Ford Closing.

[hj308]

I also wonder what role the price of fuel has played in the demise of the Falcon and Commodore, people are more inclined to look at the smaller 4cyl cars that usually have enough get up and go for around town and easier to park etc. Also the increase in diesel 4WD and off road vehicles a lot of young familes seem to prefer the SUV's over the more traditional Holden or Ford sedan which the majority of us would have grown up in, at the end of the day consumers are spoilt for choice and not all the manufacturers can survive, The imported vehicles should have been taxed more or make the manufacturers assemble them in OZ and give something back and make it a more even playing field. I think GMH will be the next to go by 2020.

[Robbo]

That was just a beat up in the sunday paper, by a misinformed journalist. It included Chrysler also. The federal government intended to look good in the eye's of the public, so they put the pressure on the big three as mentioned.

Unfortunately, as well as the car's, it effectively killed off the best form of touring car racing ever, Series Production.

[hqgts]

its ridiculous to say that cheap imports need to be taxed higher.... the days of import tariffs died 10 - 15 years ago as australia needed to play on the big stage in relation to global trade agreements.... we had to stop taxing inports if we wanted to export on a level playing field...

we simply cannot compete in manufacturing compared to asia

[Frosty]

Don't forget economy of scale. If Ford or Holden design a car for the Australian market they might hope to sell maybe 20,000 units? If Mitsubshi design a car, maybe 1,000,000 or more. Work out production costs for lower volumes and it doesn't help. We used to have a huge export market when we had the HQ but now the world has changed. I also must admit that it's been a long time since they built a car that I wanted to buy (I also don't buy Emu Export beer now there is more to choice)

[HK1837]

Its funny how they always seem to miss the mark (and market). Not just Holden and Ford, but everyone. When Toyota bought out the twin cab Landcruiser ute I thought great, there is a replacement for my Hilux in a few years, I know it is a damn diesel but it is a Toyota diesel and a V8. I looked at one on Tuesday when my Hilux was getting its 24 month service. Guess what, manual only, no Auto. So no good for towing, and useless for me. If they built these in V8 petrol and diesel and auto they'd sell heaps more than they do. Same when I was looking for a car for my mrs, Holden had this nice little 5 seat mini-SUV Captiva, right sizee and looked great. Other bigger Captivas were AWD and V6, but this dog was only 4cyl and FWD. Again, missed the market. We were getting so frustrated that we were ready to buy a new car and no-one made what we wanted: 200+kW AWD 5 seat SUV that was sub $70k. Not that hard, but no-one made one other than that ugly pig FJ cruiser joke that Toyota sell. If it wasn't for a Lexus demonstrator did we even find one to suit, but that doesn't help an Aussie manufacturer.

[jennie285]

Hk sorry to ask a stupid question but why the problem with a manual towing? I know it s easier with auto and all our cars are auto as they seem to be easier to buy these days,but we towed with our sandman originally with no trouble, we tow eith our sons ford ranger,when needed, and we tow with our yellow van although it's not great on take off on hills as has 3.08 and has the higher first gear box but really why is there a problem with a manual v8 cruiser?

[Robbo]

The manufacturers build what they need to build, and products are modified during the lifetime of vehicle if and when required. Because a vehicle isn't built to suit a few potential buyers, the company isn't overly concerned. If they lost thousands of buyer's, then they would change the vehicle.

[Vombil]

in this scenario the consumer is the murderer and will carry on without penalty.

We have demanded more and more out of new vehicles and want to pay less for them.

The govt threw money at Ford and Holden but in reality the govt has probably made it all back on taxes from the vehicles that are being imported which in turn undercut local sales!

Holden has read the play better than Ford but I'd imagine they too will be a gonner within the next 10 years or so

[HK1837]

Hk sorry to ask a stupid question but why the problem with a manual towing? I know it s easier with auto and all our cars are auto as they seem to be easier to buy these days,but we towed with our sandman originally with no trouble, we tow eith our sons ford ranger,when needed, and we tow with our yellow van although it's not great on take off on hills as has 3.08 and has the higher first gear box but really why is there a problem with a manual v8 cruiser?

Manual will never tow as good as an auto, especially when Toyota have some beautiful autos like the A750F which is what my Hilux has and what my next door neighbour's 100 series cruiser has. Both of us tow over 2 tonne regularly and neither would ever have a manual version of these again. The primary driver for both of us is we have to reverse up our driveways and this a manual will not do, not without using low range which would be OK with the 'cruiser ute as it has freewheeling hubs but most 4WD today don't and a transfer case isn't meant to push a 2.5 tonne load up a winding uphill concrete driveway. The Overlander and both Hiluxes easily reverse 2.5tonnes up to shed in 2WD high range. Cross8 did it even easier. But any manual utes that have tried to push even an empty trailer up there have left half their clutch behind, and i've had to unhook their trailer and back it up with my car. You'd never even back your HZ vans up there and these have proper flywheels, a modern dual mass flywheel manual would see me changing clutches every year. One of the service managers of one ute brand even warned me off buying their product as he knew the clutch wouldn't handle it.
All that aside, manuals simply do not tow big loads as good as a strong, properly cooled auto. In big trucks with big clutches, tall gearing and multi-speed diffs they are fine. If you ever want to compare try backing a 308 M21 3.36 anywhere up a slope. Then do the same with an auto. Even ignoring the torque multiplication of the converter, that test alone makes it quite clear why the power transfer capability of an auto is far superior to a manual for heavy duty work like towing or carrying large loads.

[buck]

Manual will never tow as good as an auto, especially when Toyota have some beautiful autos like the A750F which is what my Hilux has and what my next door neighbour's 100 series cruiser has. Both of us tow over 2 tonne regularly and neither would ever have a manual version of these again. The primary driver for both of us is we have to reverse up our driveways and this a manual will not do, not without using low range which would be OK with the 'cruiser ute as it has freewheeling hubs but most 4WD today don't and a transfer case isn't meant to push a 2.5 tonne load up a winding uphill concrete driveway. The Overlander and both Hiluxes easily reverse 2.5tonnes up to shed in 2WD high range. Cross8 did it even easier. But any manual utes that have tried to push even an empty trailer up there have left half their clutch behind, and i've had to unhook their trailer and back it up with my car. You'd never even back your HZ vans up there and these have proper flywheels, a modern dual mass flywheel manual would see me changing clutches every year. One of the service managers of one ute brand even warned me off buying their product as he knew the clutch wouldn't handle it.
All that aside, manuals simply do not tow big loads as good as a strong, properly cooled auto. In big trucks with big clutches, tall gearing and multi-speed diffs they are fine. If you ever want to compare try backing a 308 M21 3.36 anywhere up a slope. Then do the same with an auto. Even ignoring the torque multiplication of the converter, that test alone makes it quite clear why the power transfer capability of an auto is far superior to a manual for heavy duty work like towing or carrying large loads.

I see your point, I also have your problem with a drive way that approaches 34 deg with a boat to back up it roughly 1.5t, but i must admit i blew the auto in my fathers falcon au ute, and the adventra wagon auto trans was showing problems aswell, the Prado manual diesel does it standing on it head in low range with the clutch fully out. i agree and think autos are better in 4wds, but as for the average car i think the autos are to weak when pushed hard.
(the ford auto blew, after inspection that the pump is at the back of the trans and ran dry because of the angle of the driveway.)