It's not all roses for the large Sedan
All the news at the moment, especially here in Adelaide, the equivalent to Detroit-Motor City, is the sacking of 1500 jobs from GM Holden’s plant. Reading between the lines shows a darker story for the Australian large sedan.
With the price of fuel rising and trends towards large SUV’s rising, sales are declining for Holden’s Commodore and Ford’s Falcon. Indeed, the Toyota Corolla has just eclipsed sales of the Falcon, last month.
Holden have also pulled their midsize sedan, the Vectra, from the Australian market. This never really was a success, and the timing of the declining sales of large sedans couldn’t be at a worse time. Ford should take note, and learn from this. Whilst releasing the Mondeo on the Australian market after Holden pulls the Vectra may sound bad, there is a business case for it to work.
Ford’s newly released Focus took them by surprise, by the unprecedented demand. People are buying the Corolla, Mazda 3 and the Astra instead, due to long waiting lists. Ford won’t be able to get more supplies until 2006 when the South African factories production is cranked up to satisfy demand.
So where does the Mondeo sit in all this? In the lower segment of the sedan market, the $29,990, there are two cars that are predominantly cornering the market are the Mazda 6 and the Honda Accord Euro. Ford should offer the Mondeo, but not just offering a choice between a 4 & 6 cylinder models, they should also push the car into territory that Ford could easily fulfil.
Volkswagen have been surprised by the unprecedented demand for their Golf diesel model, so much so that they’ve delayed commercials due to being just able to meet demand through their dealers. With pump prices rising, and Australian looking for fuel alternatives, a diesel Ford Mondeo starts to make sense. It’s a good looking car, can seat four people in comfort, and a guarantee of small pump prices, something that owners of large 6 cylinder sedans can only dream about.
A sales revolution won’t happen overnight, and it will take a while for public perception to change their views towards diesel. This is helped by more European manufacturers bringing over diesels in their smaller cars; Peugeot is leading the charge here with a number of their small cars offered with diesel engines. Fuel stations can take the initiative as well and offer disposable gloves at traditionally dirty diesel pumps, similar to European fuel stations. Diesel engines in SUV’s are also attractive; Ford’s Territory only major let down is the high fuel consumption, which could be resolved through importing Volvo’s 2.4 diesel. One way to revive flagging sedan sales is offering a diesel, admittedly something the market isn’t ready for yet. But who knows, Ford offering a XR-D?!
All the news at the moment, especially here in Adelaide, the equivalent to Detroit-Motor City, is the sacking of 1500 jobs from GM Holden’s plant. Reading between the lines shows a darker story for the Australian large sedan.
With the price of fuel rising and trends towards large SUV’s rising, sales are declining for Holden’s Commodore and Ford’s Falcon. Indeed, the Toyota Corolla has just eclipsed sales of the Falcon, last month.
Holden have also pulled their midsize sedan, the Vectra, from the Australian market. This never really was a success, and the timing of the declining sales of large sedans couldn’t be at a worse time. Ford should take note, and learn from this. Whilst releasing the Mondeo on the Australian market after Holden pulls the Vectra may sound bad, there is a business case for it to work.
Ford’s newly released Focus took them by surprise, by the unprecedented demand. People are buying the Corolla, Mazda 3 and the Astra instead, due to long waiting lists. Ford won’t be able to get more supplies until 2006 when the South African factories production is cranked up to satisfy demand.
So where does the Mondeo sit in all this? In the lower segment of the sedan market, the $29,990, there are two cars that are predominantly cornering the market are the Mazda 6 and the Honda Accord Euro. Ford should offer the Mondeo, but not just offering a choice between a 4 & 6 cylinder models, they should also push the car into territory that Ford could easily fulfil.
Volkswagen have been surprised by the unprecedented demand for their Golf diesel model, so much so that they’ve delayed commercials due to being just able to meet demand through their dealers. With pump prices rising, and Australian looking for fuel alternatives, a diesel Ford Mondeo starts to make sense. It’s a good looking car, can seat four people in comfort, and a guarantee of small pump prices, something that owners of large 6 cylinder sedans can only dream about.
A sales revolution won’t happen overnight, and it will take a while for public perception to change their views towards diesel. This is helped by more European manufacturers bringing over diesels in their smaller cars; Peugeot is leading the charge here with a number of their small cars offered with diesel engines. Fuel stations can take the initiative as well and offer disposable gloves at traditionally dirty diesel pumps, similar to European fuel stations. Diesel engines in SUV’s are also attractive; Ford’s Territory only major let down is the high fuel consumption, which could be resolved through importing Volvo’s 2.4 diesel. One way to revive flagging sedan sales is offering a diesel, admittedly something the market isn’t ready for yet. But who knows, Ford offering a XR-D?!
