Why Ford needs to stay in Australian motorsport | comment

Ford fans might not want to believe it, but the exclusive story by News Corp Australia’s James Phelps in the lead-up to last weekend’s Bathurst 1000 is true.

Ford is planning to pull out of V8 Supercars once it stops making cars in Australia at the end of 2016.

It has already cut funding and will trim the budgets even further over the next two years -- even though the last official Ford-funded team just delivered the company back-to-back wins on the mountain, in an unprecedented last-to-first victory

Please, Ford. Rethink this decision.

But emotion carries little weight in such heavy boardroom decisions. Ford won’t say this publicly, but privately it thinks motor racing is bad for its image. It wants to reposition as a technology leader, and move upmarket.

I have one word for Ford on this: Toyota.

The Japanese giant sells more blokey four-wheel-drives and utes than any other brand in Australia. Toyota also sells a tonne of hybrid cars globally (it just passed the 7 million mark this week). In other words: you can market both. Successfully.

I completely understand why Ford wants to move its brand upmarket. Even Ford dealers admit the cars are better than the brand’s image.

But to walk away from the core V8 audience is madness. Ford walked away from motorsport and V8s before. And the fans forgave them when they came back. I’m not so sure fans will be so forgiving a second time around.

One more thought: if the V8 Supercar audience isn’t worth talking to, why did Ford have so many advertisements all through the telecast on Sunday?

Please, Ford. Rethink this decision. Ford race teams need genuine financial support to remain competitive, not a few body panels donated in kind.