Ford marks its Territory

FORD says the sales success of its Territory four-wheel drive wagon will give it an increasing advantage over Holden – especially if the downturn in Australia’s large-car market continues.

Ford Australia president Tom Gorman said Territory’s high-volume sales strategy would continue to deliver more dividends than Holden’s low-volume, niche approach to the booming SUV market.

"I wouldn’t say the large-car market decline is a positive for Ford because we’re still heavily dependent on Falcon," he said.

"But I would say the team saw it coming years ago and positioned ourselves well to take advantage – of not only the declining large-car market but the increasing appetite for SUVs and cross-over vehicles. And we’ve been able capitalise on that.

"We made different investment decisions. Look at the commercial segment in which this year they launched the Adventra and Crewman, and some other products. One has done well and one hasn’t.

"We’ve gone after a larger segment – our strategy has always been in the volume segments – and that puts us in large cars, small cars and SUVS.

"So we’re extremely well positioned – we don’t play in all the segments but we do a pretty good job in the top three. So from that perspective you could say we’re better positioned than they are, but the flipside is they’re an exporter and we’re not. They fill their capacity in other ways." Mr Gorman admitted that some Territory sales had been substitutional for Falcon, but said it had achieved Ford’s forecast 20,000-per-annum running rate and was on target to become Australia’s 15th best-selling nameplate in 2004 after only six months of sales.

But he is adamant the large-car segment as a whole – the only market to show serious signs of decline in 2004 – would remain robust in the long term.

"I’m not one of these guys who think it (the large-car segment) is going to go away," he said.

"I think the Australian consumer is always going to have an appetite for large, rear-wheel drive, performance-driven vehicles and fortunately for the consumer we make great cars in that segment.

"As long as there’s fresh and exciting new products that meet consumer demands, the large-car market will always be there. But fleet markets will make the decision, not private buyers.

"It may deteriorate further but we don’t anticipate a massive decline. We need to keep a close eye on wagon in the future to make sure if it has a place in the line-up or not. Those are obvious questions that we think about all the time when it comes to the future of what we produce at Broadmeadows." Mr Gorman said Ford would export about 10,000 vehicles in 2005 and was actively seeking export deals for either Falcon or its platform.

"It’s no surprise: we think we have a great product on our hands and would like to sell it elsewhere," he said.

"Maybe not export it but we’d like to see other people use that platform and we’re working on it.

"There’s a long distance between interest and opportunity. There are a lot of people interested and we have to take that interest and make it a real deal.

"We’re not there yet but to say that we’re not working on it would be a lie – we’re just trying to find customers."