FORD Motor Company executive chairman Bill Ford gave a vote of confidence to its Australian car manufacturing operation last week, stating that it had a "long-term future" despite the current downturn in large-car and medium-large SUV sales.
In his first visit to Australia, and just days after the American auto giant posted a disastrous $A7.6 billion third-quarter loss, Mr Ford flew into Melbourne from Beijing to open Ford Australia's new research and development facility at Geelong.
Among Mr Ford's other tasks was to drive the current range of Ford's Australian-built cars and works in progress,
including the next-generation (2008) Falcon. The latter has design cues from the Iosis X concept car shown at the recent Paris motor show.
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ADRENALINE
^^ Where did they gather that from?
"Ford Australia has gone through tough patches before," Mr Ford told GoAuto last week. "Ford of Europe has gone through tough patches and now it's Ford North America's turn.
"The good news is that because we have this good geographic distribution, parts of the world do well and parts we have to fix and now most of our effort is on North America.
"We'll get that turned around.
But in terms of investment for Australia, in terms of our competitiveness in Australia, that wont be compromised at all."
Ford's market share in the United States dropped from 25 per cent in 1998 to 17.3 per cent last year and it is now working at a feverish pace to become more relevant to consumers, who are no longer purchasing SUVs, pick-up trucks and other large vehicles at the rate they did last century.
Similar issues are confronting Australian manufacturers. Earlier this month Ford cut production at its Broadmeadows plant by 20 per cent, from 450 cars to 360 cars a day, in direct response to a downturn in Falcon sales.
This followed a similar response by Mitsubishi in slashing production of the 380 as the Adelaide-built large car struggles in the marketplace.
Despite the current situation Down Under, Mr Ford remained upbeat about the state of the industry and Ford Australia's role as a centre of excellence for R&D within the region.
"It (Ford Australia) does have a long-term future," he said. "I think that one of the things that will ensure that future is the fact that, at least for Ford, it will become an intellectual capital for Asia.
"If you look at the growth that's going on in Asia it's tremendous over the next 10 years. And to have a centre like this, where human capital and the best minds in Australia will be put together, I think will really ensure the long-term success of this industry.
(From left: Ford Australia CEO, Tom Gorman and Industry Minister, Ian Macfarlane with Bill Ford and Victorian Premier Steve Bracks.)
"There is no question the industry is going through a rough patch right now. You've got a mix-shift happening in this industry that is not helping many of the domestic producers, but we've gone through a tough patch before and we'll get through this one as well."
Ford's new R&D facility will employ 350 engineers when it comes on stream next September, helping position the group as a technical leader in the Asia-Pacific region.
Ford has already proved its mettle by developing the India Fiesta sedan model and work is now under way on a global utility that will be built in 80 markets around the world, including South America and Asia.
Although he stridently repeated he was not making any "product" announcements, Mr Ford said Ford Australia could take a lead role in developing a large rear-wheel drive vehicle for international markets. He affirmed that this could include the new-generation Crown Victoria for North America.
"It certainly is possible," he said. "We've demonstrated here over many years that we do those vehicles well here. We just have to make sure the market fits and that the economics make sense, but there is absolutely no reason why they couldnt develop it."
Mr Ford and fellow American (and Ford Australia president) Tom Gorman were quick to point out that it was not Ford Australia's role to compete against other parts of the Ford empire with product, but rather to work in conjunction with the company's other assets.
"The thing about Ford is that we do have assets all around the world and what we need to do is figure out which product makes the most sense for those markets," Mr Ford said. "There is an extra case that resides in Australia in making rear-wheel drive architecture and there is no reason why that cannot be applied to the rest of the world."
The local auto industry invested more than $721 million in 2004-05, which is about 22 per cent of the R&D spent by the manufacturing sector and about 10 per cent of the spend by the whole industry sector.
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