Despite departing from Australia, Ford has no plans on leaving Canada

By John LeBlanc After almost nine decades of manufacturing in the country, and citing increasingly high costs, dropping sales and mounting financial losses, America’s Ford Motor Co. will shutter its Australian automotive and engine assembly plants in 2016. "Our costs are double that of Europe and nearly four times Ford in Asia," Ford Australia CEO Bob Graziano told Automotive News. "The business case simply did not stack up. Manufacturing is not viable for Ford in Australia." The plant closures won’t mean Ford will stop selling cars Down Under. The U.S. automaker will still import new vehicles. But after almost 90 years of making such iconic Aussie-specific products like the Ford Falcon, no further Fords will be built in Australia. Keen Canadian auto industry observers will see the above comments as eerily familiar. Like Australia, manufacturing salaries in Canada are relatively high compared to countries like Mexico or any of the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) nations. In fact, Ford says it pays its highest wages and benefits in the world to its Canadian autoworkers Canada.But, for now at least, Ford is also saying that it has no plans to reduce its Canadian auto-manufacturing footprint any further. While Ford closed its St. Thomas, Ontario, plant that made the Ford Crown Victoria and Lincoln Town Car full-size sedans in 2011, in a report this week, Canada’s best-selling automaker says its working on an “investment plan” to keep its Oakville, Ontario plant (that produces the Ford Edge (seen above) and Flex and Lincoln MKX and MKT crossovers) viable, including a $1.2-billion expansion. But the plan depends on Canadian taxpayers subsidizing one-third of the cost. “We are optimistic despite the Canadian dollar where it is," Dianne Craig, chief executive officer of Ford Canada, said this week during the Bloomberg Canada Economic Summit in Toronto. What do you think? Is it worth it to invest Canadian taxpayer money to keep Ford in Canada? Or is Australia a case study for what is an eventuality where automaking is not viable for Ford in Canada? Source: Automotive News

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