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I don't think you can blame any single government - the writing was on the wall right from when Chifley bribed GM to start fully manufacturing cars here. But the real start of the end of the gravy train was the Button Plan, and assured by the reductions in tariffs and the rise in the $A since then.Quote:
Originally Posted by DiscoMick
The government killed the industry in the end,but there were many other issues as well,such as the unions,labour costs,etc,etc,and on it goes.Quote:
Originally Posted by DiscoMick
The bottom line is,produce vehicles that people don't want,then the inevitable will happen.
the whole line of thought and the rhetoric changed over the years from "investing" in industry to help keep the nation viable and the masses fed, to the "subsidizing" line of thought as i see it.... soon as that line of thought became the prevalent one, the industry was doomed
who is it that actually gained anything out of the government of the day stopping that investment ?
Everyone in Australia who did not work in the automotive industry - that is, almost everyone. The problem with "investing" in the motor industry is that it immediately means that the government is giving favourable treatment to a small part of the population, not to mention the shareholders in Detroit. And the costs go beyond the fact that everyone who pays taxes is contributing directly to this. And you have to immediately ask the question "why this industry rather than the rest of industry? Why not, for example, electronics?" If you remember, for many years electronics (which was largely Australian owned) was protected. And they did not get the direct subsidies that the motor industry did (as far as I know).Quote:
Originally Posted by incisor
Most protection historically was by tariff protection rather than direct subsidies like the motor industry, and it is easy to say that this has no losers - but it does. For a start, it means higher prices for the buyers, and restricted availability of whatever the item is. But the other losers are those in export industries, as other countries apply equivalent tariffs to Australia's exports.
Of course, you can argue for the country's self sufficiency, but this comes at a cost - an increasing cost the more you do it. I saw an extreme example of this in the 1980s in Myanmar. We do not want to go there.
The mighty Craptiva! They aren’t worth a cracker now, let alone in a few years time. [biggrin] I had one as a company car for 2 years - didn’t hate it, it was the diesel AWD and it was very solid on dirt roads, etc and you could throw it about a bit. I didn’t have an issue with mine in that time and I put just shy of 100KKM on it, but a lot of others in our fleet have been dogs. Must have got a Wednesday build. Aweful car overall though, and thirsty too. I didn’t include them as they weren’t in Holdens line up when the axe fell - that happened to the Craptiva a couple of years back.Quote:
Originally Posted by scarry
There you go with your "Political" nonsense again, and you are talking rubbish.Quote:
Originally Posted by DiscoMick
This Govt killed off nothing, Holden was always gonna go,...I suppose "this government" was also responsible for Chrsyler, Mitsubishi, Ford, VW, Nissan, and all the other vehicle manufacturers that have left this country.....Wanna tell us why they left too?
You might care to check out the fact that Aussie was the ONLY Country in the World of its population size that was manufacturing ONE model purely for its own population, whilst competing with EIGHTY (more brands sold here than in the UK) different imported brands with multiple models, with virtually no import tariffs, manufactured in countries with far lower manufacturing costs than Aussie.
Just stick to the facts mate, and then come up with the REAL reason why Holden were "axed". So there you go Disco,....come up with what in your opinion is the real reason(s) why Holden has been "axed".
And finally, read the article again, the Dealers are not after anything from the Govt, except assistance, should it be needed, to get fair compensation from GM.
Pickles.
It was my impression that they hoped for the Govt. to screw GM for more dosh ie. a little bit of the reported 20 Billion they have had over the years. Hhmmm. good luck with thatQuote:
Originally Posted by DiscoMick
Correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by 4bee
However, it's a bit early to know what is going to happen at this stage as various dealers have differing agreements, some have only recently embarked on multi million building programs etc etc, so NO-ONE knows who is going to get what at this stage.
Pickles.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pickles2
We do, SFA.
And more than likely we will never know the exact costs,who got what,if any.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pickles2
It will all be settled confidentially.
And the media will come out with some guessed figures to fill up the papers.