Ford to shut all production in Australia by 2016

MUMBAI: The US car manufacturer Ford Motor will pull the plug on all its manufacturing plants in Australia by October 2016, after having produced vehicles for over 85 years ?Down Under?.

About 1,200 workers are expected to lose their jobs from the Broadmeadows and Geelong plants, in the state of Victoria.

Ford said its Australian operations had lost 600 million Australian dollars ($580m; ?385m) over the last five years.

The strength of the Australian dollar has made manufacturing more expensive, while sales have been under pressure.

"Our costs are double that of Europe and nearly four times Ford in Asia," Bob Graziano, the chief executive of Ford Australia, said. "The business case simply did not stack up."

He added that "manufacturing is not viable for Ford in Australia in the long-term".

Ford said that it would still import its cars into Australia.

Leigh Diehm from the Australian Manufacturers Workers Union (AMWU) told ABC News that its members in both sites were "devastated by the news".

"We will be sitting down with Ford this afternoon working our way through and talking to our members on the two sites over the coming months and years."

The Australian government last year announced a $5.4 billion fund to support the car industry, including $34 million to Ford to continue production until at least the end of 2016.

Ford began manufacturing in Australia in 1925 with the Model T cars in Geelong.