Ford Motor ends 91 years of manufacturing in Australia

Ford Motor Co's 91-year run in US car manufacturing in Australia ended on Friday, even as the last two US car makers are set to close their doors next year.

According to Ford Australia, it had built the world's last six-cylinder, rear-wheel drive Falcon XR6 at its Broadmeadows plant in Melbourne.

Ford added, 3.5 million Falcons, had been built since 1960, although few had been exported.

A black 1973 XB GT Ford Falcon Coupe was driven by Mel Gibson in the movie ''The Road Warrior''.

The last Falcon will be exhibited in the Ford Australia museum, according to the Australian subsidiary's chief executive officer Graeme Whickman, who spoke to reporters outside the plant.

"Today is an emotional day for the entire team of Ford Australia,"Whickman said.

"We are saying goodbye to some wonderful manufacturing colleagues who have done a great deal for Ford in Australia," he said.

Ford, General Motors Co and Toyota Motor Corp announced in 2013 that they would quit Australia, shedding 6,600 jobs due to high production costs, distance  from potential export markets and increasing competition.

Ford added it would continue to sell and service imported cars in Australia and Australia-based engineers would help develop designs of vehicles that would be manufactured overseas.

According to commentators, the decline of Australia's manufacturing industry- employment in the sector out of total employment dropped from 13.4 per cent in 2005 to 7.8 per cent last year had not been helped by changing tastes as motorists turned away from the locally made, big passenger cars Ford and Holden were traditionally known for, for overseas-made small cars and sports utilities.

According to retired Ford dealer Martin van Koldenhoven, from rural Western Australia, who spoke to Reuters, the car-maker dominated sales in the 1980s with its sedans and ''utes,'' or utility vehicles, but then fell behind with changing buying trends.

''Be it light commercial or four-wheel-drives or small cars, they seemed to be a step behind,'' van Koldenhoven said, Reuters reported.