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Ford Accelerates Transformation by Reshaping Broadmeadows Engineering Campus, Expanding Footprint (417)

To accelerate an already rapid pace of new product launches and leading consumer experience improvements, Ford Motor Company is reconfiguring its Asia-Pacific Engineering Centre Broadmeadows facilities as a product development campus and expanding its Australian footprint by establishing a new national sales company closer to central Melbourne.

As part of the country’s only full engineering centre, some of the growing team based in Broadmeadows will move to the iconic Head Office building, which will benefit from an internal refurbishment. The company’s research and testing operations in Geelong and Lara continue uninterrupted.

Ford has signed a long term lease with Melbourne-based Salta Properties for office space in Victoria Gardens where approximately 200 employees, contractors and other support staff from the Marketing, Sales and Service team and supporting functions will move and establish the new national sales company office. The team will focus on continuing rapid improvements in the consumer experience to retain existing customers and attract a broader base.

The national sales company will open in the middle of the year on the border of Richmond to capitalize on the area’s vibrancy and related employee satisfaction benefits. The location also provides better access to more consumers and key business partners such as its advertising agency located in Richmond.

“The transformation of Ford’s Head Office into the Asia-Pacific Engineering Centre will signal that we will be the only automotive company that can fully develop vehicles in Australia,” said Bob Graziano, President and CEO, Ford of Australia. “The national sales company in Victoria Gardens, leveraging our outstanding product line-up, will focus on delivering Australia’s best automotive consumer experience.”

Aussie innovation
Ford represents the future of innovation in Australia with a growing engineering centre and plans to become the country’s largest auto company after 2017 with a 1,500-strong workforce.

This team will continue to design, engineer and test vehicles with leading quality, fuel economy, safety and smart technologies for customers around the world. No other automotive company will approach this level of local innovation.

The new investments in the local Victorian economy is in addition to more than $300 million the Asia-Pacific Engineering Centre is expected to invest in 2015, adding to nearly $2 billion invested the past six years.

“Ford is investing heavily in innovation and our Australian team will be a key part of delivering even more advanced vehicles in the future as one of our four engineering centre’s of excellence globally,” said Graydon Reitz, Ford’s Melbourne-based Director of Engineering and Product Development in Asia Pacific. “No other auto company is investing this heavily in Australia.”

Getting satisfaction
The national sales company will build on rapid improvements to Ford customer satisfaction with sales and service at dealerships around the country. According to the latest internal customer satisfaction metrics, Ford’s sales satisfaction has increased nearly 10 percent year-on-year and 12 percent year-on-year for service satisfaction.

In addition, Ford also swept up at the annual Canstar Blue Motoring Awards in 2014 picking up three customer satisfaction awards including the coveted overall satisfaction, after-sales service satisfaction and best hatchback awards.

“Ford’s new vehicles are widely being credited for competing with the best products in the world,” said Graeme Whickman, vice president of Marketing, Sales and Service, Ford of Australia. “As we roll out even more stylish, innovative vehicles, we are investing heavily to transform our customer experience so people who fall in love with our vehicles stay in love with them for many years.”

The new office offers more fundamental cultural changes as a modern facility with a combination of fixed offices, flexible work spaces and open office floor plan as well as spaces for collaboration, brainstorming and innovation.

The national sales company also will lead the introduction of a wave of new products that will accelerate this year as the company plans to refresh its entire line-up by 2017. In addition to the freshened Falcon and Territory launched at the end of 2014, the new vehicles to be introduced this year include:

• 2015 Ford Mondeo: The all-new, stylish and technologically advanced Mondeo mid-size sedan arrives early in 2015. The new Mondeo will feature at least 10 advanced technologies not available on the Camry, including a diesel model that will be more fuel efficient than Camry Hybrid.
• 2015 Ford Kuga: The newly launched Ford Kuga will be freshened in early 2015 with new EcoBoost technology available, including the 2L EcoBoost engine on high series which offers more power than Toyota’s RAV-4.
• 2015 Ford Focus: A freshened version of the popular car nameplate arrives in the middle of the year and will include a refreshed performance model of the Focus ST.
• All-New Ford Everest: The Australian designed and engineered Everest is a technologically advanced, stunningly capable and refined seven-seat SUV that will be launched in 2015.
• 2015 Ford Ranger: A freshened version of the tough, capable and Australian-created Ranger will arrive in 2015 to build on its momentum after cutting Toyota Hilux’s sales lead by more than 40 percent since 2011.
• All-new Mustang: The most advanced version yet of the iconic pony car, offering more advanced driver-assist technology than any other car in its class, a new turbocharged EcoBoost® 2.3-litre and an upgraded 5.0-litre V8 with more than 320 kW.