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Carsales Staff18 Feb 2015
NEWS

Ford splits Australian HQ

Blue Oval's local sales and marketing operations to move to Richmond this year as Broadmeadows focuses on R&D

Ford has announced it will split the operations of its Australian headquarters in mid-2015, when its sales, marketing and service teams will move to a new office in the inner-Melbourne suburb of Richmond.

Meantime, Ford's existing HQ adjacent to its Broadmeadows manufacturing plant in the outer north of Melbourne will be transformed into a dedicated ‘product development campus’ for its growing Asia-Pacific research, design and development team.

The refurbishment of Ford's Broadmeadows HQ to house its Asia-Pacific Engineering Centre and the company's new inner-suburban National Sales Office are in addition to the $300 million investment in Ford's Australian R&D efforts this year alone, which brings to $2 billion the amount now spent on Ford product development in Australia over the past six years, says the company.

That investment has resulted in the Ranger and Everest global models, as well as the India-only Figo, China-only Escort, the Australian market's Falcon and Territory and a range of other undisclosed global and regional vehicles, all of which were designed by Ford's Asia Pacific product development team in Victoria.

Ford's research and development centre in Geelong, and its test facility at the You Yangs proving grounds in nearby Lara, will continue unchanged, working in tandem with Ford's new-look Broadmeadows-based Asia-Pacific Engineering Centre.

Ford claims it will be Australia's largest automotive industry employer by 2017, when Holden and Toyota will close its Adelaide and Melbourne manufacturing facilities respectively.

Ford, which currently employs fewer manufacturing workers than Australia's other two remaining car-makers, will close its Broadmeadows factory at least a year earlier, by October next year.

By that time Ford's local design and engineering workforce will comprise about 1500 staff, easily exceeding the smaller remaining R&D teams at Toyota and Holden.

Holden has vowed to keep its Lang Lang proving ground east of Melbourne to conduct local tuning programs for the range of new imported models due here from Europe and the US in coming years, and to hold VXR drive days.

Ford says moving its Australia sales and marketing functions, which will be fulfilled by about 200 white-collar employees, closer to the Melbourne CBD will have obvious staff satisfaction benefits.

“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 Ford of Australia president and CEO Bob Graziano.

“The National Sales Company in Victoria Gardens, leveraging our outstanding product line-up, will focus on delivering Australia’s best automotive consumer experience.”

As part of that commitment, Ford last week announced it will offer a free loan car for customers undertaking scheduled servicing from this month.

Ford’s Asia-Pacific director Graydon Reitz said the move was proof Ford was more committed to the Australian market than any other car-maker.

“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 centre’s of excellence globally.

“No other auto company is investing this heavily in Australia.”

While sales of the Australian-made Falcon and Territory continue to slump, this year Ford will launch its new Mondeo, facelifted Focus, facelifted Ranger, all-new Everest and its first global Mustang.

Ford's move follows a similar one announced by Toyota in December, when the Japanese giant said it would axe its Sydney-based sales and marketing operation in 2017 when, like Holden and Ford, it becomes a 100 per cent Victorian-based full-line importer.

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