Ford to close Australian factories

why would ford be interested in the rear wheel drive given that thousands of idiots in it's snowbelt home market manage to injure and kill themselves each year and then blame it on the rear wheel drive

this is all gamesmanship. frod have played that game for decades - they just want more subsidies and know they can be had with some threats. end of story. if they really did have actual losses [as opposed to the cost re-allocations allowed under international accounting rules], those factories would be closed today - none of this "2016" bullshit.

Yeah, I didn't know Australians were particularly interested in RWD either.. Think the Jap FWD's have been favorites there for a long time. My son's lived there for about 8 years, and has had one Holden, a Nissan and I think a Mazda now. I'll try to remember to ask when I next talk to him. FWD/RWD sounds like a real lame excuse. For the vast majority of buyers, the choice hinges on quality and price, just like in the U.S. It could very well be production costs, as somebody suggested. My son's wife worked at popcorn kiosk in a Sydney shopping mall while she was in university. Popcorn. Made $15 an hour.

yes but some aussies like the american-style muscle*. others are all about being frugal. much more polarized than here.

you better believe it. they have a very high minimum wage which means costs are high and wages are very flat all the way through middle management. you have to be quite senior to break through that barrier, and even then, it doesn't change much until you're right at the top. it provides almost no incentive to work harder because there's very little extra reward. but the trade off is they get a 40 hour week and more time at home with the kids - sacrifice ambition for family is the way many look at it.

• very much living dangerously - their speeding laws are insanely strict.

All automakers play the subsidy game. If you want to stay in business you better because your competition will play it.

In this case however it was always a matter of when, not if, ford would either make global platforms for RWD aussie fords or simply eliminate them. They have chosen the later and it should be of no surprise to anyone who understands how things work with global manufacturing corporations these days. In some decades in the future the styles will swing back to locally created product when they find things designed and built in some far away place aren't really meeting customer requirements. One company will do it and start gaining market share over the others and the rest will follow along industry by industry.

The reason for choosing to eliminate the models rather than spread them to other markets is clearly what they are saying. Exchange rate and probably labor costs combined with product issues that would need to be sorted out.