By NOEL MURPHY
FORD has posted a loss of $267 million, its second worst, ahead of closing its North Geelong manufacturing operations and sacking 600 workers.
But in the United States the car-maker has teamed up with Alcoa to launch a new aluminium Ford F-150 pickup, the nation’s biggest-selling motor vehicle after 760,000 sales last year.
The Ford losses followed a dramatic slump in sales reported last week, with Falcon ute and Territory plummeting 55.8 and 44.7 per cent on sales 12 months ago.
Geelong’s Ford workforce is set to lose 510 jobs by October 2016 but 300 will wrap up next month.
Alcoa will shut its Point Henry operations, cutting a total 800 jobs, from August.
But while the Australian fortunes of both multi-nationals are on the skids, presenting significant fallout for the Geelong economy, the deal between the pair to make aluminium F-150s in the US has been hailed as a ground-breaking development.
Alcoa hit social media this week with Twitter posts linking to industry bulletins and references to the “monumental opportunity” from the collaboration.
Ford unveiled the all-aluminium F-150 at the Detroit Auto Show earlier this year. The vehicle is more than 300kg lighter than its previous steel design and aimed squarely at enhanced fuel efficiency.
Alcoa will spend $US575 million to expand production plants in Iowa and Tennessee to meet demand under long-term auto contracts.
Media reports also point to Alcoa competitor Novelis commissioning two new automotive sheet lines in New York and China.
Alcoa has told the Independent the US deal has no ramifications for Geelong.
The Independent was unable to gain comment from Ford on whether it might export the F-150 from the US to Australia.
