proud to be australian - Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars

rsgerry · 11-05-2002, 04:15

when you consider the population of this country, which makes up about 0.4% of the worlds population, it is really remarkable that we have ford and holden being allowed by their respective parent companies to manufacture cars that are solely for domestic use. certainly the commodore is exported, but in very small numbers, and there are high hopes for the monaro, but he falcon and commodore are designed and buult for oz.

no other country in the world with our population would be able to convince GM or Ford that they need to develop a unique model. especially when you consider that Barra cost $500m. that is a fair chunk of cash. for Geoff to persuade Ford to part with that sort of cash is no mean feat.

but further than that, the cars that are built here are also extremely good. there is no denying that the BA and VY are handsome machines. the build quality is excellent (although i believe holden have had some problems) and there is no-one on here who wouldnt take a monaro tomorrow if it wore a blue oval. IMO, that is one of the best looking cars around, and it is australian.

further, holden and ford are both good for each other. if there was no commodore, do you think we would have Barra? no, because there would be no car outselling the falcon and therefore no incentive to to make the car better. tand the same goes for holden.

we should be proud that our manufacturers are allowed to build these cars for us, and be proud that they do such a good job. they both build cars that are truly world class. because, if the cars they offered us were no good, nobody would buy them. we could all be driving toyota avalons....

Hobbes · 11-05-2002, 04:57

here here - it's always important to stand back and look past the bickering to see how lucky we all really are ...

RAPTOR · 11-05-2002, 14:39

Yes all that's good but don't get carried away.

Sweden with a population of 8.9Million (Aug, 2002) which is smaller than Australia's sell their car, the Volvo, to the world. Sure it helps having the European market on their doorstep but until recently they didn't need to be bankrolled by the global majors and had done it all on their own.

Imagine what our auto industry could have done if it hadn't been so introspective or busy competing internally for such a small market.

Having said that I'd rather drive a Commodore than a Volvo if I couldn't have a Falcon. Hahahaha.

bafel · 11-05-2002, 15:09

there are other factors that the parent companies think of when handing over the dough. Like the R&D of building cars in unique conditions like Oz and general engineering practices which may help Ford and GM back in the states.

Aussie Pete · 11-05-2002, 15:23

Everytime I look at 'my' Monaro it brings a smile to my face. It's a sexy thing and shows what us Ockers can do!

Then again, look at what Ford Oz delivered in BA. Cost around $500million Aussie pesos, but the same thing developed by Ford Dearborn/Detroit/Europe would have cost $2billion. Look at the Ford Mondeo budget many years ago - it was something like US$2.5billion!!!!!!

shaft · 11-05-2002, 15:45

There is alot of New Mondeo In The BA ...

And BY the same Token, I am sure there will be quite a bit of BA showup in fords across the world...

a 450NM 240Kw I6 has a ton of potential application IMO