Ford Australia seeks Middle East and China Exports

[jpd80]

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Osborne is due to make a presentation to Ford's global product development chief, Derrick Kuzak,

who will visit Melbourne to sample the new Falcon early in May. Osborne needs Kuzak's backing and Detroit's

funding to engineer the new Falcon for the lucrative Middle East and Chinese markets, which are both left-hand-drive.

 

"We have a study under way and we will be discussing it in some detail with Derrick Kuzak at the beginning

of May," Osborne says. "We think it is a great time to reopen that [export] option. Middle East is one option

and the large-car market in China is fairly robust.

 

I think it is a half-million [sales] segment and that's half the entire annual Australian industry. So I think selling

a few in China would be one of my working assumptions."

 

Toyota already exports to the Middle East, as does Holden, which also sends variants of the Commodore to Britain,

China and the United States.

 

However, Osborne expresses less interest in sending the Falcon to the US because Ford Australia's Broadmeadows

plant could only supply the market in limited numbers. If Osborne gains approval, an export program would not

commence before 2010.

 

Hmm, what does that say about a proposed GRWD Strategy?

I suppose three years of solid export sales would justify the relatively cheap outlay on an existing car especially

when it uses quite a few parts in common with Ford North America anyway.

Maybe Falcon could then move to a GRWD in 2013.