Ford Falcon Falters Down Under
By some accounts, the new Australian Ford FG Falcon is a good car. It's said to have earned Ford Australia the right to develop Ford's new global rear wheel-drive (RWD) architecture. Former Lexus driver FoMoCo CEO Alan Mulally claims he covets the G6E Turbo model. So it's selling well, right? In a word: no. The Australian reports that the FG Falcon has "flown into a perfect storm, with high petrol prices and tumbling trade-in values conspiring to slam the brakes on sales of the new large sedan." Though sales are technically up eight percent over last June, Ford has moved only 4k of the new RWD sedan since its launch two months ago. There's been no appreciable bump typically associated with all-new products. Even Ford Australia boss Bill Osborne is worried: "The underlying market for large cars is even weaker than what was on display in June, and that's cause for concern for us." Ford is confident that they can "build momentum" because turbo models weren't available at the launch, but they also won't rule out layoffs or production cutbacks because they "don't know where fuel prices are headed." Anyone want to help them out on that?
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Petrol is currently averaging around $1.50 per litre in SE QLD. It ranges from 1.36 through to 1.56 depending on the day of the week. Prices are cyclical through the week in most parts of eastern AU - we have cheap Tues. and Wed. with prices then jacked up for Thurs. and Fri. and then they start to fall over the weekend again. Needless to say just about all of us buy our fuel on Tues. or Wed. - you should the queues in some places. Also diesel is going for about $1.75 a litre. As yankinoz said - you see a lot of Corollas, some Civics, Pulsars, Mazda 3's and Focus' and some Astra's and no end of the Korean equivalents (Kia/Hyundai/Daewoo). Camry's/Aurion's are also popular in the large car class. But prob. not as much as the Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore (of which there are lots) or even the Mitsubishi Magna - prob. because they are all cheaper (2nd hand at least - and a lot of the Aussie market is 2nd hand). In the medium class there are few vehicles provided. You see some Subaru Legacy's, the new Ford Mondeo has only just been released, the Vectra isnt available here anymore (it has been replaced with something called an Epica - which isnt by the looks of it and you dont see many of them) and quite a few Mazda 6's. Then there are the usual Korean equivalents. Oh and the Accord Euro. You dont see many of the larger Accords. Other than that there is no end of 4WD's, Utes, and Pickups.
Sounds like Aussie gas is on par with Canadian prices. Same range here, hovering around 1.50 a litre for regular. All I want to say is damn the whole green debate, damn gas prices, and damn the fickle market. I want stonking V8 Holdens and hotted up Aussie Fords here NOW. And the Pontiac redesigns don't count.
Against strong Japanese sales Ford have got their work cut out to make any impression on the Ozmarkets