Belgian Holden Deal Collapses..Cruze to End Production in Oct 2016.

[blueoval]

What peeves me off is that those who sold us out so cheaply get away with it scot free. It's now no longer their problem but ours and our future generations problem to deal with. Makes me sick

[Sprintey]

Good comment from Macrobusiness' article on this subject:

"It is the least subsidized fully integrated automotive industry in the world. It’s costing every person four coffees a year. When it goes in the midst of the Australian downturn, it is going to leave SA a basket case and VIC staggering and will even be felt in the suburbs of Sydney and Brisbane. The damage done is going to cost us a lot more than four coffees a year in terms of welfare, crime, hospitalisation, largely futile retraining, and so on. It is also going to gut the high end of Australia’s industrial and engineering skill base, as the car industry has always been a training ground for those skills that later went into diverse areas throughout the economy. All that for just four coffees a year."

& link:

http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2016...st-hope-walks/

[jpblue1000]

Always someone else's fault, always someone to blame, and politicians are an easy target. Who employs the politicians! We do, who advises them what we want...we do, who holds them to account...we do, so who failed our country, poorly considered voters, being won over by populist policy and self interest. You are to blame as much as me and our neighbours and the people we employ to represent us.
JP

[GCRXR6]

Originally Posted by jpblue1000

Always someone else's fault, always someone to blame, and politicians are an easy target. Who employs the politicians! We do, who advises them what we want...we do, who holds them to account...we do, so who failed our country, poorly considered voters, being won over by populist policy and self interest. You are to blame as much as me and our neighbours and the people we employ to represent us.
JP

Well said JP. Every person in this country has had a part in the downfall of manufacturing, by going for the cheaper imports. Every product that was made here has now been replaced by imports...at what cost. There is no use crying about it...we've done it to ourselves.

[malazn mafia]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Good comment from Macrobusiness' article on this subject:

"It is the least subsidized fully integrated automotive industry in the world. It’s costing every person four coffees a year. When it goes in the midst of the Australian downturn, it is going to leave SA a basket case and VIC staggering and will even be felt in the suburbs of Sydney and Brisbane. The damage done is going to cost us a lot more than four coffees a year in terms of welfare, crime, hospitalisation, largely futile retraining, and so on. It is also going to gut the high end of Australia’s industrial and engineering skill base, as the car industry has always been a training ground for those skills that later went into diverse areas throughout the economy. All that for just four coffees a year."

& link:

http://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2016...st-hope-walks/

This. Think of all the disillusioned youths and families in the northern suburbs of Adelaide and northern/western regions of Melbourne, and the ensuing crime wave that could potentially follow, as making an honest living on the straight and narrow becomes way too difficult...

[jpblue1000]

Originally Posted by tempted

Not me. I've never owned an imported car in my life and when shopping for other goods I always buy Australian made regardless of price, unless there is no Australian made option available.

Who did you vote for, how did you make your wishes known, what did you do to hold them to account.
Democracy is not easy it requires deliberation and input. Australians are politically lazy and get what we deserved.
If you can do it better, be heard, be involved, do democracy, but if you don't do it don't complain about it.
And all this is not the current first voting generations fault, they had no say in their futures till now, voters since WWII flushed this country
JP

[jimt3te50]

[SYZ]

Originally Posted by tempted

Not me. I've never owned an imported car in my life and when shopping for other goods I always buy Australian made regardless of price, unless there is no Australian made option available.

I certainly both commend and respect your decision to stick with Aussie-made vehicles, but you'd be the only person I've ever known that's managed to do so.

I guess of the 30 or so vehicles I've owned over the years, around half a dozen have been Holden and the same for Ford, with the rest being imports from Japan, Thailand, the UK, and France.

I also can't understand why the Federal government was prepared to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into Ford and GM (both US-parented companies) but won't do the same—or in all likelihood less, financially—to keep a genuine Aussie company like Dick Smith afloat, plus save over 3,000 jobs.

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by SYZ

I certainly both commend and respect your decision to stick with Aussie-made vehicles, but you'd be the only person I've ever known that's managed to do so.

I guess of the 30 or so vehicles I've owned over the years, around half a dozen have been Holden and the same for Ford, with the rest being imports from Japan, Thailand, the UK, and France.

I also can't understand why the Federal government was prepared to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into Ford and GM (both US-parented companies) but won't do the same—or in all likelihood less, financially—to keep a genuine Aussie company like Dick Smith afloat, plus save over 3,000 jobs.

It's easy to buy Aussie only cars. I've had my driver's license since 1970 & during that time have owned hundreds of cars. I might add that I am a licensed car dealer, but the only imports that I've owned were the cars I bought to re-sell.

My 'permanent' cars have ALWAYS been Aussie built CARS, mainly Holdens, but I have owned plenty of Falcons, Valiants, Minis, Corollas, Cortinas, Escorts etc. etc. My current 'fleet' of approximately 20 cars, consists of 9 VT-VZ Commodore variants, plus many older models on historic rego, going back to my 1958 FC Special. Every single one of them locally made.

On the Dick Smith subject, the current company of that name, selling electronics goods, doesn't manufacture anything. It just sells imported stuff like any other retailer, why should it be subsidised ? They floated it on the stock exchange a few years ago & pocketed 100s of $millions & now it's all gone, go figure. A badly run business or something more sinister. Dick Smith (the person) has had no connection with that company since he sold it off to Woolworths in the early 80s

The real Dick Smith company which is in business with many Aussie food producers is currently struggling but still afloat. There is a good argument for keeping this company going with Govt. subsidies.

Dr Terry

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by tempted

I have never had any sort of desire to own an import, even though I have driven and experienced many of them. To me, owning a foreign car would be like being in a foreign country, I would quickly get homesick and want out.

Or youd realise that you have been missing out on superior warranties and service, and you wont have to replace parts that have been faulty for 20 years but no one bothered to fix. You haven't been served well by your "Aussie" car manufacturers.

[Dr Terry]

Originally Posted by danzvtil

Or youd realise that you have been missing out on superior warranties and service, and you wont have to replace parts that have been faulty for 20 years but no one bothered to fix. You haven't been served well by your "Aussie" car manufacturers.

I've been servicing cars for over 40 years & I find that this point of view is very distorted & narrow-minded.

There are 100s to 1,000s of owners of Aussie cars who have not had any warranty dramas with their new car & get on well with their service workshop (whoever that may be).

Some dealership service departments are better than others, irrespective of brand or country of origin. The manufacturer does not own or operate the service workshops.

I find that most warranty & service complaints are due to lack of communication between the owner & the service dept. With good communication on both party's behalf, they can be sorted quickly & efficiently.

If an ongoing complaint is not fixed quickly & efficiently, then the issue will fester & will end up in consumer affairs.

BTW, I've seen these problems with imports as well as locals, are you saying that imports somehow escape these dramas & it's restricted to local manufacturers ?

Dr Terry

[Blue Roo]

Originally Posted by Dr Terry

It's easy to buy Aussie only cars. I've had my driver's license since 1970 & during that time have owned hundreds of cars. I might add that I am a licensed car dealer, but the only imports that I've owned were the cars I bought to re-sell.

My 'permanent' cars have ALWAYS been Aussie built CARS, mainly Holdens, but I have owned plenty of Falcons, Valiants, Minis, Corollas, Cortinas, Escorts etc. etc. My current 'fleet' of approximately 20 cars, consists of 9 VT-VZ Commodore variants, plus many older models on historic rego, going back to my 1958 FC Special. Every single one of them locally made.

On the Dick Smith subject, the current company of that name, selling electronics goods, doesn't manufacture anything. It just sells imported stuff like any other retailer, why should it be subsidised ? They floated it on the stock exchange a few years ago & pocketed 100s of $millions & now it's all gone, go figure. A badly run business or something more sinister. Dick Smith (the person) has had no connection with that company since he sold it off to Woolworths in the early 80s

The real Dick Smith company which is in business with many Aussie food producers is currently struggling but still afloat. There is a good argument for keeping this company going with Govt. subsidies.

Dr Terry

[SB076]

Originally Posted by tempted

Not me. I've never owned an imported car in my life and when shopping for other goods I always buy Australian made regardless of price, unless there is no Australian made option available.

X 2 i do the same, you are not alone and i have share similiar frustrations on politics with you

[Express]

Originally Posted by tempted

Not me. I've never owned an imported car in my life and when shopping for other goods I always buy Australian made regardless of price, unless there is no Australian made option available.

I tried that and ended up living under a tree eating a banana.

[Sprintey]

Yes but was the banana locally grown?

[Sprintey]

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

This. Think of all the disillusioned youths and families in the northern suburbs of Adelaide and northern/western regions of Melbourne, and the ensuing crime wave that could potentially follow, as making an honest living on the straight and narrow becomes way too difficult...

To work with kids in this situation, from some of these very areas, you can really see the effect of this process. I can't see how it can get better for them with main employers being ripped out, and hope that regulation will flip a 180 degree turn and make it easier for them to set up their own enterprises.

(I know it's external to my personal situation, but empathise. There's also so much more that goes into an individual's mindset that enables success no matter the origin, but that's a different debate.)

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by SYZ

I certainly both commend and respect your decision to stick with Aussie-made vehicles, but you'd be the only person I've ever known that's managed to do so.

I guess of the 30 or so vehicles I've owned over the years, around half a dozen have been Holden and the same for Ford, with the rest being imports from Japan, Thailand, the UK, and France.

I also can't understand why the Federal government was prepared to pour billions of taxpayer dollars into Ford and GM (both US-parented companies) but won't do the same—or in all likelihood less, financially—to keep a genuine Aussie company like Dick Smith afloat, plus save over 3,000 jobs.

Dick Smith = retail sales of imported consumer goods
GM Ford Toyo = manufacturing goods in AUS with a footprint that is spread over many other industries besides the auto group.

[Express]

Originally Posted by Sprintey

Yes but was the banana locally grown?

Yes, seasonal which quickly ended the whole exercise.

[SYZ]

Originally Posted by Bill M

GM Ford Toyo = manufacturing goods in AUS with a footprint that is spread over many other industries besides the auto group.

You mean unlike Holden's fully imported Barina, Rodeo, Jackaroo or
Ford's Laser, Fiesta, Mondeo or Toyota's Corona, Tarago or Corolla of
the era? All three companies sold millions of imported vehicles in Australia,
so they're not exactly poster boys for any made-in-Australia ethic.

[Bill M]

Originally Posted by SYZ

You mean unlike Holden's fully imported Barina, Rodeo, Jackaroo or
Ford's Laser, Fiesta, Mondeo or Toyota's Corona, Tarago or Corolla of
the era? All three companies sold millions of imported vehicles in Australia,
so they're not exactly poster boys for any made-in-Australia ethic.

The point is what they made not what they didn't. Judging by your response I think you missed the point in my original post by a country mile!

[mik]

what ever the case , it does appear there will be no more car manufacturing here for the foreseeable future,
and car companys wont be needing to buy our steel to build them with , we wont need to source steel from our own mines , ......... hell we can buy it cheap from china if we want.......... we wont even need to make car parts for our cars .........because there wont be none , truckys wont be needed to run raw materials to the plants of either car company nor the steel plant ,or the spare parts makers , wont need forkys, machinists, robotics technicians, engineers , for the parts makers or the car companys , fitters and turners/electricians/line workers/ painters/etc/etc/etc .....
who bloody needs em .....this is ozstrallllllia the land of opportunity , especially if you are an importer !

While i agree with JB upto a point, i do think the decision makers pointed the general public in the direction we took ,
if you put enough carrots in front of the horse you can make him drink, and then finally drown himself .....
and here we are today,
heading down the creek/rapids without a horse, only a little tinny, with no paddle..