Ford, Holden, Lay Off Hundreds Of Workers Amid Slumping Demand

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

Ford and Holden are laying off hundreds of workers at their Australian plants as sales of domestic brands continue to take a beating.

Ford will cut 330 jobs at plants in Geelong and Broadmeadows in Victoria state, while Holden is cutting 170 jobs in Adelaide. Ford and Holden have committed to keeping their domestic production facilities going until 2016 and 2022 respectively, but the strength of the Australian dollar, high export tariffs and demand for smaller, more fuel efficient cars (rather than the large sedans traditionally built by Ford and Holden) have led to declining fortunes for the two automakers.

Holden is facing its worst sales numbers in nearly two decades, with demand for the Commodore sedan at an all-time low and the Cruze compact facing a tough field including the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla, which top Australias sales charts. Both Ford and Holden have received hundreds of millions of dollars in government grants over the past year, with many pundits questioning their wisdom as the auto industry’s fortunes continue to sink.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Beltedradial Beltedradial on Nov 15, 2012

    It's amazing how Holden and Ford are always highlighted as receiving government assistance, but Toyota get a free pass (feel free to remedy that *hint hint*). The reason people are buying those little shit box cars (and more often, semi capable "SUVs" which are really CUVs in North American speak): fashion. There is merit in the fuel economy savings in many small cars considering the price of our fuel, however much of the savings are erased in servicing costs in the case of European and diesel models. The Falcon and Commodore specifically are perceived as fuel hungry despite Holden's most efficient model running at a certified 8.9L/100km [26.4USMPG] and the LPGi Falcon having lower fuel costs than a Corolla. Marketing from both companies doesn't even mention this issue with any great fervour, I guess, in fear of scaring off their traditional customers. Falcon was even the first application of the 2.0 Ecoboost 4 cyl in a RWD application. No hoopla, hardly any marketing. In the scheme of things, government "co-investment" in Australia is almost the lowest on earth but the first thing highlighted when the industry struggles against the two-speed economy created by the resources sector.

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    • Athos Nobile Athos Nobile on Nov 17, 2012

      @tresmonos 3monos The 4 banger Falcon already has a 6-speed auto. It is even offered in slick G6E trim.

  • APaGttH APaGttH on Nov 15, 2012

    Holden and Ford of Australia build some pretty damn amazing cars out of their respective parts bin. Exchange rates would make the Pontiac G8 impossible today. Bang for the buck, the Holden VE rear-drive platform was one of the best in the world when it was born. I love that wagon - and if GM had made a Pontiac G8 Sportwagon I would have been on it like white on rice (sadly me and maybe 20 other people)

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    • Beltedradial Beltedradial on Nov 18, 2012

      @d524zoom-zoom If you want to see more pics of the Holden wagon, my online instagram profile has a million shots of my wagon (as well as the 335kw Ford Performance Vehicles RSPEC Falcon I saw this weekend). Same user name. ;-)

  • Beltedradial Beltedradial on Nov 15, 2012

    I think we'll also see quite a few products fall out of the Alpha platform tree in the years to come. In fact I find it rather likely that the Commodore replacement will be a US (or possibly Canadian) import for Australia. That's not necessarily a bad thing as it will make them more affordable (lower production cost + less demand). Holden will move to a more market appropriate product even though it will probably be less beltedradial appropriate. No idea what Ford Aus will do.

  • Chicagoland Chicagoland on Nov 15, 2012

    "Why the falcon/commodore isn’t selling, I think is a combination of “It was the car my father drove.”, “It is a car that bogan’s drive” and “It’s a large car, it’ll send me broke just trying to feed it”." Sounds like what happened to the Crown Victoria and Town Car. Purists here in US for years assumed that all of AUS "loved" RWD cars and "if Detroit promoted them, they'd be saved". Looks like reality is showing what's really happening, again.

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    • Rnc Rnc on Nov 16, 2012

      @danio3834 Thats it, the Taurus should be the Falcon, the fusion is what the taurus was, making the Taurus a Falcon (to keep the name going) would give them the police interceptor market back and a family performace sedan for those who would lust for mustang, but have two kids, base the next explorer off the terratory (falcon L platform) and you have a unibody SUV (that would give the benefits of the unibody while offering something unique against the others CUV's with AWD.

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