Ford to end auto production in Australia in 2016 after 91 years

I never understand Oz, it owns all the natural resources ever needed to make just about any thing and yet just digs it out the ground and sends it some where else then buys it back at huge markups and taxes. Wake up Oz, the government is failing you/us.

@ scoobydoo - I kind of agree with what you're saying. However the fact remains that - even with massive Aussie government handouts over the years to the Fords, Holdens, Toyotas and Mitsubishis - costs (namely labour) to manufacture vehicles in Australia renders the industry non-competitive. We simply cant compete with the Thailands of the region who pay workers peanuts - or the Koreas, Chinas, Japans or Germanys who have enormous economies of scale in Auto-making. It's probably time taxpayers money went elsewhere - hopefully education and the sciences.

The real decision being made here regards knowledge.

To know how to make things, one has to be involved in making things. What is it that the Australians want to be able to make, and is that knowledge important to them?

The "economies of scale" attained by Germany and Japan were not accomplished through exporting the opportunity to learn how to achieve it elsewhere.

Australians are entitled to a reasonable standard of living and trade unions are and have been fighting for that, but they certainly can't compete with Asian nations like China, Thailand, etc. where people are hungry to improve their lives. What disturbs me is that production costs in Australia are twice those in Europe.

Serious blame for this has to lie with Australian management. The late W. Edwards Deming would have asserted that they didn't know what their jobs were, and it would be hard to disagree.

What disturbs me is that production costs in Australia are twice those in Europe.

Ford was not losing money for the 91 years they were in the country. The fact that management did not adopt the methods by which they could have remained competitive is very evident.

But it comes down to economies of scale. Australia's domestic car market is too small and now is too fragmented to support indigenous cars that fewer and fewer Australians want to buy. Even if they manufacturer Ford in Australia, they have to export most of the cars out of the country to sell, and Ford sees this is as too expensive.

But it comes down to economies of scale. Australia's domestic car market is too small and now is too fragmented to support indigenous cars that fewer and fewer Australians want to buy.

It's a very good point.

But what it really comes down to are some fundamental questions about how the people of Australia want to transport themselves around -- and how much of that critical need, and the knowledge of how to achieve it, remains under the direct control of the Australians. Australia is "big enough" to make the economy-of-scale options it allows for itself much broader than, say, Tonga.

scoobydoo, it's all about Union. Now Union members will lose job. The Union is killing the golden goose of Australia. Australian lowest wage is AU$ 16.95 per hour in hospitality industry and they only work for 40 hrs per week for low paid workers. Lowest manufactory worker get AU$ 25 per hour. Mining worker get about AU$ 100,000 per year. Construction workers also get good paid and they only work for 32 hrs per week. 52 weeks per a year and there are plenty of holidays in calendar. They even have holiday for Melbourne Cup horse racing. The employers can not make money. That's why Australia sale raw material to China and other countries. The problem is Ford made 6 Cylinders Ford Falcon and Ford Territory 4WD in Geelong, Victoria. Ford imported small cars from S. Korea factory. Ford Falcon was not popular lately due to high fuel consumption and Ford Territory cans not compete with Toyota 4WD and other Japanese cars’ quality. Also most of customers stay away from made in Korea because they do not want to pay full dealer price for made in Korea car. Same thing is happening to Holden. More Australian customers are buying Japanese cars and Germany cars even though Australian car view reporters are written in their favor. You can see 4 in 10 cars are Toyota and other 3 cars are Honda or Mazda or Nissan or Mitsubishi and rest are Korean car or Ford or Holden or BMW or Mercedes if you stop red light at traffic light. If you went to country and then you can see the farmers’ only drive Toyota Land-cruiser or Nissan Patrol. Also Ford does not make export model like Toyota and Holden. Also Australian dollar has been skyrocketing to Moon. Greedy Union, Carbon Tax, currency high, making unpopular models and shifting cheaper Korean made models, these all factors combine have drown Ford Australia in shallow water. Next Company will be GM Holden if they not change their business formula. Only Toyota will be left in Australia.

sfjp330, Australian car market is not small. Australian peoples bought 1.112 million new cars in 2012. Toyota brand sold 218,176 cars and Mazda sold 103,886 cars. Japanese car Companies have nearly 50% of market share in Australia.