BALLARAT brake manufacturers FMP Group Australia, trading under Bendix, won't be directly affected by the announcement that Ford will cease manufacturing in Australia from 2016.
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Bendix supplied Ford with brake products up until about five years ago, but since the company has been importing the products.
FMP Group Australia general manager Graeme Dixon said although the company doesn't supply directly to Ford anymore, there will be flow-on affects in the industry.
"It has come as a shock to most people, but rumours around this have been growing for a while so in that way the announcement wasn't unexpected," he said.
Mr Dixon said there won't be a direct impact on his company, but there will be flow on affects.
"If the market continues to worsen like this, we will be in a situation where we'll need to reassess the future of the company," he said.
"The economies have scaled down and there now is a lower demand for automotive manufacturing in Australia.
"(FMP Group) employees are safe.
"But the situation is more widespread, the auto industry is suffering in Australia and more Australians are buying cars manufactured overseas ... demand volumes area continuing to fall."
He said the manufacturing of motor vehicles in Australia has been declining for some time.
"It's going to have a big impact... on Geelong and on the manufacturing industry and a significant amount of people will be put out of work," Mr Dixon said.
"Component suppliers could be forced out of business, and they might be the suppliers to us and affect our trading."
Mr Dixon said he had a bit of a sight of relief that there weren't directly affected, but is worried for the impact on the industry as a whole.
