Holden axed in Aussie.

**4bee** · 18th February 2020, 08:21 AM

Originally Posted by 101RRS

Just watching the interview with GM execs on TV - not sure but they seem to indicate that not only will the Holden brand go but GM is also quitting as they say they will no longer make RHD vehicles - they indicate they will still send "speciality" vehicles (like the Corvette) into Australia - produced through their speciality plant in NZ and maybe still through HSV.

So not only does Holden go but it would seem GM in Australia also goes.

Garry

So they will use the Australian Market when it suits THEM? ****ing two faced thieves

**Saitch** · 18th February 2020, 08:28 AM

Originally Posted by johntins

This was one of the biggest mistakes they made, IMV. The Commodore name meant something, FWIWW, and Holden bastardised it by applying it to an Opel! Funny, the first Commodore WAS an Opel, without the good bits. Ford was smart enough to retire the Falcon name, and didn't pretend.

The Falcon was Falcon in name only previously, too. An early 'World Car' attempt, perhaps? The European built Granada. (1985 model) Had a run from '71 to '94.

1985_ford_granada.jpeg

DiscoMick · 18th February 2020, 08:53 AM

This was inevitable once the government manufacturing innovation funding scheme, which cost about $500m annually, was axed, costing about 100,000 jobs, mostly in suppliers, by one estimate.
It had underpinned the business case for making vehicles here such as the Ford Territory, Holden Cruze and Camry hybrid.

Changing market trends, such as the decline of demand for large sedans and the rise of utes, were also factors.
I wonder if Ford might have assembled the Ranger here, since it was designed here, if that government innovation support had continued. If any vehicle type could be viable to make here it's utes, given the large domestic demand. And could Toyota's hybrid packages have been made here?

Every country supports it's vehicle manufacturing industry, including the Germans, Japanese, French, Thais and Koreans. The UK Government has just put a big grant into JLR to help it increase its R and D in the UK. The US nationalised GM and Chrysler to save them from collapse during the GFC and then sold them back to investors.
Now the vehicle industry is going electric, but what role will we play in that revolution - none?
At the least we should be using our competitive advantage in resources and cheap renewable electricity to manufacture lithium and other batteries here for export, I think.

DiscoMick · 18th February 2020, 09:18 AM

Holden is now a symbol of an increasingly precarious economy for workers

Holden is now a symbol of an increasingly precarious economy for workers | Royce Kurmelovs | Opinion | The Guardian

**Tombie** · 18th February 2020, 09:18 AM

What competitive advantage in resources and cheap renewable energy?

We arent competitive in renewables - they can not run the processing plants required and are susidised heavily.
We arent competitive in manufacturing - our costs and wages demands are multitudes of those overseas.
Mining resources arent green - by factors - Lithium mining is very intensive, as is the refining.

People on here keep talking about market protection, subsidies etc... well if we did that on all things here everyone would complain again.

We had **** cars, sold to sucker public, because the government protected our market and it made imports non-viable or the realm of the wealthy.
We had generic products made here whilst the wealthy imported German etc products.

And now we have LR owners etc importing parts from UK to save a few Quid - this shuts down local business, who need a mark up to cover oeprating costs...

Countries should "Stick to their knitting" - we dont have the market to MAKE - we have the innovation to DESIGN

**bob10** · 18th February 2020, 10:08 AM

Basically , a business struggling to survive didn't fit with GM's future. It was kept going with tariff barriers, but as tariffs whittled away, and free trade deals became more common, and the Australian new passenger vehicle market fragmented into many niches, Holden's profitability faded. After Government stopped further investment , and the factory at Elizabeth closed, [taking the locally developed and built Commodore with it] it was just a matter of time. Also, under GM boss Mary Barra, GM is focussing on North America and China markets. GM sold off it's OPEL/Vauxhall business in 2017, the year Elizabeth closed. Vauxhall was GM's brand in the UK. Holden could cherry pick from the Opel/Vauxhall range , mix in some Korean built vehicles, and top it off with the Commodore.

Vauxhalls absence dried up Holden's supply, forcing it to source from GM's shrinking global market, which was set up for left hand drive. Right hand drive business cases were too hard to build. I guess the ultimate insult is that GM will be anointing a business to convert left hand drive Chevrolet trucks , and other selected North American models locally to right hand drive. Just how long will it be before we are called the Argentina of the South Pacific.

**loanrangie** · 18th February 2020, 01:07 PM

Originally Posted by pop058

Since when was Holden ever owned by Australia ??

Back when they were just body builders/coach works.

**Pickles2** · 18th February 2020, 01:39 PM

An important point in all of this is that Aussie is the ONLY country of its population size in the world that was manufacturing a car solely for its own population. GM Detroit actively discouraged many attempts by Holden to export, so here we are in a country that has 70 brands with multiple models on sale here (with NO import tariffs), many produced in countries with far lower costs,...How was Holden ever going to survive?
Pickles.

**101RRS** · 18th February 2020, 01:43 PM

Originally Posted by bob10

I guess the ultimate insult is that GM will be anointing a business to convert left hand drive Chevrolet trucks , and other selected North American models locally to right hand drive. Just how long will it be before we are called the Argentina of the South Pacific.

HSV already has that contract with GM and has been doing it for a while. GM has indicated that is likely to continue for "specialist" models (General Motor Specialty Vehicles) such as the trucks, Camaro and the new Corvette.

What hasn't been discussed is what happens with the ownership of HSV. I am not sure but I believe HSV is technically a different company to Holden with Holden being a part owner - I assume GM will just take over that part of ownership that Holden had, but HSV has not really come up in the media releases at this stage.

**JDNSW** · 18th February 2020, 03:08 PM

Originally Posted by Pickles2

An important point in all of this is that Aussie is the ONLY country of its population size in the world that was manufacturing a car solely for its own population. GM Detroit actively discouraged many attempts by Holden to export, so here we are in a country that has 70 brands with multiple models on sale here (with NO import tariffs), many produced in countries with far lower costs,...How was Holden ever going to survive?
Pickles.

Correct. Building cars in Australia has been tried by multiple companies since the 1890s, and all of them have rapidly realised that it impossible tobuild them here anywhere near as cheap as you can import them, unless you get either subsidy or protection or both.

The ban on importing complete cars in 1914 gave the body coachbuilding industry a strong incentive to change from horsedrawn vehicles to car bodies. And some of these companies prospered as motoring started to boom in the 1920s, Holden among them. Seeking to gain an advantage for their imported chassis, and with Ford having set up their own assembly plant in Victoria, GM pumped capital into Holden starting in the mid twenties. With the start of the Great Depression in 1929, Holden was overcapitalised, and GM took control.

Manufacturing was vastly expanded leading up to and during WW2, with Australia manufacturing a wide range of things that had not been done here before, at least in quantity, from military radios, to artillery, to tanks, to aircraft and engines, and obscure but key items such as optical glass and precision measuring equipment. And Holden was involved in a lot of this with the military production being overseen by the head of Holden.

At the end of the war, the Government was faced with a lot of manufacturing industry, making products for which demand had just largely ceased. And a lot of soldiers returning to civilian life, and looking for work. The Government decided that building cars was what was needed, and found GM came closest to doing what the government wanted, to build complete cars here. The other major manufacturers, including Ford and the British companies declined. (Europe needed to rebuild their own manufacturing, and besides, they didn't speak English!) GM was talked into it with the help of the highly esteemed GM (British but had adopted Australia), and a very substantial cash "bribe" from the government.

But GM insisted on the use of a small Chevrolet that had been intended to be launched in 1943, but had been put on the shelf, and was now too small for the US market, instead of the proposed car already designed by Holden.

For roughly the next thirty years the car industry (and manufacturing generally) were heavily protected in the name of jobs. Those parts of the economy (such as primary production) who were disadvantaged by this protection were mollified by various subsidies and special allowances.

All very well, except that by the 1970s, it was becoming apparent that Australians were putting up with expensive, outdated, manufactured goods, especially cars. And as communications improved, the voters were beginning to realise this.

And Japan had started to export cars, which were surprisingly good, and cheap in spite of the protection. Various schemes were tried to get them manufactured in Australia with varying success.

And the voters were also realising that the tariffs meant that car buyers were paying very large amounts as a subsidy to both the relatively small number of workers in the motor industry and the owners of the car companies in Detroit, Tokyo and London (and to a lesser extent in Paris and Bonn).

As a result, a plan was put in place in the mid 80s to gradually reduce protection - and at this stage the end of local manufacture was assured. It was delayed for a surprisingly long time, mainly be ever increasing subsidies to manufacturers, mainly to Holden, although with GM not allowing Holden to become an export centre, this had little justification.

As others have pointed out, the main reason this has meant the end of Holden even as an import (compare Ford) is simply because GM is broke.

Despite all the talk of all the money made by car companies, it needs to be realised that building cars is very capital intensive, is difficult, and is very risky. And almost all car companies throughout motoring history have operated at a loss for most of their history, with most companies lurching from one financial crisis to the next, saved at the post by either a white knight (who is about to lose a fortune) or a government lifeline. Through the years the necessary scale of car making has increased, particularly as the red tape has increased. To meet all the statutory requirements and be at least as good as your competitors, requires so much money to be put into design, tooling and development that the major cost of manufacturing is the design cost. Until this cost can be divided by a large number of units, the cost per unit is prohibitive. This is the fundamental reason why car manufacturing in Australia is not really feasible.

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