Holden - how long before the end?

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Originally Posted by Eevo

i think, as an idea, the govt should of bought holden, and spun them off into a non GM business, focusing on their best sellers, the V8 cars and nothing else.

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Supposedly the buildings and finances were restricting them from modernising the plant. They were focused on cost cutting for many years. So it might have needed a large investment to ensure a solid future?

Even Labor these days dont seem to go for govt ownership.

Maybe we should have annexed a geographical area of australia as a special territory, where award wages were indexed to that of china etc, given immigration rights for people with skills in the auto industry to gain citizenship to that territory only, and shifted ford toyota holden and the parts industry there, and competed on the global export market with global cars.

I doubt if wages were an important factor in the decline of our vehicle industry. It's more to do with where multinational companies decide to manufacture, which involves various factors, such as government policies, supplier support and shipping facilities and costs, in addition to wages, particularly with increasing automation. China is a huge exporter of course, but other countries have cheaper wages than China.

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Originally Posted by jon3950

Nationalising businesses never ends well - think British Leyland.

Besides, the economies of scale are simply not there. The V8 cars were a fraction of their overall sales.

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Nationalising isnt the plan but hopefully you can see where im going with it.

the V8's were their biggest sales. they wernt selling the small cars. v8 are nitch and with minimal competition. focus on what they are good on.

Holden was only selling about 2000 locally built Commodores a month, which wouldn't be enough for a viable vehicle manufacturing business.

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

I doubt if wages were an important factor in the decline of our vehicle industry. It's more to do with where multinational companies decide to manufacture, which involves various factors, such as government policies, supplier support and shipping facilities and costs, in addition to wages, particularly with increasing automation. China is a huge exporter of course, but other countries have cheaper wages than China.

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Maybe the annexed territory needs its own port. Basically set up our own little 'developing' country. We have plenty of land, stable government. We arent unattractive to multinationals. It seemed more our governments decision they left than the multinationals.

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Originally Posted by Eevo

i think, as an idea, the govt should of bought holden, and spun them off into a non GM business, focusing on their best sellers, the V8 cars and nothing else.

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Not with my taxes!

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Holden was only selling about 2000 locally built Commodores a month, which wouldn't be enough for a viable vehicle manufacturing business.

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2000 a month.
That's a lot more than the new Commodore sales.

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Originally Posted by rammypluge

Maybe the annexed territory needs its own port. Basically set up our own little 'developing' country. We have plenty of land, stable government. We arent unattractive to multinationals. It seemed more our governments decision they left than the multinationals.

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The idea partly centers around giving people the opportunity to come here that otherwise wouldnt, but they have to work for it. After maybe 20 years they can apply for permanent residency in australia. The same idea could be used for all manufacturing industries closing down in australia.

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Originally Posted by rammypluge

The idea partly centers around giving people the opportunity to come here that otherwise wouldnt, but they have to work for it. After maybe 20 years they can apply for permanent residency in australia. The same idea could be used for all manufacturing industries closing down in australia.

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Whyalla almost became a location!

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Originally Posted by DiscoMick

I think the Euro Commodore whatever would be a good car for someone also considering a Camry, but the market for big sedans has shrunk so much it's unlikely to challenge the Camry for sales.
People are mostly buying either versatile vehicles able to move five people (SUVs and utes) or small cars for commuting.
The Captiva is a solid seller, some Colorado's are moving, but the rest of Holden's range is not doing much, even though some are reasonable vehicles.
Times have changed. Ford can sell the Fiesta, Focus and Ranger, so Holden needs to lift it's game.

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Hmmm.... Now let me see. I have a choice. A rebadged Citroen with woeful after sales support or an ultra reliable Camry.

The Camry is not a large car. (The Hybrid version can only tow 400kg, braked or unbraked.)

My next daily drive will probably be a Territory. Not poo pooing the Camry. Mine has done really well. 420,000km so far and it has required little maintenance. And it has survived two roo strikes.

The best car I have had, however, was the VR Commodore. Well over 500,000km and still going strong. A few too many roo strikes unfortunately. Uneconomical to repair.