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Seems a bit ironic to us that Ford should be blowing out 50 candles to celebrate the half-century of its You Yangs Proving Ground near Geelong in Victoria.
After all, the death knell has well and truly sounded for local manufacture of Ford cars; the very reason the proving ground was established back in 1965.
But look at it another way and you might just be able to see that the proving ground stands to be a bit of a metaphor for Ford Australia’s future once the assembly line grinds to a halt for the last time.
See, post-2017 when all three local manufacturers will have taken their bat and ball and gone home, Ford claims it will be the country’s biggest automotive employer.
The You Yangs facility was, in fact, key to the development of the new Everest and, of course, the all-conquering Ranger pick-up which is built in Thailand but sold in more than 180 markets around the world.
It’s also a facility for hire and one of the most recent tasks for the wind-tunnel was to test and storm-rate a new design of hiking tent for a foreign maker.
