No more Falcons or Commodore's

snowcherry · **January 17, 2013, 01:02:29**

http://www.news.com.au/business/companies/end-of-the-road-for-ford-falcon-and-holden-commodore-in-2016/story-fnda1bsz-1226554833139

i find this quite sad, no more Falcons or Commodore's - what will we fight over?
blame directed towards the high aussie dollar and people buying cheap imports over the 'true blue' vehicles.

while i would never buy either of these cars i am quite saddened as they are an institution.

do you think it will really happen or will there be some sort of compensation boost from the gov't [again, for holden]?

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apologies if already posted somewhere - i did search first.

beerman · **Reply #1: January 17, 2013, 01:09:22**

Unfortunately being small model runs they have to run on shoestring R and D which shows in the final product.

The Falcon has been a dead man walking for a while now, and this is showing in their sales, no one wants to buy a dead duck.

panda · **Reply #2: January 17, 2013, 02:27:11**

I find this sad . We've had 2 Commodores and 3 Ford Falcons (or Fairmont/Futura's) in my past and while I was always more of a Ford girl, they have ALL (bar one lemon) done us really well and not caused us any major hassles.

I can see why they're becoming obsolete. We thought long and hard about buying another Falcon before nixing the idea, solely because it would have had to be a 2nd hand one and for the price, Hyundai was just offering too good of a deal (plus yay for less petrol-my Ford was costing us $96 to fill and that was with the discount!).

Phil №❶ · **Reply #3: January 17, 2013, 05:35:52**

Both fitted with dinosaur engines and bound to be extinct, unless someone breaks the oil / political / corruption cycle. I consider myself fortunate to have gone through my teens and had the associated car interests.

Fuel was cheap, Monaro's & GT Falcons were common and the beaches were crowded with hot cars and fast bikini clad girls (in the fast cars, that is), cameras were allowed and no one knew, or cared, what Political Correctness was.

Doggie 1 · **Reply #4: January 17, 2013, 06:16:59**

Fast cars, hot beaches, fast and hot girls, ah, yes, those were the days.

Now it's a Hyundai i30, a hot bath and over 55's fast looming.

Phil №❶ · **Reply #5: January 17, 2013, 06:19:36**

For you maybe, 60 fast looming for me

Shambles · **Reply #6: January 17, 2013, 08:28:58**

Hardly surprising, considering

Doggie 1 · **Reply #7: January 17, 2013, 08:30:03**

Go short!
Sell! Sell!!

Dazzler · **Reply #8: January 17, 2013, 08:37:01**

It is a bit sad .. Neither of them are THAT bad.. but a bit thirsty for me...

Doggie 1 · **Reply #9: January 17, 2013, 08:39:46**

I haven't driven one of the new four cylinder EcoBoost Falcons, but they got a good write-up in the magazines and were apparently better than the six in all areas except towing.

Dazzler · **Reply #10: January 17, 2013, 11:17:29**

Quote from: db08 on January 17, 2013, 08:39:46

I haven't driven one of the new four cylinder EcoBoost Falcons, but they got a good write-up in the magazines and were apparently better than the six in all areas except towing.

Got beaten by my new car though

http://www.carsales.com.au/reviews/2012/large-passenger/ford/camry/eco-friendly-aussie-family-sedan-comparison-30261

Doggie 1 · **Reply #11: January 17, 2013, 11:24:04**

A good read.
Are you proud to own a Camry?

Dazzler · **Reply #12: January 17, 2013, 11:25:15**

Quote from: db08 on January 17, 2013, 11:24:04

A good read.
Are you proud to own a Camry?

Yep

Doggie 1 · **Reply #13: January 17, 2013, 11:26:53**

Quote from: Dazzler on January 17, 2013, 11:25:15

Quote from: db08 on January 17, 2013, 11:24:04
A good read.
Are you proud to own a Camry?
Yep

snowcherry · **Reply #14: January 17, 2013, 13:05:56**

Quote from: panda on January 17, 2013, 02:27:11

...and while I was always more of a Ford girl, ...

ford family here. my dad had ford's more often than not [last two were/are falcons]; there was a monaro in there somewhere, and a jaguar. my first car was a ford. my second car was between the i30 or ford focus with the i30 winning out for value.

i would never buy a large falcon [or cdore] as they're too large for me and i can see why this is happening with decline in sales, but i wonder if they have actually looked at pricing them lower? maybe it's impossible but people won't pay that much for a car that isn't a prestige car. obviously i don't know much about how it all works. and they make focus etc offshore so ....

i dunno...

mind you up in central qld it seemed like everyone had one or the other! mining boom there.

Dazzler · **Reply #15: January 17, 2013, 20:37:06**

Quote from: snowcherry on January 17, 2013, 13:05:56

but i wonder if they have actually looked at pricing them lower?

There has been some pretty major discounting around for big cars in the last few years with a lot of extra goodies like leather etc.. thrown in for no charge.

Pretty amazing value really because there would be a lot more steel and plastic and upholstery etc.. in a Commodore or Falcon compared to say a Ford Focus or i30 and the labour costs in OZ are much higher than in Korea

Phil №❶ · **Reply #16: January 17, 2013, 21:11:23**

Big engined cars, 2 brands, in a market that is far too small with ridiculously high manufacturing costs, spells doom.

An example of today's economic model is Hyundai. Huge investment, world market, low wages, and building vehicles that deliver what customers want, ranging from economy, luxury, reliability, backup, etc.

Aussie Keith · **Reply #17: January 19, 2013, 02:10:33**

That's the saddest thing I've heard today (not). How will the great unwashed align themselves at Bathurst now??

On a more sombre note, is the local market too small for a viable car manufacturing industry? With high labour costs, strong currency and the government making it expensive to do business here maybe its time for the remaining local manufacturers to transition to importing. If that occurs, then the government can save us some $$$ on propping up the local manufacturers. Maybe they can do something about the prices of imported vehicles as well.

Too bad for all the people employed in the car manufacturing sector at the moment though but I think the writing is on the wall for them.

beerman · **Reply #18: January 21, 2013, 08:26:28**

I would love to know just how much Government coin is in each car made here.

Driving home today, I saw another of the neighbours Commodores with the personal plates removed. Looked in the Garage and there is a brand new Mazda 6, complete with personal plates.

The high dollar is killing them, with a double whammy of making them more expensive, whilst making their competitors cheaper. Not recognising the push to smaller more economic cars may be a factor too (Ford was going to build the Focus here before the rise of the dollar killed the project).

I think had they shown a bit more customer service, and presented with a decent warranty combined with decent fit, finish and economy they might still be going ok.

I'm surprised about the lack of success of the LPI Falcon, that would be my bet over the ecoboost. Especially with LPG at .799, though with the vultures circling it becomes self fulfilling. No one wants to be left holding a car no one makes anymore....

Doggie 1 · **Reply #19: January 21, 2013, 08:32:35**

I agree beerman about the LPG.
I have owned two dedicated LPG Falcons, an AU and a BA.
The AU was a brilliant car. The BA was crap.
I believe they have improved them greatly and that would be my choice also, pending inquiries and due diligence.
The problem is the federal government is progressively and systematically increasing the taxes on LPG, even though it is a green fuel.
Call me a cynic (my wife does

) but when the govt offered incentives and cashbacks for people to convert their cars to LPG I smelled a rat.
They weren't doing it because of any green credentials. They did it because they knew they were going to increase their tax revenue year on year on LPG.
There is no justification for LPG in this state to cost 80 cents per litre and although it has no correlation with petrol, it always goes up in price whenever petrol does, due to the monopoly of the provider.
These things are what have turned me away from LPG, as I was a supporter previously.

Phil №❶ · **Reply #20: January 21, 2013, 10:12:28**

I think we send those enormous lpg tankers to Japan & China @ 5c/lt or less. It's disgusting.

Hopefully, I'll be dead, but I predict civil war in this country in the next 50 years. There will be a backlash to PC and it will come to a head. Hanson was b4 her time.

Doggie 1 · **Reply #21: January 21, 2013, 10:15:45**

The Pauline P76....

It has a certain ring to it.

Phil №❶ · **Reply #22: January 21, 2013, 10:18:30**

"PLEASE EXPLAIN!"

Dazzler · **Reply #23: January 21, 2013, 10:21:14**

Quote from: db08 on January 21, 2013, 10:15:45

The Pauline P76....
It has a certain ring to it.

I think Dave is saying that works because they were both before their time... (Not that I agree, Quite like the P76 but not a big fan of Pauline)

Phil №❶ · **Reply #24: January 21, 2013, 10:24:32**

Er, "Please explain" was a famous Pauline quote, I got the drift of the post.

**Reply #25: January 21, 2013, 12:56:43**

I haven't read all of this thread because I have no real interest in the Ozzie big two.

However, it has been obvious to all including Ford and GM that the era of the big and wasteful cars has come and gone 10 years ago.

The decision to continue building them, and now to discontinue, will have been purely economical. Even though the buyers were going, it still made sense to build them because they made more money to do so. Government support will have been factored in.

Now the time has come when that is no longer true. We, and they, have now moved on.