Timing of Ford's Announcement

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Originally Posted by 4Vman

The camo'd prototype shown recently has a suspiciously familiar sillouette profile about it....

Lets hope there is a significant depature from the retro styling of recent Mustangs.

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I thinks that's given mate and about time too as I much prefer the later styling with heritage cues.
I would think that Mustang's evolutionary path will bring it into alignment with electrical systems available
on Ford's volume product sedans while retaining it's rRWD flavor and power trains courtesy of F150 program.

Part of me really hopes the Mustang program now gets expanded to allow a "Maverick" but I'm not convinced
that the US sees it as a high enough priority...although Lincoln's future needs for a LS type car may see it happen.

Who knows, it just seems odd to me that FoA announced capitulation so far out from 2016...

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Originally Posted by jpd80

I thinks that's given mate and about time too as I much prefer the later styling with heritage cues.
I would think that Mustang's evolutionary path will bring it into alignment with electrical systems available
on Ford's volume product sedans while retaining it's rRWD flavor and power trains courtesy of F150 program.

Part of me really hopes the Mustang program now gets expanded to allow a "Maverick" but I'm not convinced
that the US sees it as a high enough priority...although Lincoln's future needs for a LS type car may see it happen.

Who knows, it just seems odd to me that FoA announced capitulation so far out from 2016...

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They are saying this announcement was basically an obligation to their employees.

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Originally Posted by jpd80

Who knows, it just seems odd to me that FoA announced capitulation so far out from 2016...

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This point hasn't been lost on me right from the outset. I am a "conspiratory story" type person and I think FoA have played a huge bluff - at least I am hoping so!

Am I the only one who has noticed a sudden resurgence of interest (by the media for one and Holden for two) in pushing the Aussie barrow. Holden's latest advertising campaign is directly targeting Australian national pride. The media are suddenly dong some "real" research into what the loss of car manufacturing in Australia is going to do to us as a nation. They are finally putting into perspective the benefits/subsidies that the govt have previously passed on to Holden, Ford and Toyota. This has to put pressure onto the pollies - the media is the strongest lever there is to move stubborn/lazy/ignorant politicians into action. To cap it off we have Holden stating unequivicably that if Abbot pulls subsidies as he has said he will, then they will kiss Australia goodbye long before the 2022 date that is currently their longest committment on the basis of present assistance levels.

If Ford's early announcement was the trigger that was necessary to get this all happening then it is possibly the single most smart and telling move they have ever made.

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Originally Posted by HSE2

They are saying this announcement was basically an obligation to their employees.

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Yeah and I smell bullshit too, as in underfunded pension plans that now need to be made good before draw down.
This is going to cost Ford a lot because most workers left at Ford production are long term employees like Genk.

Can you imagine combined severance and superannuation for each worker that approaches $250K?
That's over $300 million in employee finishing costs before we even consider all the other wind down costs.

I read somewhere that ford only made the announcement when they did because they were told a media outlet had the info and was about to make it public.

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Originally Posted by defective

I read somewhere that ford only made the announcement when they did because they were told a media outlet had the info and was about to make it public.

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Contrary to popular belief, there's a train of thought that Ford had made this decision quite a while ago
like earlier this year and that they were going to keep shoosh like you suggested until they sprung a leak...

Thread split.

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Originally Posted by jpd80

Yeah and I smell bullshit too, as in underfunded pension plans that now need to be made good before draw down.
This is going to cost Ford a lot because most workers left at Ford production are long term employees like Genk.

Can you imagine combined severance and superannuation for each worker that approaches $250K?
That's over $300 million in employee finishing costs before we even consider all the other wind down costs.

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Wasn't there a recent article off Goauto I think that stated costs to pull out of Aus would be $2-3b at least?