- The steel used in the construction of the car comes from Japan.
- The glass for windscreens/windows comes from China.
- The cranks for the I6 engine come from the UK in cast form, and are machined at Geelong.
- The heads for the I6 are in cast in Mexico, and are also machined in Geelong.
- The 220kW V8 engines are assembled in Windsor, Canada. The blocks, heads and some other parts for the BOSS/GT engines comes from the US, but others parts are locally made.
That's some of the major bits and pieces, but there would obviously be more.
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Originally posted by Venom XR - The steel used in the construction of the car comes from Japan.......
So why did Ford and the other local car manufacturers care when the unions shutdown despatches from BHPSteels Victorian plant at Westernport earlier this year? (There's a thread about it here somewhere)
Because it is mainly only the external panels (specialised automotive grades) that are imported. There's plenty of local Aussie steel in the rest of the structure. Comes out of the blast furnaces at Port Kembla (NSW), I can see them from my PC right now, slabs are then shipped to Westernport for rolling into sheet steel for Ford etc.
Originally posted by kinobi i thought only the firewall was from Japan and the rest from BHP?
Nope, a bit more than that. Automotive skin panels are very specialised and although BHPSteel has the technology and capability to make it, it just can't be justified financially. Anyone remember the AU bake-hardenable panels, a big point was made about their weight saving on the AU's release when they were sourced from BHP. They are now sourced overseas.
Australia produces only about 1% of the annual world steel production. To economically produce this stuff you are better off if you can dedicate whole steel plants to it's production which is exactly what the Japanese and Koreans do. Whereas the Australian industry produces steel sheet for whitegoods (refrigerators, washing machines etc), cans (petfood, canned fruit & veg, soups), drums (paint, 200l/44gal etc), building industry (roofing, walling, fencing, rainwater goods), the auto industry as described above, guard rails etc, etc.
I imagine a lot of the other components in Venom XR's list are now sourced offshore for the same reason - economies of scale. The Aussie auto industry is miniscule in a global perspective.
Remember though Australia is a huge producer of auto components itself which are exported elsewhere. GM 4cyl (and soon to be V6) engines for example. Also many alloy wheels are sourced from here or NZ. At one time I think all Mercedes were fitted with King Springs from Oz.
Originally posted by Venom XR - The steel used in the construction of the car comes from Japan.
- The glass for windscreens/windows comes from China.
- The cranks for the I6 engine come from the UK in cast form, and are machined at Geelong.
- The heads for the I6 are in cast in Mexico, and are also machined in Geelong.
- The 220kW V8 engines are assembled in Windsor, Canada. The blocks, heads and some other parts for the BOSS/GT engines comes from the US, but others parts are locally made.
That's some of the major bits and pieces, but there would obviously be more.
Seeing Japan is our number one export partner, and the Japanese get their majority of iron ore from us, even the Japanese metalwork probably comes from Australian Iron.
We tend to forget that the 3 years of product development, design, testing/validating and prototyping was done right here in Australia. Yes the parts may be sourced overseas (maybe cheaper) but that doesn't take away the fact that Aussie minds created the BA. The engine was sourced from the US but really developed, tested and calibrated for Australia in Australia. Need I go on?
I might sound like a scratched record but Falcon is the most Australian car in the market.
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