Vfacts March 2011

[Resurrection]

The numbers are due this week.

I predict another miserable month for Falcon - less than 2000 sales.

Hope I am wrong.

[Windsor220]

Any figures yet? Should be out by now.

[Resurrection]

No. They are not released before the third weekday of the month.

[KuRT12]

I Think once we see things like ecoLPI & FGII come into play sales will jump a fair bit, i think theres a few people holding off for these new technologies.

[b0son]

i doubt the average person knows about ecoLPI or FGII, or cares. for every falcon ad, i'll see at least 10 for commodore. the falcon may as well not exist in the public's mind.

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by b0son

i doubt the average person knows about ecoLPI or FGII, or cares. for every falcon ad, i'll see at least 10 for commodore. the falcon may as well not exist in the public's mind.

It exists, but to put it in my mum's words, as "One of those big square petrol guzzling tanks", which it isn't quite anymore.

[P6LTD351]

Originally Posted by b0son

i doubt the average person knows about ecoLPI or FGII, or cares. for every falcon ad, i'll see at least 10 for commodore. the falcon may as well not exist in the public's mind.

This.

Let's not grapple at straws. Put the blame squarely where it lies - Ford's arrogance in not admitting that there is a problem with (and hence fixing) their marketing.

It's great that people here are positive about ecoLPi etc but that won't do a thing to sales. The average person needs to be educated on how good a Falcon is. Sadly, Ford don't care.

[fourl6]

Originally Posted by b0son

i doubt the average person knows about ecoLPI or FGII, or cares. for every falcon ad, i'll see at least 10 for commodore. the falcon may as well not exist in the public's mind.

i would spend 35k+ without atleast a google search...

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by eb2monty

This.

Let's not grapple at straws. Put the blame squarely where it lies - Ford's arrogance in not admitting that there is a problem with (and hence fixing) their marketing.

It's great that people here are positive about ecoLPi etc but that won't do a thing to sales. The average person needs to be educated on how good a Falcon is. Sadly, Ford don't care.

The ecoLPi looks to be a corker of an engine and if this was 2008 I would be excited, because thats when it should have been here at the launch of FG. You are right that Ford is arrogant, they have taken far too long to bring things like the LPG and Diesel to market. They are also assuming that doing what they have always done in marketing, after sales support and quality of their dealer network will still work - it won't and there are plenty of ex Ford customers to prove it. Its so frustrating, because even a public acknowledgement that they haven't done well in these areas and the most tentative moves to fix it, would win them some much needed support.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by eb2monty

This.

Let's not grapple at straws. Put the blame squarely where it lies - Ford's arrogance in not admitting that there is a problem with (and hence fixing) their marketing.

Fix what??

Buy and LPG Falcon/UTE...oh wait we don't have one. Buy a V8 Falcon/UTE...oh wait we don't have one. Buy a station wagon...oh wait we don't have one.

Territory has been drip fed and I think done well, now the LPG model is being drip fed, next will be the 4cyl version.


As for sales it won't be good, For Falcon August will be when to have a good look. Territory should started to be looked at in June.

Mind you I think Terri should do about the 11-1200 mark with that run out terri they have, as that is a really awesome deal.

[BroadyFord]

Official release for figures today but early numbers suggest 1700 Falcon sales in March.

http://www.carpoint.com.au/news/2011...mber-one-24316

Not the worst result but far from anything worth celebrating.

[Road_Warrior]

Well...better than last month I guess.

[csv8]

Road Warrior....Queensland can send you Can Do Campbell Newman..he's good at digging tunnels!!!!!

[bobthebilda]

Looks like the locals are still doing it tough

Large cars =7688 - compared to same time last year =8816
Medium SUV = 7501 - compared to same time last year =8309
Ute 4 x 2 = 5184 - compared to same time last year = 5716

SUV compact, SUV luxury and Ute 4x4 seem to be the big winners this time. All up around 20%

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

Looks like the locals are still doing it tough

Large cars =7688 - compared to same time last year =8816
Medium SUV = 7501 - compared to same time last year =8309
Ute 4 x 2 = 5184 - compared to same time last year = 5716

SUV compact, SUV luxury and Ute 4x4 seem to be the big winners this time. All up around 20%

You can see the migration happening, slowly but surely.

[Oldbugger]

Local Production

Ford 3181 vs 4440 (2010) Falcon 1719

Holden 5218 vs 5507 (2010) Commodore 4170

[janddbone]

Those wagon sales don't look so useless now do they....

[Brazen]

How great would it be if Falcon had a wagon on release of the new EcoLPI, no whinging about luggage space/spare tyre then.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by Brazen

How great would it be if Falcon had a wagon on release of the new EcoLPI, no whinging about luggage space/spare tyre then.

i reckon, surely it cant be to hard for them to whip up

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by mr_br_johnstone

Those wagon sales don't look so useless now do they....

Apparantly Holden wagon sales make up 33% of commodore sales. So at 4100 sales a month, it makes up roughly 1300 sales. What sort of market would Ford be chasing? Maybe at best, half of the sportswagon sales ie 650 a month. I would hate to see what sort of return Ford were going to get, if they went and spent a few hundred million dollars to try and gain 7200 sales a year.

Ford sold 8698 cars in March, whereas Holden sold 10816. I would think with the aussie dollar at US$1.04, Ford are thanking their lucky stars, they are far less reliant on local production than Holden is.

Ie, as per caradvice article

The story is reversed at Ford, where the Falcon, Falcon Ute and Ranger 4×2 are the only models to lose ground in 2011. Sales of Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo, Escape and Ranger have all increased between 25.3 and 95.4 percent

If the aussie dollar stays high, Ford will be able to kill Holden in pricing.

[buggerlugs]

http://www.carsguide.com.au/site/new...&emlist=Member

[Brazen]

1.Holden Commodore – 4170
2.Toyota HiLux – 4028
3.Mazda3 – 3979
4.Toyota Corolla – 3067
5.Holden Cruze – 2804
6.Nissan Navara – 2575
7.Hyundai i30 – 2376
8.Mitsubishi Triton – 1978
9.Mitsubishi Lancer – 1749
10.Ford Falcon – 1719


http://www.caradvice.com.au/113707/m...ding-momentum/

[Brazen]

I am still stunned that Holden can be selling these many Commodores for a car which is effectively 5 years old. And it has no LPG in the wagon.

Commodore really should be selling as many as Falcon.

[Dave R]

Wow, so Commodore is basically selling per month what Falcon sells in 3 months. Again, I blame the marketers - they have done nothing over the past few years to improve Falcon's image. Combined with an FG Falcon that looks so similar to the BF, Ford deserve to be where they are. They are bloody lucky the Euros are picking up pace or else it would be looking very grim for Ford Australia.

[Road_Warrior]

Originally Posted by Brazen

I am still stunned that Holden can be selling these many Commodores for a car which is effectively 5 years old. And it has no LPG in the wagon.

Commodore really should be selling as many as Falcon.

So someone is doing something wrong aren't they...or Holden are selling a buttload of Commodores to fleets still with little to no margins.

[Brazen]

I think without the Sportwagon the large car segment would be dead. I remember when Toyota released the Avalon, it only had one engine, one trans and one body style and it looked like something straight from 1986, yet it was a failure for selling 'only' 2000 a month.

Look at how bad the Aurion, Maxima, Accord and Falcon are selling. Commodore would have headed that way too.

[au2000]

again, i can't say for certian, but holden has offered a large discount to gov departments in vic for commodores, we normally have hybrid toyotas & lpg falcons, this time they have scrubbed the lpg falcon for a lpg commodore, when asked why to the supreme bean counter , it was all about purchase price & nothing more.... like ive said before, every sedan & divi van in vic is a commodore, so if my dept which buys less cars per year than vicpol is buying commodores at a discount, imagine how many more of those 4000 plus commodores across australia are being purchased for gov duties?....

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by Road_Warrior

So someone is doing something wrong aren't they...or Holden are selling a buttload of Commodores to fleets still with little to no margins.

Falcon has a much higher fleet percentage, and is the biggest selling rental car in the country - these are notorious for low margins as they are churned over every 6 months and the rental companies have to compete on a daily hire rate which brings things purely down to price. Business and government fleet sales sell less on price (which is still very important) as they are usually kept for a few years - so fuel economy, OHAS issues, comfort, power, space, versatility are more important.

If you ever really want to see what companies are doing the best fleet deals, look at the local Avis or Hertz carpark.

[au2000]

gov cars are brought based on price, gov departments do not pay any stampduty or taxes on the vehicle purchase price...

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by au2000

gov cars are brought based on price, gov departments do not pay any stampduty or taxes on the vehicle purchase price...

purcahse price, green car rating, crash rating, resale figures.... they all play their part. I think total cost of ownership is the primary, but its not necessarily directly related to purchase price- resale figures are just as important as the price paid.