Filed under: Ford, Earnings/Financials High fuel prices have taken another casualty. This time it's the Australian built Ford inline six-cylinder engine, which will be phased out in 2010 to make way for the Blue Oval's new Duratec V6. Up to 600 employees at the Geelong plant in Melbourne, which builds the old six-cylinder, will be losing their jobs, but some staff are expected to be redeployed elsewhere. Ford cites its new product manufacturing strategy of accessing global economies of scale as the main factor for dropping the engine, but falling demand for Australia's traditional large sedans because of rising fuel prices and impending changes to local emissions standards would also have had a major impact on the decision. The Aussie division is still on track to complete a new R&D center as part of Ford's $1.8 billion Australian investment program, and significant investment programs in new emissions laboratories and wind tunnel technology will continue. The new Duratec engine will be sourced from high volume U.S. engine facilities and there's even talk of the addition of new diesel units for the locally built Falcon and Territory models. [Source: Ford]Continue reading Ford kills Aussie inline 6-cylinder Permalink | Email this | Comments More...
