Ford denies exit link to dealership collapse

FORD says a decision to quit its Australian car-making business has nothing to do with the collapse of a prominent West Australian new-car dealership this week.

The West Australian reported today that Northbridge-based Centre Ford, among the state’s largest dealerships, had been placed in voluntary liquidation, owing close to $1.5 million to suppliers and staff.

The dealership was listed for sale for some time, with Crowe Horwath liquidator Mervyn Kitay speculating that one of the key factors in the dealership’s demise was a downturn in traffic as buyers reacted to Ford’s announcement that it would stop building cars in Australia from 2016.

"It appears it suffered a downturn, possibly in part with Ford indicating it will close its manufacturing industry," Mr Kitay told the newspaper. "That might have contributed to less customer traffic."However, Ford Australia communications and public affairs director Sinead Phipps said it was wrong to link the dealership’s demise with the car-maker’s decision.

She said customers had come into Ford dealerships since the car-maker had announced in May that it would shutter its Australian engine-casting and car assembly lines to seek assurance that they could still get a full sales and service experience.

Ms Phipps said the car-maker would continue to support its almost 200-strong dealer network throughout Australia.

“Sales of Falcon particularly continue to be affected by changes in buyer preferences but that is the continuation of a long-term trend, not something new,” she said.

“Our dealer network is not directly affected by the decision to cease manufacturing at the end of 2016 – we’ll continue to have a network of dealers Australia-wide and will provide parts and service for locally produced vehicles – as well as all of the other vehicles in our range – for many years to come.

“The reasons for Centre Ford’s closure are complex and related to the business of that particular dealership, not Ford Australia, and it isn’t accurate to say that our manufacturing announcement had anything to do with it.” Ms Phipps said Ford Australia spoke to dealers about its business “on a very regular basis”, including its range of vehicles and technologies expected to be introduced after the last versions of the Falcon sedan and ute range, and Territory soft-roader, roll off the Broadmeadows assembly line in Victoria.

She said the car-maker also spoke with dealers about the range of actions it was taking to improve the customer sales and service experience.

“We don’t discuss the specifics of individual businesses publicly as we don’t believe it is appropriate to do so,” she said.

“As for FPV dealers, they will continue to be Ford dealers post cessation of the FPV brand at the end of 2014.”

Ford has struggled with declining sales of the locally made Falcon as buyers shift from large cars to smaller, more fuel-efficient ones, a high Australian dollar that makes it more expensive to make vehicles here, and increased competition in one of the most crowded new-car markets worldwide.

By the end of October last year 11,719 new Falcons had been registered, but by the same time this year that figure has slipped to just over 8100 and Ford’s Territory SUV has also seen a decline in popularity, falling from 12,459 sales by October 2012 to 11,553 this year.

Ford will introduce a facelifted version of its locally built cars next year, and has flagged plans to replace its FPV performance range with the return of the Falcon XR8 nameplate that will extend the life of the locally developed supercharged V8 until late in 2016.

Ms Phipps declined to say if any more Ford dealerships were struggling to remain viable, or how many were likely to remain after Ford changed to its full importer status in 2016.