Ford of Australia marked the end of 91years of manufacturing in Australi on 7 October as it retired the iconic Falcon and said goodbye to 600 manufacturing employees who will leave the company.
160 manufacturing employees have been or will be redeployed from Ford’s plants to new design and engineering roles in the company’s product development operations across Victoria. As one of Ford’s global product development hubs, Ford Australia is poised to continue to deliver the innovation, creativity and know-how vital to the company’s future.
Ford Australia’s product development operation began in the 1960s with the development of the early imported Falcons to meet tough Australian conditions. The product development team will now build on decades of contributions by the Ford employees that made Falcon a legend, the Falcon Ute a backbone of local businesses and the Territory a go-to SUV for families.
“Today is an emotional day for all of us at Ford. We are saying goodbye to some of our proud and committed manufacturing employees and marking an end to 91 years of manufacturing in Australia,” said Graeme Whickman, president and CEO, Ford of Australia. “But, as the country’s largest automotive investor and soon employer, we have been able to transfer many employees from our plants to our design, engineering and testing facilities across Victoria.
Investing, innovating for the future
Ford says it is investing more than any other automaker in local research and development. This year alone, Ford has invested $300 million in local R&D, and with 2,000 team members by late 2017, including 1,100-plus designers and engineers, will continue shaping the auto industry’s future.
The local team leads global development of vehicles such as the Ranger pick-up and Everest SUV at Ford’s new regional Product Development Centre in Broadmeadows that is being transformed at the site of the iconic Head Office building. The company’s Design Centre, with innovative facilities such as a virtual reality design lab – is next door.
“Ford will remain a major presence in Australia and we will carry forward the legacy of our manufacturing team by continuing to design and engineer world-class vehicles for Australia and the world for many years to come,” said Whickman.
Ford says the final three cars to be built in its Broadmeadows plant will be a kinetic blue Falcon XR6 sedan, a white Territory all-wheel-drive diesel SUV and a blue Falcon XR8 Sprint, number 750 of 750. All three are equipped with automatic transmissions, may never be registered for road use, and are likely to be displayed publicly in museums.
In Geelong, Ford’s Research and Development Centre will continue to support advanced engineering work. To mark this ongoing commitment, Ford will donate the proceeds (less taxes) from the auction of the final saleable Falcon, Falcon Ute and Territory to support the establishment and expansion of student robotics programs in Broadmeadows and Geelong schools. Ford engineers will work with these schools to either expand or create hubs for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths (STEAM, formerly STEM) programs. They will also mentor teams of ambitious kids who develop and program robots to take on tough competition from around the world.
The auction of the final saleable vehicles will be managed by Manheim on behalf of Ford Australia. Auction registrations will be available online from Oct. 7. The auction will run online and live on Oct 15.