Ford Motor Company of Australia

Ford Motor Company of Australia
legal form	branch
founding	1925
Seat	Campbellfield (Victoria), Australia
management	Martin Burela (Managing Director)
Branch	Automobile manufacturer
Website	www.ford.com.au

Ford factory in Norlane (Victoria) (1957)

Ford Australia is the Australian branch of the Ford Motor Company , which was founded in Geelong (Victoria) in 1925 as an outpost of the Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd. Founded. At that time, Ford Canada was an independent company from Ford USA. Henry Ford granted the rights to manufacture his automobiles in the British Commonwealth (with the exception of the United Kingdom itself) to Canadian investors.

The first models made in Australia were T-models from CKD kits supplied by Ford Canada . The manufacturer was previously known for the Ford Falcon , actually a US model that was introduced in Australia in 1960 and adapted to the needs and road conditions there. Starting with the 1972 Model XA, all Falcon were completely built in Australia. The company also made an all-wheel drive model called the Territory .

Ford Australia was recently the only Australian automobile manufacturer to design and manufacture its own large displacement engines.

history

The Ford factory in Geelong under construction (1926)

On March 31, 1925, Ford announced that its Australian office would be located in Geelong, Victoria . The first Ford to be assembled in Australia was a Model T, which was run by an improvised belt at an abandoned wool mill in Geelong in June 1925 as work began on the new factory in the suburb of Norlane. In 1928 production was switched to the new A-model and in 1932 the Ford V8 followed .

In 1934 the manufacturer invented the Ute . The inventor was the Ford engineer Lewis Brandt . During the Great Depression, the banks did not give farmers loans to buy cars because they considered them to be a dispensable luxury. But they did give loans to buy commercial vehicles. The Ute fulfilled the farmers' wishes for a “workhorse” which could also be used to “bring the woman to church on Sunday and to market on Monday”.

In 1956 the company bought a large piece of land in Broadmeadows, Victoria, to the north of Melbourne , and in July 1961 announced that the new plant would also become the company's future headquarters.

On May 23, 2013, Ford Australia announced that production in Australia would end in October 2016. The reasons given were excessively high production costs and insufficient quantities. The production of the Ford Falcon and Ford Territory models last built in Australia was then discontinued. Production ended on October 7, 2016 after 91 years and more than 6 million vehicles manufactured. Most recently, the factory at Broadmeadows employed 600 people.

Ford will in future only supply Australia with imported vehicles.

Works

Body press plant in Geelong

Ford Australia has two main plants, both in the state of Victoria . One is in Norlane, a suburb of Geelong, the other in Broadmeadows north of Melbourne. The Ford Discovery Center , a museum of Ford Australia history, is also located in Geelong.

Ford Australia has also established itself as one of Ford Motor Company's five regional development centers worldwide, specifically the Asia-Pacific and African regions. So far the Ford Ikon and the Ford Fiesta for India have been developed there, as well as the Ford Bantam and the Ford Ikon (a renamed Ford Fiesta) for South Africa . In the future, the global Ford program for small commercial vehicles is to be established there.

Models

Ford Australia started manufacturing the T-Model. All models newly introduced by Ford were also manufactured in Australia. During World War II , Ford Australia stopped manufacturing passenger cars and began building military vehicles to aid Australia in its war effort.

After the war, the Australian dependency started again with the assembly of imported models. Initially the British Ford Pilot was made, then a whole range of British models, e.g. B. the Prefect , the Consul , the Zephyr, and the Zodiac . The Canadian Ford V8 was also built.

Compact class

First the British Anglia , then the Escort, were also made in Australia. When the new front-wheel drive escort was introduced in Europe in 1980, this model was not adopted in Australia. Instead, Ford offered the Mazda 323- based laser . The laser was manufactured at the Ford plant in Homebush, New South Wales, near Sydney, from 1981 until September 1994 when the plant closed. Since then, the laser has come straight from Japan . This model was replaced by the Focus in 2002 . It is currently available as a station wagon or sedan with a 2.0 l R4 engine and it is one of the best-selling car models in Australia. The Fiesta , touted as a “product of German engineering”, is also selling quite well.

Middle class

In the middle class , the Cortina from Great Britain was built in Australia . It was adapted for the Australian market: B. the Cortina from 1972 on request with six-cylinder engines with 3.3 l or 4.1 l displacement. In 1977, due to capacity problems, the Ford Cortina Kombi was manufactured in Renault's Australian plant (which has now been closed for a long time) .

The successor to the Cortina, the Telstar based on the Mazda 626 , was initially assembled in Australia. In 1989 the Telstar sedan was replaced by the Corsair , which was also assembled in Australia and based on a Nissan model. When Nissan closed its Australian plant in 1992, the Telstar returned to its old position. In 1995 it was replaced by the Mondeo imported from Belgium .

Ford Australia stopped importing the Mondeo in 2001 on the grounds that this market segment was shrinking, but in 2007 the new Mondeo model was reintroduced.

upper middle class

The American Ford Falcon was also built in Australia from 1960. In the mid-1960s, the Australian model moved away from the US model, as the latter proved to be unsuitable for Australian conditions and needs. Even the first Falcon required significant design changes that went far beyond the conversion to right-hand drive in order to adapt it for Australia. After these changes, the Falcon proved to be the manufacturer's most popular model.

Ford Australia has made over 3 million units since 1960 and has mostly topped the sales lists. Currently offered by the Falcon, a sedan, a wagon and a Ute, but there was already vans and hardtop - coupes . The Falcon and its sister model, the Fairlane , are particularly popular as taxis in Australia and New Zealand , as are police vehicles , especially in the tuned versions.

SUV

From 2004 to 2016, the Territory was manufactured on the same line as the Falcon. Since its inception, it has been the most popular SUV in Australia.

See also

• Ford Performance Vehicles

Web links

Commons : Ford Motor Company of Australia  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Ford Australia Ford Australia website

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ford confirms local engine production to cease in 2010 when they begin importing the Duratec V6 , The Motor Report, Australia
2. ^ ^{A b c} Peter Begg: Geelong - The First 150 Years . Globe Press (1990). ISBN 0-9592863-5-7
3. ↑ http://www.ford.com.au/about/newsroom-result?article=1249024395989
4. ↑ End of an entire industry: Ford stops production in Australia , article by Patrick Zoll, Georgetown on October 8, 2016 on nzz.ch
5. ↑ FORD AUSTRALIA ANNOUNCES MAJOR NEW PROJECTS . Ford Motor Company press release ( Memento of the original dated June 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ Ford Confirms Mondeo's Return to Oz , Melbourne Motor Show 2007 ( Memento of the original from November 11, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
7. ↑ 4WD Of The Year 2004 - Vehicle Tests . Overlander 4WD Magazine, Australia ( Memento of the original from June 11, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.