Australian March 2009 Sales Results

[vztrt]

The falcon is a goner surely. 1,990 sales compared to 3,544 for the VE and the VE is nearly 3 years old, whilst the FG is still quite new. Not to mention in 6 cylinder form its also the better car and the sticker on the window shows 9.9L per 100km mileage.

I really don't see Ford Aus keeping a RWD aussie built Falcon much longer because its never going to sell. They build the better car and still get outsold nearly 2 to 1, why bother.

Ford is running very low stock at the moment and are only building to order. Holden have too much stock and are discounting in a desperate move to move stock (great time to buy actually). Another problem was the CO2 emmissions from the Falcon/Terri stuffed up fleet sales and hence the latest upgrade done by Ford.
Also Ford do have the territory which will run low number until mid 2010 when the new model comes out....mind you the Falcon will get a Euro 4 I6 and a new V8 (most likely the 5L all alloy thats will be running in the 2010 mustang).
Ford cut their production down (starting in 2006) so they will have to see what happens when the FC is over.
Holden have large overheads and too many people at the moment. Also going around the rumour mill is Holden cant afford the redundancy payments and this is why they kept the second shift employees. But that is just a rumour.

If it is profitable they will keep it. Run the plant 50/50 with the focus??? (can't remember) and Falcon. 100% of overhead recovery and hedge one's bets with regards to future market trends.

Focus should go online late 2010, some of the engineers there were telling me that they cant wait for it. Unfortunatly it hasn't been signed off. Mind you its still early for it and the plant is already being upgraded so it should go ahead.
Personally I think a L.I LPG Commo or Falcon would go very well in the market as its low CO2 and cheap running costs (great for fleet buyers).

Hmm... hadn't heard that. Surprising because Opel do quite well in the European market, as do Vauxhall (the Euro branding for Holden).

I'm hoping that only the GM retardmobiles, like the huge SUVs/Suburbans/trucks etc get axed, because some of their cars are actually decent and would be a shame to see them disappear.

Vauxhall is Opel in the UK actually.

Some links:

GM to split from Opel - Feb. 27, 2009

GM and Opel seek to part ways as possibility of bankruptcy looms - 2/27/09 - Flint News and Saginaw News - abc12.com

Opel to sever links with General Motors after 80 years | Business | The Guardian

Germans not happy with Opel
YouTube - NDR - Extra3 - 26.02.09 - Klaus - GM
Dialog International: How GM Destroyed Opel

In terms of the Bigger vehicles, the only reason they actually slumped in the US was because of petrol going to $4/gallon over there. Otherwise Americans want big cars (the media will tell you otherwise). The F150 truck has been the best selling vehicle in the US constantly (still is).

 

[1991_Vn2nV]

Ford is running very low stock at the moment and are only building to order. Holden have too much stock and are discounting in a desperate move to move stock (great time to buy actually). Another problem was the CO2 emmissions from the Falcon/Terri stuffed up fleet sales and hence the latest upgrade done by Ford.
Also Ford do have the territory which will run low number until mid 2010 when the new model comes out....mind you the Falcon will get a Euro 4 I6 and a new V8 (most likely the 5L all alloy thats will be running in the 2010 mustang).
Ford cut their production down (starting in 2006) so they will have to see what happens when the FC is over.
Holden have large overheads and too many people at the moment. Also going around the rumour mill is Holden cant afford the redundancy payments and this is why they kept the second shift employees. But that is just a rumour.

Not sure if you mistook Falcon being a goner for Ford Aus being a goner, but thats the impression I received from your reply. The financial status of Ford Aus is not the issue in my eyes, its the sales of the Falcon that is. If they can only sell 24,000 a year, will Ford US want to give Ford Aus the money to continue building their own large RWD falcon beyond 2013 when the I6 is currently planned until?

 

[vztrt]

Not sure if you mistook Falcon being a goner for Ford Aus being a goner, but thats the impression I received from your reply. The financial status of Ford Aus is not the issue in my eyes, its the sales of the Falcon that is. If they can only sell 24,000 a year, will Ford US want to give Ford Aus the money to continue building their own large RWD falcon beyond 2013 when the I6 is currently planned until?

You made a comment on sales figures and I gave a reply to that. I don't believe that the Falcon is a goner. Just not the best time to be selling cars. Commodores have been high selling cars yet the VE hasn't made a profit yet. Even the series 1 & 2 AU Falcon made profits. Sales don't mean anything when your company is not making money.

March was just a bad month in volume so saying 24,000 cars a year isn't that accurate. Also you have to take into account that the Falcon Ute and Territory are also built and sold here and share parts. Whether or not the Falcon goes on post 2013 wont be known till late next year (this is when the new Falcon will be signed off, or laid to rest). I'm more interested in seeing what will happen to Holden when GM files for Ch11 in a months time.

 

[1991_Vn2nV]

You made a comment on sales figures and I gave a reply to that. I don't believe that the Falcon is a goner. Just not the best time to be selling cars. Commodores have been high selling cars yet the VE hasn't made a profit yet. Even the series 1 & 2 AU Falcon made profits. Sales don't mean anything when your company is not making money.

March was just a bad month in volume so saying 24,000 cars a year isn't that accurate. Also you have to take into account that the Falcon Ute and Territory are also built and sold here and share parts. Whether or not the Falcon goes on post 2013 wont be known till late next year (this is when the new Falcon will be signed off, or laid to rest). I'm more interested in seeing what will happen to Holden when GM files for Ch11 in a months time.

Well thats 2/3 months so far for the year that FG has failed to sell over 2,000 units. They sold just 1,630 in January. February was a good month, selling 2,300. So 24,000 a year is accurate based on its 09 sales volumes for the first quarter.

You have to understand that the reason Holden havent been making a profit is not because of the VE, its because they've had too many employees on and have been making too many cars then paying to have them sit there.

Sales help justify the American parents to allow their Australian subsidaries to spend $700 million to $1 Billion on a new model. Holden are going to struggle justifying the VE based on 3,500 sales a month, so surely Ford Aus will struggle more justifying the FG on 2,000 sales a month, regardless of Ford US' superior financial standing at present.

There is a vast difference between Holden and Ford selling cars in Australia. Holden could re-build the VS and slap some VF badges on it and still sell over 3,000 a month because of brand loyalty at the same time Ford could steal some 5 series BMW's and slap some FG badges on them and sell them for $35k and still wouldn't break 2,500 units.

As for territory, that still requires development costs, the same as Falcon. Its not as simple as being another deriviative of the Falcon. And current sales haven't exactly been gangbusters either (638 in January, 765 in Feb, be interesting to see March's results though).

 

[vztrt]

Well thats 2/3 months so far for the year that FG has failed to sell over 2,000 units. They sold just 1,630 in January. February was a good month, selling 2,300. So 24,000 a year is accurate based on its 09 sales volumes for the first quarter.

You have to understand that the reason Holden havent been making a profit is not because of the VE, its because they've had too many employees on and have been making too many cars then paying to have them sit there.

Sales help justify the American parents to allow their Australian subsidaries to spend $700 million to $1 Billion on a new model. Holden are going to struggle justifying the VE based on 3,500 sales a month, so surely Ford Aus will struggle more justifying the FG on 2,000 sales a month, regardless of Ford US' superior financial standing at present.

There is a vast difference between Holden and Ford selling cars in Australia. Holden could re-build the VS and slap some VF badges on it and still sell over 3,000 a month because of brand loyalty at the same time Ford could steal some 5 series BMW's and slap some FG badges on them and sell them for $35k and still wouldn't break 2,500 units.

As for territory, that still requires development costs, the same as Falcon. Its not as simple as being another deriviative of the Falcon. And current sales haven't exactly been gangbusters either (638 in January, 765 in Feb, be interesting to see March's results though).

Terri sold 763 units in march.

If you have a look at the Sedan and Ute sales (The two share the R&D costs) it actually isn't that bad. Ford are pushing the 3000 a month mark while the commodore actually does about 4000 a month. Not bad when were in a financial crisis and no one wants to buy and banks don't wanna give credit. Also Ford lost sales due to its emissions that have been rectivied with the latest update, fleet managers and government now look at these things.

Holden haven't made a profit in the last two financial years (doubt this year will be different) So when they had huge sales they weren't turning a profit (which is strange as the loss normally comes at the end of the cycle not at the start), but GM does say they see Holden is considered viable.

As for what the parent companies will do with Ford and Holden well that we will have to see. GM has to get the US in order so the worst that would happen to Holden is that they would be sold off to another company (Chinese would be the most liely). As for Ford, Falcon may very well go but US Ford do realise that they will lose market share if they made the Falcon FWD...losing the I6 annoyed the Ford camp. Under 'one Ford' they would need to look at a GRWD program to reduce R&D costs but thats been shelved as the financial crisis hit, which actually means the Falcon will be around a little longer in its current form.

As for the difference in Holden and Ford selling cars in Oz I 100% agree. If you look across to NZ the FG is doing much better then the VE as Ford don't have the Holden is Australian issue to contend with.

Terry will require R&D, but the cost will be reduced so it will be more like an FG (at the end of the day the Terri is a Ford Wagon that handles). There still is a good business case for SUV's. And when the terri was first released it sold in very good numbers. The terri paid for itself and was a good hit. But after 4 years without an update until recently the sales will slow up but should get back up in decent numbers come the release (new Terri will come out).

 

[KARMA 6L]

And I'm proud to be one of those 26,979 holden buyers this year!

At the end of the day Toyota may out sell us due to the elderly purchasers, but they don't make a 6.0L do they ;-)