As it heads towards axing local manufacture and becoming a full importer, Ford is reconfiguring its Asia-Pacific Engineering Centre at Broadmeadows as a product development campus and establishing a new national sales company closer to central Melbourne.
As part of the country’s only full engineering centre, some of the growing team based in Broadmeadows will move to the old head office building, which will benefit from an internal refurbishment. The company’s research and testing operations in Geelong and Lara continue uninterrupted.
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Ford has signed a long term lease with Melbourne-based Salta Properties for office space in Victoria Gardens where about 200 employees, contractors and other support staff from the marketing, sales and service team and supporting functions will move and establish the new national sales company office.
Ford said the location also provides better access to more consumers and key business partners such as its advertising agency located in Richmond.
“The transformation of Ford’s head office into the Asia-Pacific Engineering Centre will signal that we will be the only automotive company that can fully develop vehicles in Australia,” said Bob Graziano, president and CEO, Ford of Australia. “The national sales company in Victoria Gardens, leveraging our outstanding product line-up, will focus on delivering Australia’s best automotive consumer experience.”
Ford plans to become the country’s largest auto company after 2017 with a 1,500-strong workforce.
It will continue to design, engineer and test vehicles for customers around the world and claims no other automotive company – GM Holden and Toyota are also ending local build – will approach this level of local innovation.
“Ford is investing heavily in innovation and our Australian team will be a key part of delivering even more advanced vehicles in the future as one of our four engineering centres of excellence globally,” said Graydon Reitz, Ford’s Melbourne-based director of engineering and product development in Asia Pacific. “No other auto company is investing this heavily in Australia.”
