Challenge For Industry In Ford's Loss
Sydney Morning Herald
Saturday July 26, 2008
THE Australian car industry needs serious investment in alternate fuel technology and hybrid cars, experts have warned, after the US carmaker Ford posted record losses yesterday.
It lost almost $9 billion in the last financial quarter, on the back of an almost 25 per cent drop in sales of its gas-guzzling F-series sports utility vehicles.It will convert four SUV factories in the US to produce small cars. It said this year that it would modify its factory in Campbellfield, Victoria, to produce the Ford Fiesta by 2011. Ford said the poor performance in the US would not affect Australian jobs, and changes at Campbellfield would lead to the most fuel-efficient cars in the country to date. The chief executive of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Andrew McKellar, said the 33 per cent rise in large SUV sales this year did not reflect global trends, and small cars had been the biggest source of growth here. "The industry as a whole is investing enormous sums ... to bring a range of products to the market to achieve low emissions and better fuel efficiency." The University of Technology's acting head of the graduate school of business, Antoine Hermens, said there was little investment to match the rhetoric on fuel-efficient cars. He said it was an immense challenge for the Australian industry to remain alive, with carmakers preferring low-wage regions for factories. The opportunity was in alternative and hybrid fuel technologies "where we are renowned for our scientific advances", he said.
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald
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