Holden, Ford and Toyota Closure

RustyD · Guru

Holden, Ford and Toyota Closure

Bryan · Guru

Very true Rusty. Even at Federal Govt level. Saw some BMW's being used.

macka17 · Guru

Not so much the Gov't. Apart from being gutless regarding standing up to Unions.

Those things. Put every worker involved with them out of work through wanting too much for what they were worth.
Plus Overpricing all our exports in relation to other country's Because of that.
Gimmee. Gimmee.
We have one of the highest wage rates and pricing of similar things in the world.

We left UK 45 yrs ago to get away from bloody unions. The B---'s beat me here.
They and their subservient Labor Party bankrupt everything they get their hands on.
Borrow. Borrow. Borrow.

One day it catches up. as we starting to find out nowadays.
The last decent Aussie Built car had a Blue badge on the front of it.

boab · Senior Member

The Australian motor industry was once protected by tariffs and import licences so we had Leyland Chrysler gm ford and many other locally built cars , trucks and even tractors if you wanted to drive a bmw or merc you paid for it unfortunately our governments of both persuasions seem to think free trade is the way to go and so with the easing of tarriffs and import duties we have seen our motor industry die if you had been here in the 50s and early 60s most people drove a car built here in australia

RustyD · Guru

Our governments (all persuasions) have no idea of free trade or level playing fields. We protected our motor industry with tariffs but other countries did similar. Our agreement with Thailand (aka East Detroit) about us sending back vehicles had some small print. Thailand would only accept vehicles under 3 litres. Hence Falcons and Commodores were excepted. The only Australian vehicle under 3 litres was the 2.7 litre diesel Territory that we were forced to price at same price as equivalent sized AUDI, MB and BMW. Our bureaucrats have no idea.

Desert Dweller · Guru

We've owned 4 Falcons over the years, probably the closest thing to a locally DESIGNED & BUILT vehicle.
Shove a Lion badge on a General Motors worldwide product & it becomes a Holden.
It's a pity our car manufacturing industry has gone as in the last few years we finally caught up with the rest of the world as far as build quality is concerned.
Does Australia make anything these days?
The only thing that's keeping us afloat is other countries digging holes in ours. If we didn't have an abundance of minerals we'd be a third word country.

Aus-Kiwi · Guru

Sell sell sell Canberra !! Even our farms are selling ..

montie · Guru

boab wrote:
The Australian motor industry was once protected by tariffs and import licences so we had Leyland Chrysler gm ford and many other locally built cars , trucks and even tractors if you wanted to drive a bmw or merc you paid for it unfortunately our governments of both persuasions seem to think free trade is the way to go and so with the easing of tarriffs and import duties we have seen our motor industry die if you had been here in the 50s and early 60s most people drove a car built here in australia

To Australia a Free Trade Agreement means they get what they need (our resources) and we get what we dont need at the expense of local manufacturing. The way we are going our kids will only need a degree in how to carry a suitcase because tourism is all we will have left plus a lot of holes in the ground.

-- Edited by montie on Sunday 22nd of October 2017 09:30:07 AM

hako · Guru

Better enjoy it fellas - we are the generation that allowed all this to happen. How many of us contacted our politicians to stop it.

Good Luck.

rockylizard · Guru

hako wrote:
Better enjoy it fellas - we are the generation that allowed all this to happen. How many of us contacted our politicians to stop it.

Good Luck.

Gday...

I guess if we are just focusing on one small part of the problem ... government intervention and then lack of intervention in this industry ... I could also add we are the generation that helped to cause Strayan products to become so expensive through higher and higher pay rates ... revelling in the "lucky country" until it became noncompetitive.

Cheers - John

DeBe · Guru

One of the reasons we needed higher wages is Inflation, all govts live of inflation.

rockylizard · Guru

DeBe wrote:
One of the reasons we needed higher wages is Inflation, all govts live of inflation.

Gday...

Inflation has complex causation ... however, wage rises are integral - although some will argue "chicken or egg".

https://www.economicshelp.org/macroeconomics/inflation/causes-inflation/

Cheers - John

RustyD · Guru

My belief is that Holden ceased to become an Australian designed car when the fuel filler was on the right. It has been a re-hashed Opel since then. Not a criticism but a comment.

Govts like inflation. Puts Joes Averages tax up to higher brackets.

rockylizard · Guru

RustyD wrote:
My belief is that Holden ceased to become an Australian designed car when the fuel filler was on the right. It has been a re-hashed Opel since then. Not a criticism but a comment.

Govts like inflation. Puts Joes Averages tax up to higher brackets.

Gday....

confuse it is Joe Average's pay rises that move them into high tax brackets confuse

It could be said that inflation causes the chasing of pay increases ... without one or either there is less chance of inflation.

Again ... it could be debated which is the chicken and which is the egg. cry

Cheers - John

PS - or was it the polariser rather than the position of the fuel filler

-- Edited by rockylizard on Sunday 22nd of October 2017 05:05:21 PM

Desert Dweller · Guru

Now that Holden & Ford are gone what happens to the flag waving bogans at Bathurst going to do?

Tony Bev · Guru

Over the years I have had mainly Australian made 6 cylinder sedan type vehicles

I found that Australian made vehicles, or at least Holden, and Ford, were good enough for me

I also found that spare parts were readily available, which was probably the main selling point for me

As others have already said, we have no one except ourselves to blame

I am sure that further down the track, we shall see some small town shops close down, due to lack of patronage
Hope that I am wrong, with the above line

The Belmont Bear · Guru

What concerns me most about the demise of both Australia's heavy and manufacturing industries is that we are becoming a country that is more and more reliant on others. In the past when conflicts arose such as WW1 or WW2 Australia geared up industry to support our defence with the industrial hubs like Newcastle playing key roles. Nowadays if we faced invasion we would have to throw lumps of coal or maybe bunches of grapes at them as they sail past Nobbys into the harbour. biggrin biggrin .