August 2008 VFACTS

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Rodp

I'd certainly expect it to make ground vs the Commodore considering the relative release dates between the two, it's more economical, it's been given the nod in just about every review vs the Commodore and it's the first 5 star locally built car but, despite all of that, it actually lost significant ground.

That's cause for concern at the very least.

the ba was the same on its release. won every review, car of the year, more economical etc etc and yet only ever managed to pip commodore for 2 months non consecutive and neither of those months was close to its release.

falcon is undoubtedly the best aussie car going around at the moment but that doesn't always mean its the favourite.

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by prydey

so even though the stats show the whole market was down in august you expect the falcon to go against this trend.

i just don't see the need to paint such a gloomy picture just because falcon isn't selling as good as commodore (which it never will if you ask me). the market is ever changing and comparing figures to even as little as 12 months ago isn't all that relavent.

I would expect the new Falcon should be making significant ground on a two year old Commodore in percentage terms of sales, even if both marques sales are down because of an industry wide downturn.

That hasn't happened and that is a big worry for Ford. A significant financial outlay on the FG, has basically resulted in no shift in market position for Ford and they are, even taking the most positive view, just treading water.

There is a significant investment in FG that still has to be returned and the sales aren't helping that.

[SSbaby]

For the month of August 2008, the first full month of sales, 1509 Sportwagons were sold - the highest for any single month since November 2004 and up 91 per cent on the equivalent month in 2007.

http://goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.n...1?OpenDocument

[FordFella]

Originally Posted by SSbaby

For the month of August 2008, the first full month of sales, 1509 Sportwagons were sold - the highest for any single month since November 2004 and up 91 per cent on the equivalent month in 2007.

http://goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.n...1?OpenDocument

Wow a lot of Holden engineers and employees must be needing a lot of new cars... it's not going to last. That discounting they are doing is simply ridiculous - to any market analyst that screams a company that is struggling. Seems rather reminiscent of, dare I say it, the 380?

[colossus]

Originally Posted by Homer

Yeah I dont think they would be making much on them at all.
I'm pretty sure that ford was making more of a profit margin per vehicle sold in the BA days, maybe the same is true now?

Youd be surprised how little it costs to make a Commodore/Falcon ect - they are making plenty off sales just losing it hand over foot everywhere else.

[geoffa1]

Originally Posted by geoffa1

Not more money on advertising, just saying the right things in the adverting they have. Get the message out there that Falcon and Territory are the most Australian cars out there, that your family is more likely to die in a Commodore or Aurion than a Falcon (based on 5 star crash ratings) etc.

Selectively quote the truth like everyone else does, to Fords favor instead of the nebulous advertising execs wet dreams that win awards, but don't sell cars.

Given that oversea markets and volumes that exports bring are closed to Ford Australia, Ford does a pretty good job on R&D and product development, when you consider that Holden has 3 times the volume to spread its R&D over, and that the Camry and Aurion are the same as those built in Japan and USA, with 10x+ the volume of Falcon, they do not show the added value in the money spent.

Virtually all of the replies to my post seem to imply that this is a Falcon issue. Focus has been a best seller in Europe for years but trails here, same for Mondeo and Fiesta - why are they being thrashed by lesser vehicles in Australia?

It is not due to a buying public who are naturally blessed with the good taste to know a good car from a not quite as good car, cars are generally bought by people who are sucked in by what they read - the same people who think that Barinas, Astras, Vivas, Epicas etc are made in Australia because they wear a Holden Badge, or that anything with a Toyota badge will be the most reliable thing on four wheels.

Some well directed advertising could help to swing some of these people.

[Smoke Pursuit]

Originally Posted by FordFella

Wow a lot of Holden engineers and employees must be needing a lot of new cars... it's not going to last. That discounting they are doing is simply ridiculous - to any market analyst that screams a company that is struggling. Seems rather reminiscent of, dare I say it, the 380?

750 of those cars would have been Holden / Dealer DEMO registered cars.

When new models are brought on dealers have to REGISTER a certain amount of them as per their agreement with the manufacturer, plus they get the rebate / subsidy for doing so. Most dealers registered between 4 - 6 of any new model within the first 2 weeks of release....

The FG is still struglling, I dont think Ford has ever had a launch where they have been able to keep up demand with XR models, sadly with FG they have too many of them sitting in dealers.. Back in the BA days you were waiting 10 weeks for an XR6 NA in the first 6 months, and even longer for an XR6 T. :(

[Romulus]

Originally Posted by LSTerritoryGhia

750 of those cars would have been Holden / Dealer DEMO registered cars.

When new models are brought on dealers have to REGISTER a certain amount of them as per their agreement with the manufacturer, plus they get the rebate / subsidy for doing so. Most dealers registered between 4 - 6 of any new model within the first 2 weeks of release....

The FG is still struglling, I dont think Ford has ever had a launch where they have been able to keep up demand with XR models, sadly with FG they have too many of them sitting in dealers.. Back in the BA days you were waiting 10 weeks for an XR6 NA in the first 6 months, and even longer for an XR6 T. :(

I remember waiting almost 10 weeks for my BAII XR6T 6-speed manual with prem audio and prem brakes......no where near that kind of wait for a FG custom order - 4-5 weeks is what I've been told.

I sense there'll be some bargains to be had if things don't pick up soon.

[loltastic]

Any September figures yet or did I miss them?

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by loltastic

Any September figures yet or did I miss them?

September is still going as far as I am aware.

[loltastic]

Originally Posted by Wretched

September is still going as far as I am aware.

I swear I'm having a brain explosion today. I just told someone else that the Broncos are playing Souths tonight in the NRL when they're playing the Roosters and I knew they're playing the Roosters... :