“Am I satisfied that we have achieved the ultimate goal? The answer is no, it’s very much a work in progress. Am I happy with the progress we have been making? The answer is yes.
“Although it’s hard and we could all say: ‘It’s too hard, we can’t do this’, I’m confident that with the right leadership and the right attention to detail we can continue to carve out a business for ourselves that will be viable.”
Burela said price adjustments for the Falcon and Territory are being considered but insisted that the movements of the market would most likely determine his company’s strategy.
With Falcon sales up 3.4 per cent on October 2008 and Territory rising by almost 11 per cent in the same period, Burela says Ford is looking to boost production above the current 270 cars per day by the end of the year.
He also confirmed that there is no non-production days planned for the rest of this year or for 2010, but stopped well short of implying that overtime could make a comeback.
“We don’t want to be too optimistic. We’re in a good place right now, we’re selling everything we can make, our imported cars are doing great work for us. We’ll make a decision in the next couple of weeks in terms of what we need to do, how we go out there and get those cars that we’re looking for.
“Let’s just see where we are when we move into 2010, but I think next year will be an exciting year.”
by Tim Beissmann
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Its great to see that the motor vehicle industry is turning around. It was quite a worry as we saw quite a few important manufacturing companies die out over the last 18 months. This industry turnaround should show who dealt with the tough period the best, and I look forward to seeing Ford Aus close down the gap between Holden and Toyota. As they seemed to adapt to the slowing economy the quickest ie reducing the stockpile of vehicles, investing in new tech that will be released in 2010 when the market continues to recover.
Good for Ford! They were bound for a comeback because unlike other US automakers they didn’t abuse the economic stimulus. They chose to deal with their financial woes on their own and that was smart.
Great to see that the demand for their award winning local product is so strong. They have built cars every day since April after they were the first to reduce output as they recognised the downturn in the last half of 2008. They have a nice order book too.
The model mix now has the base model XT Falcon on special order only. XR & G Series now account for 95% of all FG sold. G6ET dealer allocation is now out to Jan/Feb.
Territory has the model mix improving too. Ford Asia pacific, which is how Ford Aus is reported, showed a $27M profit for the last qtr. So, it looks like Ford should be solidly profitable this financial year.
Good news for the local manufacturing.
Hey Phil, good info, where’d ya get it?
Geez i thought i knew a bit about ford……Great info alright, do you work for fomoco?
Hey, does anyone have any inside info or know if a Falcon wagon is coming out? We pretty much want to get Falcon G6 or XR6 but it has to be a wagon, the Ford salesman told us that Ford is still deciding, google searches seem to suggest he is right.
They arent in a hurry.
They feel they have enough bases covered with the Territory and Mondeo wagon, and seem happy to let the fleets gobble the Falcon wagon.
They have been saying they will see how the Mondeo wagon performs first before making a final decision.
Thanks Andrew M, yeah pretty much confirmed what I have read. Not that it make much difference in the end but no way will we consider a Mondeo. We are trading in a Nissan Patrol so we still want tow capacity, power, space and durability so the Falcon is perfect for us… and like many (soon to be) former 4wd owners, no way will we go back to a 4wd!
Not keen on the Territory??
Whats your thoughts there??
So you don’t want a Four wheel drive but want to tow a reasonable weight? Territory RWD is your best option. Everything else out there in wagon form (except BF111) cannot match the tow performance, and the Territory will give you passenger car like drive and comfort…
My take on it is that once we can have TDCi Mondeo Wagon (possibly in both LX & Zetec) then BF111 will be either continued as special order only or parked in the great carpark in the sky.
Thanks guys,
Yeah the Territory has been suggested, it isnt really what we want – even though it is a fantastic car. We have had SUVs for the last 12 years and now we really want something more stylish and more sporty (an oxymoran in the context of station wagons im sure haha), plus we are just over the whole SUV thing. I think there is a few of us in this position, I have seen a few mum’s 4wds being replaced by Holden and VW Passat wagons in the carpark at my sons school. Even my brother-in-law recently traded his Jackaroo on a new Holden Berlina Sportwagon
What was the real clincher was having a bright green XR6 rental in tasmania this year, the kids and us just loved it, such a fantastic car (and incredibly good on fuel!)- but missing the utility of a wagon body. We have considered a Holden Sportwagon – we looked at an amazingly cool bright red SS, but its just a tad too small in the boot, but I guess will look into again it if nothing else is available.
Yeah so I guess the Territory would be a smart choice, but after 12 years of boring cars I feel like going with the heart for a change.
get the terry Turbo.
The intercooler scoop on the bonnet certainly aint boring
Gee MB seems to have everything s c r e w e d on right.
When ever he speaks you can just feel the passion and optimisum he puts out.
At the start of the article I was saying to myself I hope he isnt letting his optimisum get in his way, but he brought it all back down to earth to show he has a good grip on whats going on.
XR and G series 95%!!!!!!!
Thats the bacon models, the ones where the cream is, so they must be c l i c k i n g h e e l s in the bean counting office.
Sorry had to space a copult of words out because the moderator didnt like them????