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Ford will be the next carmaker to quit manufacturing in Australia because "throwing money" at the industry can only work in the short term, a government adviser has claimed.
According to a news.com report, subsidies were doomed to fail because the industry lacked a vision for the future and Ford was most vulnerable because it was isolated from its parent's global operations.
The carmaker has a 3000-strong production workforce in Australia.
"As soon as choices have to be made, Ford is the next Mitsubishi," said John Wormald, principal of international consultant Autopolis, referring to the Japanese company's decision to shut down its Adelaide factory two years ago.
Mr Wormald, who is in Australia to advise the Victorian Government, said the replacement for the Falcon, due in about five years, could be imported cheaply and the carmaker did not need its Melbourne plant.
"Ford isn't short of assembly capacity in other places," he said. "Where's the plan to integrate Australia?"
Ford is the smallest of the three Australian makers and, unlike GM Holden or Toyota, lacks export markets for the locally made Falcon or its SUV variant, the Territory. Last year, it made about 60,000 cars out of an industry total of 223,000.
A spokeswoman for Ford said the company had no plans to abandon manufacturing in Australia.
