Few companies are as tied to one Australian town as Ford is to Geelong. The company chose the Victorian city for its headquarters in 1925 and kept making engines there until 2016 1. In between came the coupe utility and the Falcon, along with decades of rivalry with Holden.
This refreshed history of Ford Australia replaces an earlier version of the post that repeated several dates and figures we could not confirm. Everything below has been checked against the sources listed at the end of the page. If you own an Australian-built Ford, or plan to buy one, the timeline below shows where your car fits.
Where the history of Ford Australia began
Ford sold cars in Australia long before it built them here. A Model T was already on show in Geelong in 1915, parked outside the city library at its local launch 1. Manufacturing came a decade later, in 1925 1.
On 31 March 1925 Ford announced that its Australian headquarters would be in Geelong, Victoria 1. The first Ford Australia assembly plant opened there on 1 July 1925, although no vehicles were built on that first day 1. The company's newsletter reported a few weeks later that the first shipment of parts, enough for 1,100 cars, was on the ocean and due to arrive in early August 1.
The same year Ford began a sponsorship of the Geelong Football Club, which has been described as the longest sporting sponsorship in the world 1. It is a small detail that says a lot about how local the company meant to be.
Production moved with Ford's American models. The Geelong factory switched to the Model A in 1928 and began building the Ford V8 in 1932 1.
The ute, an Australian idea
The best-known product of those early years was an Australian invention. In 1934 Ford released a coupe utility designed locally by Ford engineer Lewis Bandt 1. It combined a car's cabin with an open load tray behind it, and the body style became so common here that "ute" is now an everyday word.
The ute matters to this story for a second reason. It showed that Ford's Australian engineers could design for local needs instead of simply assembling what Detroit sent. That ability would shape the company's next fifty years.
Broadmeadows and the Falcon
After the Second World War, Ford watched Holden launch an Australian car and needed an answer. In 1956 the company bought land at Campbellfield, north of Melbourne, to build the Broadmeadows Assembly Plant 1. In 1959 it released its first Fairlane, an Australian-assembled version of the American car 1.
The real answer was the Falcon. The first Falcon came off the line at Broadmeadows on 28 June 1960 1. The XK model was essentially a right-hand-drive version of the North American Falcon, and its sales suffered from complaints about durability on rough outback roads 2. In July 1961 Ford announced that the new Melbourne factory would also become its headquarters 1.
Ford set out to fix the Falcon's reputation in public. The XP Falcon was introduced in March 1965 3, and Ford drove a fleet of XPs around its You Yangs testing grounds for 70,000 miles, about 110,000 km, as a publicity test 2. The XP range reached 70,998 vehicles before it was replaced in September 1966 3.
The GT years
The next Falcon changed the car's image. The XR of 1966 was the first Australian Falcon offered with a V8 engine, and it won the Wheels Car of the Year award that year 2. Ford introduced a Falcon GT version of the XR in 1967 2.
Performance peaked with the GT-HO Phase III of 1971, described as Australia's fastest four-door production car, with a top speed of 141.5 mph, or about 227.7 km/h 2. Cars like it built the reputation that Falcon GTs still carry among collectors.
Ford Australia was also designing more of its own range. In 1967 it produced its own luxury car, the ZA Fairlane 1. In June 1972 it launched the XA, the first all-Australian Falcon, and the LTD followed the same year 1. The XD of 1979 continued that line 2.
Smaller cars and partnerships
The Falcon was never Ford's only car here, and capacity was sometimes tight. In 1977 the Cortina wagon was assembled at Renault's Heidelberg plant in Melbourne because Ford's own lines were full 1.
The 1980s and 1990s brought a run of shared and imported models in the mid-size class. The Corsair replaced the Telstar sedan in 1989 1. After Nissan closed its Australian operations in 1992, the Telstar name returned, and in 1995 the Mondeo, imported from Belgium, took its place 1. Ford dropped the Mondeo in 2001 1.
Small cars followed the same path towards imports. The Focus replaced the Laser in 2002, and the Fiesta was offered from 2004 until 2022 1. Around July 2009 Ford received permission to add a small car to the Falcon line 1, an idea that would not save local production in the end.
Leading the market
For much of the 1980s the Falcon was the car to beat. It overtook its Holden rival in 1982 and stayed the number-one seller in Australia until 1988 2. The XF became Ford Australia's best-selling Falcon of all, with 278,101 built 2.
Ford also built smaller cars in Sydney in that era. The Laser was produced at Ford's Sydney plant from 1981 until the plant closed in September 1994 1. The EA Falcon of 1988 was a fresh design that cost A$700 million to develop 2.
New models kept coming even as the market changed. The BA Falcon, a major update of the AU, debuted in September 2002 2. The Territory, an Australian-designed SUV, was built on the Falcon production line from 2004 to 2016 1. The FG Falcon was announced on 17 February 2008 2. The Fairlane and LTD were cancelled after the 2007 model year 1.
The end of local manufacturing
The decision that closed the Ford factories came in May 2013 1. On 23 May 2013 Ford announced it would end manufacturing in Australia after 88 years, citing an after-tax loss of A$141 million for the 2012 financial year, with 1,200 jobs to go 1.
The closures came in stages in 2016 1. Geelong built its last Australian-made straight-six and V8 engines on 26 September 2016 1. Assembly at Broadmeadows ended on 7 October 2016 1. The final Falcon, a blue XR6, rolled off the line that day 2. Over its life the Australian Falcon reached 3,578,689 units 2.
Holden and Toyota stopped building cars here the following year, in October 2017 4. Our history of Australian car manufacturing covers how the closures of Holden and Toyota followed, and why the industry shrank.
Ford Australia after the factories
Ford did not leave Australia when the factories closed. Since 2016 it has imported passenger and commercial vehicles for the region, and it was one of Ford's five global product development centres 1. In 2023 it employed about 1,800 people 1.
Its biggest job has been the Ranger. The second-generation Ranger, sold here from 19 July 2022, was developed by Ford Australia with input from Ford's other regions 5. That ute now leads the market. In 2025 the Ranger was Australia's top-selling vehicle with 56,555 sales, and Ford was the second-largest brand with 94,399 vehicles sold 6.
So the company that gave Australia the coupe utility now sells the country's most popular ute, designed here and built overseas. For a closer look at it, read our Ford Ranger buyer's guide.
Buying an Australian-built Ford
Australian-made Fords are now firmly in the classic market, and the model history above helps when you look at one. Series codes such as XP, XR and XA tell you when a car was built and what it should have under the bonnet. The V8 arrived with the XR 2, so a 1965 XP with a V8 has had an engine change. That is not always a problem, but it should be reflected in how the car is described and priced.
Later cars are a different kind of purchase. The last Falcons and the Territory are recent enough to be everyday used cars rather than collector pieces, and the Territory was built on the Falcon line until 2016 1. Because local production has ended, think about parts and servicing for the specific version you want, and ask the seller what has been replaced. A blue XR6 was the very last Falcon built 2, and final-year cars of a long-running model often attract interest of their own, so compare asking prices against ordinary examples before you decide whether a premium is fair.
Performance models need extra care. GT and GT-HO cars carry high prices, and their identity is worth confirming through a marque club or specialist before you pay for one. Ask for the car's history and paperwork, and compare its details with the factory specification for that series.
When you are ready to look, start with cars for sale on Car Domain and read our buying safety tips first. Our history of Chrysler Australia tells the story of the Falcon's other great rival, the Valiant. The Wikipedia history of Ford Australia has the full timeline, and the FCAI's 2025 sales summary shows where the brand stands today.
Sources
- Wikipedia, Ford Australia, accessed 2 November 2026
- Wikipedia, Ford Falcon (Australia), accessed 2 November 2026
- Wikipedia, Ford Falcon (XP), accessed 2 November 2026
- Wikipedia, Automotive industry in Australia, accessed 2 November 2026
- Wikipedia, Ford Ranger (T6), accessed 2 November 2026
- Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, Australia's new vehicle market remains resilient, accessed 2 November 2026
