Ford’s Australian unit is reeling after it almost simultaneously announced a production cut and lost its CEO of seven months at the end of last week.
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Local trade publication GoAutoNews said Ford would cut production by 23% and axe up to 15% of its workforce by year’s end as the large car market ‘down under’ continues to slow.
Ford makes only the Falcon and its Territory SUV spin-off locally, importing the rest of its range from countries as diverse as Thailand, South Africa and Germany, though it plans to start Focus production in 2011.
GoAutoNews noted the cut came only a week after a government review recommended that import tariffs on cars be halved to 5%, and unions had been quick to call on the federal government to freeze the tariff at 10%, fearing further damage to the local industry.
Ford Australia communications manager Sinead McAlary told the publication the automaker wanted 300 to 350 voluntary redundancies, spread evenly between its Broadmeadows car production line and the Geelong engine plant.
Broadmeadows output would be reduced from 52 vehicles an hour to 40 in November, with daily build falling from 365 to 285, the report said.
Over the Christmas holiday period (summer down there) Ford would upgrade the plant, including new robots in the paint shop.
McAlary told GoAutoNews that 300 new jobs would be created when Focus production commenced in 2011 and that the introduction of a locally built small car put the company in a good position for the future, adding up to 40,000 vehicles to annual production.
Meanwhile, the company’s president Bill Osbourne said he was leaving to become CEO of a national security company in the United States.
He was reportedly in the job for only seven months, having replaced an executive who also departed abruptly after a short term in office.
A replacement is expected to be named shortly.
