Ford Focuses on good news

Ford delivered some good news this week with confirmation that the Focus will be manufactured at its Campbellfield assembly plant in Melbourne from 2011.

It is a ray of hope for the workforce of around 5000 left at Ford Australia following the decision last week to cease production of its six-cylinder engine plant in Geelong at the cost of 600 jobs.

The Focus development will add 300 jobs and help secure Ford's future in Australia.

The Focus small car which is currently sold in Australia is sourced from South Africa with that operation told the news on Monday that it will no longer make the Focus post 2010.

Australia will make hatch and sedan variants for right-hand-drive markets only with South Africa and New Zealand the initial recipients of an export program that will grow with more countries announced closer to the start of assembly in Melbourne.

“It's a big opportunity for our local supply base as well as a big opportunity for us,” Ford Australia president Tom Gorman said.

“As you can imagine this is a watershed announcement for us.”

The Victorian and Federal governments will contribute $20 million each to the project where petrol and diesel Focuses will be made in Australia with imported powertrains. It is expected volume will reach 40,000 a year with 25,000 for Australia and the rest exported.

There remains a chance Focus production could overtake Falcon numbers.

“You have to keep a close eye on that,” Gorman said. “If we can pick up our volume in terms of overall market share with the Focus it's conceivable.

“But at the moment what I like is that we have four very strong products . . . still a very important Falcon, Ute and a very important Territory and from 2011 it will be a very important Focus.”

The small car market in Australia has more than doubled on the numbers when Ford pulled the plug on its Laser in 1998 which the Focus ended up replacing when it first arrived here in September 2002.

“Ten years ago the small car market was less than 100,000 units and it will probably be 220,000-225,000 at the end of this year.”

Ford says engineering and design for future Focus models will continue to be driven out of Europe.

But there could be a chance for Ford Australia to have a greater say in product development providing Focus can grow with the “localisation” of the product.

“We are a major player in Focus not only in the region but globally,” Gorman said.

“I think as we raise our volume and we do better in terms of market penetration we can expect to have more of an input.”

Gorman has ruled out niche variations of the Focus for Australian production but admits there is an opening for the Ford Performance Vehicles arm to develop a fresh warmed-over variant along the lines of the current XR5.

“With FPV we've always talked to them about extending their reach,” Gorman added.

“There is nothing to say we wouldn't have some desire to do stuff with FPV outside of the Falcon and Falcon Ute.

“Once you localise, it gives you a whole range of opportunities that don't exist today.”

Gorman defended the timing of the Focus deal, saying that it was not signed off until last Friday, two days after the grim news about the Geelong engine plant.

“We weren't in a position to finalise the project until Friday.

“It's a little early to judge morale (within Ford).

“We're trying to be sensitive to the fact we made a very difficult announcement last Wednesday and there are 600 people whose lives have been dealt a little bit of a shock . . . more than a little, a big shock.

“We're going to be working with them carefully on redeployment and retraining where necessary.

“It's not a feeling of there's a big celebration here at the moment.

“I'd say it's relatively muted at the moment given that we made a tough announcement last week.”