12 production days cut for next 3 months

[Resurrection]

Things are going from bad to worse for the Falcon. When they start to cut production days it means the car is not selling.

[AussieAV]

Yeah, noticed that they are now advertising the XR-50 (50th anniversary XR6) auto at $36990 drive-away ($1000 discount).

I can't believe they still have any off these limited run vehicles left 6 months on from release (or did they decide to make more?). They are such awesome value, I bought one. Seeing these ads, I'm trying to think of a reason to own two.

[Polyal]

I wondervhow much of an effect all these new models due are having on current sales? The only thing ford can do with the current lot is discount I guess.

Not a bad thing for the consumer if you arein the market right now.

[mik]

no the sky is`nt falling, companies have quiet periods, this is just another, sales will come again.
edit, it does`nt necassarily mean they are`nt selling, it could mean they have been pumping them out to fast and now they have too much stock.

[Resurrection]

Originally Posted by mik

no the sky is`nt falling, companies have quiet periods, this is just another, sales will come again.
edit, it does`nt necassarily mean they are`nt selling, it could mean they have been pumping them out to fast and now they have too much stock.

Approximately 1100 Falcons were sold in Jan 2011 - the worst month ever for the Falcon. How can you conclude they are't selling???

[mik]

ok i was wrong , but as i said a quiet period straight is not the end of the world, and straight after holiday season i would be expecting it to be quiet , as an ex trucky i can tell you freight in january is usually dead in that period, i would expect sales to be the same.

[TC200six]

There were a lot of "doom and gloom" discussions on these forums 3 years ago about the Falcon, that's nothing compared to this. Back then, Ford never went below selling 2000 sedans (and wagons) a month and some months we would see the Falcon going over the 3000 mark. Now however, it's a different story.

[Sprint XR8]

Originally Posted by Laser '81

There were a lot of "doom and gloom" discussions on these forums 3 years ago about the Falcon, that's nothing compared to this. Back then, Ford never went below selling 2000 sedans (and wagons) a month and some months we would see the Falcon going over the 3000 mark. Now however, it's a different story.

Traditionally company's are out of the market in January. January 2010 was an exception due to the government's small business tax exemption.
Falcon january 2008 - 1252.
Falcon january 2009 - 1630.
Falcon january 2010 - 2318.
Falcon january 2011 - 1157.

[gtfpv]

very surprising to me , i usually buy new cars in january to march , thats when they are heavily discounted .
i dont get it with the falcon , it's not the car . i dont know what it could be .
it is either the marketing , or the economy struggling for mr joe blow .
i hope other brands are following similar patterns , because i dont want this to be falcon related . mind you FPVS on the road are scarce these days , so are HSV's .
in general though most falcons and commys you see arent 2010 2011 models, so i think it might be economic troubles arising .

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Laser '81

There were a lot of "doom and gloom" discussions on these forums 3 years ago about the Falcon, that's nothing compared to this. Back then, Ford never went below selling 2000 sedans (and wagons) a month and some months we would see the Falcon going over the 3000 mark. Now however, it's a different story.

its not falcon, its the large car segment. did everyone not notice commodore was also down over 1000 sales??

there is an absolute smorgasbord of choice for new cars in australia at the moment and the large car segmant is the one that is being shunned. many people are realising they don't need the large car anymore. families are moving more toward suv's. mid sized cars are not a lot smaller than the large car of yesteryear.

large cars are now only being bought by those who need or want one. falcon will never hit 3000/month again. those days are gone.

[nstg8a]

lets not forget that qld was 75% underwater in january... that has to affect it in some way surely?

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by prydey

large cars are now only being bought by those who need or want one. falcon will never hit 3000/month again. those days are gone.

3000 is not exactly alot of cars.. Ford & Falcon need to get back to this number or it is all over if youask me

[GTP-03]

Lets not all turn in to Paul Gover or Dover or what ever that synics name is, just wait till ecoboost and the new direct injection lpg engines come along, things will change!

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Joe5619

3000 is not exactly alot of cars.. Ford & Falcon need to get back to this number or it is all over if youask me

don't agree. they haven't sold 3000/month for some time. they sell a lot more of all other models than they once did. no longer do they rely on falcon sales. i believe ford are smart enough to see the large car segment is going to be a small segment and to make falcon viable they need it to be able to be profitable at much smaller numbers.

the only way they will sell more is to drop the price, and then the argument arises, should they sell more units at less profit, or less units at more profit. the end result is similar.

[Resurrection]

Originally Posted by CoupeXB

Traditionally company's are out of the market in January. January 2010 was an exception due to the government's small business tax exemption.
Falcon january 2008 - 1252.
Falcon january 2009 - 1630.
Falcon january 2010 - 2318.
Falcon january 2011 - 1157.

10 years ago Ford sold more than 3000 of the much unloved AU in January 2001. And that was in a total market which was 20% lower volume compared to now.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

10 years ago Ford sold more than 3000 of the much unloved AU in January 2001. And that was in a total market which was 20% lower volume compared to now.

what % of the total market was the large car segment? how many units a month did the commodore sell?

i don't get why everyone is so willing to stick the boots in to one model from one manufacturer when the whole segment is becoming smaller.

[Resurrection]

Originally Posted by prydey

what % of the total market was the large car segment? how many units a month did the commodore sell?

i don't get why everyone is so willing to stick the boots in to one model from one manufacturer when the whole segment is becoming smaller.

10 years ago the large car segment was about 30% of total sales
Last year this figure was down to 14%

Nobody is sticking in any boots. I started this topic to inform the forum of the bad news. Ford has 3 new engines being released later this year - diesel Territory. turbo 4 cylinder Falcon and multipoint injected LPG I6. If this doesn't reverse the trend, Ford will go the way of Mitsubishi with their 380 model.

[prydey]

so the segment is less than 1/2 what it was, but people expect sales to trundle along at the same rate??

[Polyal]

You cant really compare the sales from 10 years ago, too much has changed, year on year gives a more accurate description.

Levels are close to 2008, which was end of BF2 IIRC, so while its not great its certainly not the end of the world either.

FoA are now also making presumably good money through R&D efforts, so a low month here and there is alot more bearable, definitely not desirable but business is very different now.

If things dont pick up with I4T, Diesel, LPG etc then you can start the fat lady as far as a local Falcon goes IMO. And even if they are deemed a success you can bet we will get a localized/global Falcon anyway.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Things are going from bad to worse for the Falcon. When they start to cut production days it means the car is not selling.

Where have you been, we have been having down days since November.

Just trying to get by until new Territory and Li LPG come on line.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by prydey

its not falcon, its the large car segment. did everyone not notice commodore was also down over 1000 sales??

Correct. The 2500 odd figure was for wagon & sedans that had petrol, LPG and a larger choice of V8's.

[OttoXR8]

No v8, no wagon, no lpg thats obviously gotta hurt some sales

[burnz]

september is the best month,, due to tax returns..
january makes it hard due to crissy plus rego soon after...

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by burnz

september is the best month,, due to tax returns..
january makes it hard due to crissy plus rego soon after...

If the rego is due soon after christmas, then wouldnt that equate roughly to the fact that the car was previously bought just after christmas. Unless you pay 3/6/9 monthly, then if you are doing this then your probably less likely to be buying a new car.

The simple fact is, the manufacturers probably have the best insight into how sales v production are travelling.

The last five production months, the aussie manufacturers have produced 85798 vehicles, for the corresponding months of Sept 2008 to Jan 2009 (start of the GFC) the aussie producers made 99908 vehicles. They have made approx 15% less cars than they did at the depths of the GFC.

85798 equates to an annual production of approx 205,000. These are the numbers that Holden were making alone in 2004, whilst employing only 4000 people and still making losses (and selling cars at higher average prices than cars are being sold at now) . Now we have Toyota with 3000 employees, and Holden and Ford with over 2500 each.

Trust me, expect to see some suppliers getting into some great difficulty in next few months

[burnz]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

If the rego is due soon after christmas, then wouldnt that equate roughly to the fact that the car was previously bought just after christmas. Unless you pay 3/6/9 monthly, then if you are doing this then your probably less likely to be buying a new car.

The simple fact is, the manufacturers probably have the best insight into how sales v production are travelling.

The last five production months, the aussie manufacturers have produced 85798 vehicles, for the corresponding months of Sept 2008 to Jan 2009 (start of the GFC) the aussie producers made 99908 vehicles. They have made approx 15% less cars than they did at the depths of the GFC.

85798 equates to an annual production of approx 205,000. These are the numbers that Holden were making alone in 2004, whilst employing only 4000 people and still making losses (and selling cars at higher average prices than cars are being sold at now) . Now we have Toyota with 3000 employees, and Holden and Ford with over 2500 each.

Trust me, expect to see some suppliers getting into some great difficulty in next few months

ha ha roughly just after crissy is january, you know nothing much open till after new year..
ppl dont have that much cash after the holidays, hence why i said it could be the reason it's a slow month in sales..

[ute83]

Originally Posted by GTP-03

Lets not all turn in to Paul Gover or Dover or what ever that synics name is, just wait till ecoboost and the new direct injection lpg engines come along, things will change!

Why are they not here NOW?

[Gobes32]

The problem is simple really. People do not want to buy new Falcons anymore. We can analyze it from twenty different angles, but the fact is, Falcon is no longer an option among modern day consumers.

[Wretched]

Falcon will never hit the highs it was once on.
The changes in consumer requirements and the introduction of a variety of new cars has ensured this will never happen. What were once small cars are now decent in size and are cheaper to buy/run.
There is also the problem of Ford itself. It is too often too late to the party. The LPG falcon is missing and they don't have a wagon. This and the fact the Falcon is simply not up to scratch in terms of features.
Sadly I think Ford have missed the boat with the Territory too, besides the diesel engine, value for $$ compared to other makes just isn't there and this is a NEW model.
Product planners need a good kick up the backside.

[xe351]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

The problem is simple really. People do not want to buy new Falcons anymore. We can analyze it from twenty different angles, but the fact is, Falcon is no longer an option among modern day consumers.

i hate to say it, but i agree on the most part. Large cars in general have taken a big hit, and most people you talk to wouldn't own a Ford either, wether it be by bad experiences, perceived quality or uneducated opinions.

The best thing Ford could do would be to got back to their roots - the Falcon was originally a medium sized RWD car. People dont have 4 kids to cart around and a trailor on the back anymore.

[Joe5619]

Originally Posted by Gobes32

The problem is simple really. People do not want to buy new Falcons anymore. We can analyze it from twenty different angles, but the fact is, Falcon is no longer an option among modern day consumers.

And if you own Ford (or managed it) you have one of 2 options in this case
1) Work out why & fix it
2) Stop making it