yet another Falcon bashing ny mainstream media

[bathurst77]

Sydney Mornign Herald

Im sick of reading these articles in papers about the death of Falcon etc.

Been reading them for about 5 years now, with no evidence. Actually I remember the XD was going to be "The Last Aussie Falcon" and even that was in doubt. (Great slogan "30 Years of last Aussie Falcons")

They did the same with mitsubishi Maga/380 and the little aus ford capri, and back to P76 before that. The media hound and doom say the cars till buyers get too afriad to buy them, then they say "we told you so". PErhas tehy wi be happy when nothign is built in our country. Cultural cringe rules.

Adn what a shockingly bad report that is, since when has Alan Mulally been "The president of Ford Australia"?

Does the writer even know the car industry and Ford? or is he reciting what others just told him?

Geez Im grumpy this morning!

[RG]

I opened that article thinking "another overreaction" to an article.

I was wrong, that was a blatant Ford bash for no good reason. Toyota's sales have dropped more, Holden just as much yet Ford are on the receiving end of his rant.

[GS608]

what a right deadshit!

Someone should write an article like all those we're seeing from the US, praising Ford saying how well they're coping and send it off to a newspaper see if they publish it.

[Mr Brooksy]

Ha. Hardly worth reading. Alan Mulally is president of Ford Aus hey. WOW. Overqualified much!

Nice to know that everything is as predicted by the car industry. And that warrents an article saying that its dooms day again?!

[jphanna]

there seems to be a lot of losers in the auto industry at the moment. To me that means there has to be a winner somewhere...Koren cars or some other brand must be taking up the slack?

[FalconXR6]

Originally Posted by jphanna

there seems to be a lot of losers in the auto industry at the moment. To me that means there has to be a winner somewhere...Koren cars or some other brand must be taking up the slack?

I would say the loosers are the people paying cash for V6 Commodores, Toyota Camry's, large 4wd's and imported hatch backs (i.e. Hyundai, Kia, etc).

The world is full of ill-informed idiots who will make poor purchasing decisions when it comes to their vehicles. Most people don't car about cars, to them they are transport. Some will even buy a car based on an add they saw on T.V. for it. Sad. But true.

As for the article - I didn't think it was that bad...

[AUIIForte]

Originally Posted by FalconXR6

I would say the loosers are the people paying cash for V6 Commodores, Toyota Camry's, large 4wd's and imported hatch backs (i.e. Hyundai, Kia, etc).

Why am I a loser for buying my self a 4x4? I do a fair bit of off road activity that I know no other car could do.

[FalconXR6]

Originally Posted by AUIIForte

Why am I a loser for buying my self a 4x4? I do a fair bit of off road activity that I know no other car could do.

Cool.
Off-road vehicles off road I haven't got a problem with.

But around my area it's full of large 4x4's that are driven in and around the city / town, are washed and polished and have never seen a mud puddle let alone off road activity...stupidity, money wasting, poor purchasing decisions, massive compromise, etc, etc...but that's just my opinion...

[Bundy]

Just another tool trying to justify his job, "quick I must write some drivel to keep the boss of my back for another week."

[Mr Brooksy]

Originally Posted by bundy

Just another tool trying to justify his job, "quick I must write some drivel to keep the boss of my back for another week."

Agreed. It seems like he had to write something, so he picked on the sales figures. Everyone has read enough to know that the sales figures are very low.

So why write another article saying that sales are down, and everyone expected as much?

[Bucknaked]

So finally the AU is no longer holds the title of the worse selling car. Nothing is forever. :

[Iggypoppin']

Originally Posted by Bucknaked

So finally the AU is no longer holds the title of the worse selling car. Nothing is forever. :

They sold plenty of AU's...

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by SLWXR6

They sold plenty of AU's...

You are correct. AU1 -3 sold quite well. Granted, not as much as the commodore of the time, but it was by no means the failure that people go on about.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by eb2monty

You are correct. AU1 -3 sold quite well. Granted, not as much as the commodore of the time, but it was by no means the failure that people go on about.

AU 1 & 2 made a profit while AU3 made a loss (which is normal as the new model was coming out).

[jphanna]

Having mitsubishi go was never a surprise, and its a shame so many lost thier jobs over that, but if Ford or holden go in Australia, then can you ever see them returning once the GEC is 'over'.

i hope that they can BOTH hang on. Holden was on its knees 25 years ago (thanks to Laser and XF falcon), but it recovered and kicked fords AZZ (blame EA for that), but its a global problem this time round, not just Australia.

so much rides on them both hanging on. if not, we can look forward to rebadged FWD large Daewoos and tauraus/mondeo to replace our aussie big gun favourites.

[Watto_Cobra]

Originally Posted by jphanna

so much rides on them both hanging on. if not, we can look forward to rebadged FWD large Daewoos and tauraus/mondeo to replace our aussie big gun favourites.

Please NO :

[banarcus]

Apart from saying that Mulally was the president of Ford Australia, what did he say wrong? Mulally has said that it will be hard to justify a "747 for each market". Blackburn states that Toyota's Altona plant is also being looked at too. Yes, it's an alarmist article but totally plausible.

Within the next two months, watch the pro-Holden articles come out thick and fast from the media when GMH's very existance will be threatened by GM's woes in the states. They will be foaming at the mouth because "Australia's Own" will be no more. Watch this space, we have seen nothing yet.....

[Wally]

I thought it was a balanced article. If you are a Ford advocate it is biased against Ford, a Toyota advocate against Toyota, Holden etc. If you aren't an advocate for any brand it is just a rough statistical piece.

[Road_Warrior]

I agree, that article takes a stab at everyone, not just Ford.

It's typical Drivel.com.au rubbish, but who reads that useless site anyway?

[joolz]

It was bashing ford quite a bit, a whole 4 negative paragraphs on Ford and no data on the percentage drop on the Falcon. But Holden Commodore faired well in this story as it was made clear.

"The Holden Commodore held on to its No. 1 position in March. Sales were down just 11 per cent"

There was also only the 1 negative paragraph on Holden and that was about GM and Obama in the states which the average buyer in Australia couldnt give 2 rats about!

Also the average buyer in Australia wouldnt have a clue that the Commodore is almost 80% imported and just assembled here. Great deal to Australia my ***! Where as Falcon is only around 30% imported.

[Steve]

I'm starting to think that Holden are in the habit of issuing the press with Ford bashing articles every now and then to use as a smoke screen for their own woes. I do love a good conspiracy theory.

[RPO83]

I tried to get in contact with the reporter today but I believe he was far too busy dining out all afternoon.

[Wardo]

I firmly believe that the media have a very strong case to answer for the loss of Mitsubishi. The volume of "they are going bust" stories really ground them into the ground. They could have built a 400kw, 4wd, 380 for $20,000, with a 20yr warranty and still gone, due to the scaremongering.

I really hope the same thing doesn't happen to Ford and Holden.

[mik]

i take news paper articles with a grain of salt,..... i put these people as far as accuracy and the truth goes, there with politicians, lawyers and oil companies.

[Pedro]

So do I mik, but the problem is that mis-informed media articles are read by your everyday Tom Dick and Harry who have no car knowledge and are guided by these erroneous articles in their choice of purchase.

[mik]

agreed.....

[Pedro]

Originally Posted by bathurst77

Sydney Mornign Herald

Im sick of reading these articles in papers about the death of Falcon etc.

Does the writer even know the car industry and Ford? or is he reciting what others just told him?.....

I agree. Below is my letter to the editor in reply to the article ....


The Editor Sydney Morning Herald.

Re the unresearched article written by your obviously intelligence and truth challenged reporter Richard Balckburn (“Oh, what a terrible feeling: new car sales plunge 20%”, SMH 3/4/09).

Informed readers are sick and tired of having their daily media infected with sensationalist trashy stories seemingly printed to gain some sort of smug praise by the writer.

Blackburn’s ineptness at interpreting the facts is born out by his idiotic proclamations.

Let’s examine his Ford bashing claim that “The poor performance of the Falcon and Territory casts further doubts on the future of both vehicles, which Detroit views as orphans because they are unique to Australia.”

There may be an element of truth in his statement but at the same time he makes no mention of the statement from GM (that’s Holden’s US parent Company Richard) that the future of Holden is bleak in that their current platform will be obsolete by 2010. Not to mention that it’s widely toted that GM may not come out the other side of the current financial crisis and that the US government forced Rick Wagoner (who was GM’s CEO Richard) to resign earlier this week due to his perceived incompetence.

Your reporter then goes on to state “The president of Ford Australia, Alan Mulally, ......”
Alan Mulally is the CEO of Ford America. Had you had enough intelligence to use Google, Richard, you could have learned that the President of Ford Australia is actually Marin Burela.

Your brains trust then goes on to say “But its Japanese parent (Toyota) is also suffering from the global downturn, and will soon report the first loss in its history."

Sorry Richard, but while you were sleeping, Toyota announced 22nd December 2008 that it had incurred its first loss (USD$1.7 billion) in its history.

I don’t think it unreasonable to ask you to sack your writer forthwith so that readers may enjoy informed comment in future editions.

[mrghia]

Originally Posted by Pedro

I agree. Below is my letter to the editor in reply to the article ....


The Editor Sydney Morning Herald.

Re the unresearched article written by your obviously intelligence and truth challenged reporter Richard Balckburn (“Oh, what a terrible feeling: new car sales plunge 20%”, SMH 3/4/09).

Informed readers are sick and tired of having their daily media infected with sensationalist trashy stories seemingly printed to gain some sort of smug praise by the writer.

Blackburn’s ineptness at interpreting the facts is born out by his idiotic proclamations.

Let’s examine his Ford bashing claim that “The poor performance of the Falcon and Territory casts further doubts on the future of both vehicles, which Detroit views as orphans because they are unique to Australia.”

There may be an element of truth in his statement but at the same time he makes no mention of the statement from GM (that’s Holden’s US parent Company Richard) that the future of Holden is bleak in that their current platform will be obsolete by 2010. Not to mention that it’s widely toted that GM may not come out the other side of the current financial crisis and that the US government forced Rick Wagoner (who was GM’s CEO Richard) to resign earlier this week due to his perceived incompetence.

Your reporter then goes on to state “The president of Ford Australia, Alan Mulally, ......”
Alan Mulally is the CEO of Ford America. Had you had enough intelligence to use Google, Richard, you could have learned that the President of Ford Australia is actually Marin Burela.

Your brains trust then goes on to say “But its Japanese parent (Toyota) is also suffering from the global downturn, and will soon report the first loss in its history."

Sorry Richard, but while you were sleeping, Toyota announced 22nd December 2008 that it had incurred its first loss (USD$1.7 billion) in its history.

I don’t think it unreasonable to ask you to sack your writer forthwith so that readers may enjoy informed comment in future editions.

i like yours mine not that technical but i think i put the point across

[ADSXR8]

We all know what the abrievation for "Richard" is!

Nice story.

[mrghia]

i got one back at them aswell