Last ever Australian made car rolls out of factory 20th Oct'17

[electric]

Friday 20th October 2017. Aussie local car manufacturing finally ceases.

 

Mid morning Holden will close their Elizabeth South Aust factory forever.

Toyota closed last week.

Ford closed last year.

 

Once the existing stock is cleared, all new vehicles sold in Australia will be fully imported.

 

End of an era.

 

Pictured is the final Aussie built car. A Holden Commodore V8

 

 

[nisakiman]

Why?

 

USA, Europe and Japan all have similarly high wage economies, yet still produce cars, so why has it become uneconomical in Aus? I never owned a Holden when I lived there back in the '70s (I had a couple of Chrysler Valiants), but it will be a great shame to see the marque disappear. It was an Australian icon.

[weegee]

Australian Unions made it all happen....and...The OZ government has been bailing out the Car industry for years and years for many millions of Dollars each time....Highest paid Factory workers in the world..

The biggest selling Car in OZ at present is the Ford Ranger...outselling Toyota....and where are they made?...Thailand.

[metisdead]

Not Thailand related and now moved to the Home Country forum. 

Edited October 21, 2017 by metisdead

[4MyEgo]

On 20/10/2017 at 12:34 AM, weegee said:

Australian Unions made it all happen....and...The OZ government has been bailing out the Car industry for years and years for many millions of Dollars each time....Highest paid Factory workers in the world..

The biggest selling Car in OZ at present is the Ford Ranger...outselling Toyota....and where are they made?...Thailand.

Very happy with the price I paid for my Ford Ranger here, i.e. 800,000 baht on road with full comprehensive insurance, that was 18 months ago, with a few extra's thrown in, Vs the cost to buy one in Australia

[geriatrickid]

To allow the loss of an essential part of national security and independence is a travesty. Hopefully, this is just a phase so that the country can start fresh and once the dust settles and the workers, government and consumers come to their senses.

[mfd101]

On 10/19/2017 at 8:23 PM, nisakiman said:

Why?

Everywhere in the world is the same: If you want a car industry from go to whoa (design, manufacture, assembly), you have to build in LARGE numbers & you have to export all round the world. Otherwise you can't compete.

 

Australia never managed that - too small, too small-minded, too late. The Holdens were solid & dependable but never cutting edge. I remember when we used to export them to the Persian Gulf countries (rich). Military guys there told me they always bought the Oz-built relabelled Pontiacs rather than the American rubbish because the Oz-built kept on keeping on in the heat & the sand & the dust of the Gulf.

 

Did that last? No. Insufficient enterprising spirit in complacent ol' Oz ...

 

[electric]

Why has the Oz car manufacturing industry finished ?

 

A story published in Feb'17 by Melbourne's daily Herald Sun newspaper, pretty much completely answers the above question.

 

Thailand gets a strong mention in the story also.

 

I would urge all interested TV members to spend 10 minutes to read the following link. It's very good.

 

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/why-australian-car-manufacturing-died-and-what-it-means-for-our-motoring-future/news-story/0428dc235d1b44639459959f5a3bbf9b

 

 

 

Edited October 21, 2017 by electric

[electric]

Not sure if the link in my previous post works, but if you Google Herald Sun why australian car manufacturing died

 

you will find the Feb'17 story easy

[ELVIS123456]

First car I ever owned was a Holden FC - 1960 two-tone blue 'special' model.  It was a heap of crap that was slow to get going and even slower to stop.  I cant say Holden or Ford deserved to have survived for as long as they did.  The Aussie management stupidity and sheer arrogance of the workers destroyed what could have been a 'niche' product on the world market. But it was easy to go to the Govt and get special treatment and money - so they did.  I still remember the Hawke Govt in the 80s trying to reform the industry and getting nowhere.  Nothing to get upset about IMO - they should have been dismantled 30 years ago.

 

[tifino]

 

when you see a foreign made car in OZ; you instantly recognise it, for where it would have come from:

 - it's a from Germany, that VW

 - it's from Japan, that Toyota

etc etc etc

 

Be in the US, and that 2 door Commodore, the Monaro CV8, or Maloo Ute; that you're driving around:

 - is called, and badged a Chev something...

 

Back when James Bond was being filmed in Thailand (...Golden Gun) there was a 1973 Chrysler Valiant in it:

 - and the badges were a Dodge something...

 

International sales from OZ products simply didn't get into the heads of foreign buyers the origins of OZ products

(unless maybe a fluffy Kangaroo or Koala was stickytaped to the dashboard)

[BuddyDean]

The biggest cost per vehicle of a GM is pensioner healthcare.  Horrible cars...just reminded of it by the comments about the unions and bailouts above...pretty much the same piles of junk.  The Toyota plants in the US have been highly successful, BMW and Mercedes have now followed, and none are in Detroit.  Oz should be concerned about the diversification of it's economy, but losing money on every car made us not a solution, but then again, neither is an economy of selling insurance to each other.

Edited November 12, 2017 by BuddyDean

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎10‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 8:23 PM, nisakiman said:

Why?

 

USA, Europe and Japan all have similarly high wage economies, yet still produce cars, so why has it become uneconomical in Aus? I never owned a Holden when I lived there back in the '70s (I had a couple of Chrysler Valiants), but it will be a great shame to see the marque disappear. It was an Australian icon.

Perhaps the companies didn't see the market as large enough to modernise the factories. Initial investment in robotics is high cost. Car manufacturers can't afford to employ humans anymore, and in a few years it will all be AI/ robotics.

I don't see many Oz cars in NZ and none in Thailand- it's mainly Japanese now, so the market would be pretty much exclusively Australian. Big business doesn't care about anything except profit.

Only Australian car I ever owned was an underpowered Sunbird with the piece of junk Opel 4 cylinder, but I only bought it because it was very cheap, and I gave it to my mother.

I'd love to have owned a GM Charger- the most beautiful car ever made. My ex owned a big straight six Torana though, and that was class. Only thing I missed when I left her

 

BTW, did they ever build a decent small car? Big Holdens and Fords are all very well in a big country, but few want them elsewhere. Also, people can't afford the fuel any more.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 3:35 PM, electric said:

Why has the Oz car manufacturing industry finished ?

 

A story published in Feb'17 by Melbourne's daily Herald Sun newspaper, pretty much completely answers the above question.

 

Thailand gets a strong mention in the story also.

 

I would urge all interested TV members to spend 10 minutes to read the following link. It's very good.

 

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/technology/why-australian-car-manufacturing-died-and-what-it-means-for-our-motoring-future/news-story/0428dc235d1b44639459959f5a3bbf9b

 

 

 

Not reading that. Problem with the security ie it may have a virus.

[BuddyDean]

There was a VW plant in Oz.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 3:44 PM, electric said:

Not sure if the link in my previous post works, but if you Google Herald Sun why australian car manufacturing died

 

you will find the Feb'17 story easy

I did that, thanks. I should have read that before my first post.

Not much to do with factories or robotics- all to do with pay rates. Paying an assembly worker $69,000 is insanity when Thailand workers cost so much less for the same product.

Seems Oz is about to find out what happens when 50,000 long term unemployed are added to the population, and corresponding decrease in taxable income. Not looking good at all. I can see massive protests about immigration coming soon.

In a way, Oz is leading the way in what is going to happen all over western countries as businesses automate or export jobs.

Unfortunately, the ignorant, waste of space incompetents that sit in parliaments ( or equivalent ) in all western countries have no clue as what to do about it. They won't even discuss it.

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎10‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 11:58 AM, geriatrickid said:

To allow the loss of an essential part of national security and independence is a travesty. Hopefully, this is just a phase so that the country can start fresh and once the dust settles and the workers, government and consumers come to their senses.

Dream on.

Unless there is not a single human worker involved it's not, IMO, going to happen. Oz wage rates are just too high, and I doubt the OZ government could afford to do it without either putting taxes way, way up or imposing huge tariffs on imported cars- good luck with that.

I agree that it is a loss of national security, but could always go down the NZ route and just print a bunch of big "we surrender" posters.

[BuddyDean]

A few years ago they said GM workers cost 145000 per year, fully burdened, and the Toyota NA workers cost 81,000 and had far fewer quality control issues.