Post by Bundy on Dec 11, 2013 22:17:18 GMT 10
A very dark day in Australian car manufacturing 
It is now hanging on by a thread through Toyota's continued presence but how long will they stay? Well I can't see it being much more longer than when Ford and Holden leave our shores...
I certainly will put my hand up and say I went too far and was over the top in my criticisms of Ford pulling out which was brought about by and large from the circumstances surrounding the demise of the Falcon. The Commodore has had a similar role in bringing down Holden and I concede that I was way too optimistic to think that the new Commodore model would be Holden's saviour to keep them operating here past 2020 given the weakness in the family car sector and the economy as a whole for the purchase of new cars.
But I also say with a heavy heart that the federal government has done the right thing by not coming to Holden's aide by giving it more funding than what the government had already promised. Manufacturing, especially car manufacturing is just too inefficient in this country and just can't compete on an international level; particularly with the rollback of tariffs.
I do direct much of my frustration at the union movement. They were IMO unreasonable in their pay demands. It was not feasible to use any increases in pay with other pay increases for other sectors without the necessary increases in productivity. Holden shouldn't escape any blame for this either as they agreed to these pay increases as well.
But it is more than just high labour costs that undermined Holden's ability to be profitable and to stay in this country, it is the press assassination of the Commodore and the Falcon combined with a lowering of the tariff rate at the same time.
Print and online media have a large amount of blood on their hands for partaking in a persistent campaign to bring the two iconic large cars down using such reasons as rising petrol prices (should be noted that they haven't changed in the last 6 years), push for families to buy SUVs - and what we have seen is all these foreign car makers come into this country and market their 4 cylinders and SUVs at an attractive price given the lower tariffs and Australians in the market for a new car have jumped for these cars - see Mazda, Hyundai's spike in sales.
And Holden and Ford it should be said have been too slow to catch on to the types of cars that these new players have been marketing and have failed to re-position themselves in time with smaller cars such as the Cruze which are aimed at enticing these new aged buyers.
So shame on the media, shame on the government for reducing tariffs and shame on the unions for going after unrealistic wage claims.
Oh let's not forget the carbon tax adding to the ever increasing cost base of producing a car. Get rid of that if you want Toyota to stay a little longer.
End of rant
It is now hanging on by a thread through Toyota's continued presence but how long will they stay? Well I can't see it being much more longer than when Ford and Holden leave our shores...
I certainly will put my hand up and say I went too far and was over the top in my criticisms of Ford pulling out which was brought about by and large from the circumstances surrounding the demise of the Falcon. The Commodore has had a similar role in bringing down Holden and I concede that I was way too optimistic to think that the new Commodore model would be Holden's saviour to keep them operating here past 2020 given the weakness in the family car sector and the economy as a whole for the purchase of new cars.
But I also say with a heavy heart that the federal government has done the right thing by not coming to Holden's aide by giving it more funding than what the government had already promised. Manufacturing, especially car manufacturing is just too inefficient in this country and just can't compete on an international level; particularly with the rollback of tariffs.
I do direct much of my frustration at the union movement. They were IMO unreasonable in their pay demands. It was not feasible to use any increases in pay with other pay increases for other sectors without the necessary increases in productivity. Holden shouldn't escape any blame for this either as they agreed to these pay increases as well.
But it is more than just high labour costs that undermined Holden's ability to be profitable and to stay in this country, it is the press assassination of the Commodore and the Falcon combined with a lowering of the tariff rate at the same time.
Print and online media have a large amount of blood on their hands for partaking in a persistent campaign to bring the two iconic large cars down using such reasons as rising petrol prices (should be noted that they haven't changed in the last 6 years), push for families to buy SUVs - and what we have seen is all these foreign car makers come into this country and market their 4 cylinders and SUVs at an attractive price given the lower tariffs and Australians in the market for a new car have jumped for these cars - see Mazda, Hyundai's spike in sales.
And Holden and Ford it should be said have been too slow to catch on to the types of cars that these new players have been marketing and have failed to re-position themselves in time with smaller cars such as the Cruze which are aimed at enticing these new aged buyers.
So shame on the media, shame on the government for reducing tariffs and shame on the unions for going after unrealistic wage claims.
Oh let's not forget the carbon tax adding to the ever increasing cost base of producing a car. Get rid of that if you want Toyota to stay a little longer.
End of rant
