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Ford once considered leaving Australia – as Holden did in 2020 – the CEO of the company has revealed.
The global boss of Ford has revealed the US car giant was once close to exiting Australia at some point before or after the end of local manufacturing in 2016.
The Ford Ranger ute last year ended the Toyota HiLux’s seven-year winning streak to become the first Ford motor vehicle to top the Australian new-car sales charts since 1995 – as the company posted its largest year-on-year sales growth in more than 25 years.
However company CEO Jim Farley – a 17-year Ford veteran who oversaw the Blue Oval’s operations in Australia from 2017 to 2019 as vice president of ‘Global Markets’ – has revealed it may never have happened.
“[We have] the best-selling vehicle in Australia. We almost pulled out of Australia,” Mr Farley told investors earlier this month, in remarks spotted by Ford Authority.
It is unclear when Ford considered its exit from the Australian market.
However it was likely sometime around the end of local manufacturing – whether before the announcement in 2013, before the factory closure in 2016, or shortly afterwards – as the US car giant posted 11 straight years of sales decline from 2004 to 2016.
In 2015 Ford Australia posted its fifth year in a row of financial losses – amounting to $1.05 billion over the period, despite receiving $484 million in taxpayer funding across the previous decade – and just 70,454 new-vehicle sales, its lowest in decades.
By 2019 deliveries slumped to 63,303 vehicles, and 59,601 in pandemic-affected 2020.
Mr Farley’s remarks could also be interpreted as the company was left with a small footprint in Australia after the end of local manufacturing – therefore it “almost pulled out” – rather than considering leaving Australia entirely.
If Ford left Australia – as Holden (owned by General Motors) went on to do in 2020 – it would have Chrysler and Jeep (owned by the same parent company) as the last of the ‘Big Three’ US car makers operating locally.
Ford built its first vehicle in Australia in 1925 – more than two decades before the first Holden 48-215 in 1948 – and produced more than 3.5 million Falcons from 1960 to 2016.
Prior to becoming company CEO in late 2020, Mr Farley held a number of global Ford executive roles which would have given him oversight – and understanding – of the Detroit head office’s plans for Ford Australia.
He was the global boss of Ford sales and marketing from 2010 to 2014, during which time he flew to Australia to 2013 – alongside Ford’s then-CEO Alan Mullaly – to announce plans to bring the Mustang to local showrooms.
From 2015 to May 2017 he led Ford’s operations in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, but from May 2017 to April 2019 was President of Global Markets – including the Asia-Pacific region that encompasses Australia.
Mr Farley said the Ranger ute – development of which is centred in Australia – has become a hit for the company in recent years.
“We’re totally unique among the other [car makers]. Not a lot of risk, not a lot of reward, but we have a very profitable Ranger business,” he said.
“People wouldn’t realize this, but the second highest volume vehicle at Ford is Ranger. Ranger globally outsells Super Duty. We are now number two in pick-ups outside of the US and pickups are growing big time.
“The Ranger is number one in South Africa, huge pick-up market. We’re number one in pick-ups in Europe. The Ranger is growing and super profitable in South America. It is our only vehicle in South America.”
The executive said: “Ranger, when I joined the company, was 14th in the globe of pick-ups outside of the US. Now, we’re number two.
“We’re constantly beating Toyota now with Ranger in Australia and South Africa. We’re now the number one pick-up truck in Europe and the UK, and it’s a big market there and it’s very profitable.”
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