Thread: Death Of The Australian Motoring Industry

All the people using lower wages as an excuse,can you explain how Land Rover,I'll use Land Rover as an example as this is a Land Rover Forum can produce vehicles in England and export them all over the world and sell every vehicle it makes,open a brand new engine plant,have the biggest vehicle alloy body factory in the world,have all its production lines refurbished or built new ones because it's revamping it's entire vehicle line yet do all this while paying UK wages and conditions against all those nasty third world countries swamping poor old Fud and 'olden?.People can make any excuse they want,I worked in the industry for 8 years and saw first hand how they worked,the industry died because they made vehicles they wanted to make,not what the consumer wanted to buy. Pat

Originally Posted by disco man

It's a shame Australians don't buy local cars because there is some very good ones.The eco-boost falcon has done very well in all the motoring magazines and as stated earlier the Territory more than holds its own in a very crowded SUV market and HSV is making cars that rival anything from AMG and M division.

But i guess the bogan image of a Holden just doesn't cut it in the corporate world most executives would buy a A8 or 7 series or S class over a Statesman.There is a lot of badge snobbery going on.

There is many cheap nasty ****boxes on Australian roads Foton,Great wall,Cherry,Proton, but at the price they just can't be ignored.But at the end of the day the are rubbish cars.

What experience do you have with these rubbish cars?,Great Walls are very common in the Pilbara,yes the first ones weren't the best but they have improved completely from 5 years ago,the one I had for 6 months did 40K without any issue at all,none narda.The only thing was they were too low geared for the highway,the same as a $70,000 Land cruiser,and I got it because my Land Cruiser **** itself. Pat

Originally Posted by PAT303

All the people using lower wages as an excuse,can you explain how Land Rover,I'll use Land Rover as an example as this is a Land Rover Forum can produce vehicles in England and export them all over the world and sell every vehicle it makes,open a brand new engine plant,have the biggest vehicle alloy body factory in the world,have all its production lines refurbished or built new ones because it's revamping it's entire vehicle line yet do all this while paying UK wages and conditions against all those nasty third world countries swamping poor old Fud and 'olden?.People can make any excuse they want,I worked in the industry for 8 years and saw first hand how they worked,the industry died because they made vehicles they wanted to make,not what the consumer wanted to buy. Pat

Would you say the Government opening the flood gates had nothing to do with it?Would you also say the products that replaced the locals are a better product?

Land Rover is not a stand alone product and also enjoys massive backing,if you removed Jaguar and Tata's backing would they be able to go it alone?

Originally Posted by PAT303

What experience do you have with these rubbish cars?,Great Walls are very common in the Pilbara,yes the first ones weren't the best but they have improved completely from 5 years ago,the one I had for 6 months did 40K without any issue at all,none narda.The only thing was they were too low geared for the highway,the same as a $70,000 Land cruiser,and I got it because my Land Cruiser **** itself. Pat

If they are so good why do they rate down the bottom in 4wd magazine tests? We had a trial great wall at the mine site i work at in the exploration department and it lasted 3 months the electrics don't like dust the suspention can't cope with rutted roads and the cooling system can't cop long periods in low range in 40 degree plus heat.Interior trim is filled with cheap rubbish plastics that broke.

Other than that they are a great car.

Forty years ago everyone said Toyota and Honda cars were junk as well, that soon changed as it will with the Chinese made vehicles. I remember in the 80's when everyone laughed at Allan Bond for importing those heaps of rubbish Hyundai Korean cars. Who laughs at Hyundai now?

As for how can Land Rover survive in a high wage environment when Holden and Ford can't? Land Rover build very niche design luxury vehicles that at present are what enough people around the world want. If it came down to LR surviving on their cooking class Defender's for their financial survival then LR would be gone as well.

Everyone builds four door passenger cars of varying shapes and sizes so having a high wage environment in that market place just makes things even harder.

Originally Posted by Jeff

You missed quite a few steps in the history, John......

Jeff

Yes, the post was long enough anyway! Covered the overall thrust of history. One coud comment that the unions only got the power because the Chifley government wanted their votes! (That is hardly the full story, but is about as sensible as your comment.)

John

Originally Posted by disco man

......

Land Rover is not a stand alone product and also enjoys massive backing,if you removed Jaguar and Tata's backing would they be able to go it alone?

Tata is providing capital to Landrover, certainly, but it should be pointed out that Landrover is the jewel in Tata's crown! It is profitable, which is rather doubtful for the rest of Tata's car business. And Jaguar is a pale shadow compared to Landrover; I suspect the only reason Tata bought it was that it came along with Landrover.

The burden of regulation in the last forty years has made life almost impossible for a small car manufacturer without a really big backer.

Further to some of the above comments - while I have never bought a new car, both the Landrovers I own are Australian assembled and are models developed in Australia and only built in Australia.

John

Originally Posted by JDNSW

Tata is providing capital to Landrover, certainly, but it should be pointed out that Landrover is the jewel in Tata's crown! It is profitable, which is rather doubtful for the rest of Tata's car business. And Jaguar is a pale shadow compared to Landrover; I suspect the only reason Tata bought it was that it came along with Landrover.

The burden of regulation in the last forty years has made life almost impossible for a small car manufacturer without a really big backer.

Further to some of the above comments - while I have never bought a new car, both the Landrovers I own are Australian assembled and are models developed in Australia and only built in Australia.

John

For sure no arguments on that point,i only mention Jaguar because it's part of the company make up.