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

[csv8]

"A bid by a Belgian tycoon to take over Holden's car assembly plant in Adelaide has collapsed.

General Motors and the Punch Corporation have announced that a detailed analysis of the business model has determined it is not viable.

The news comes on the same day Holden confirmed Cruze production will cease at its Elizabeth plant in October with the loss of about 400 jobs."
https://au.news.yahoo.com/sa/a/30934...odel-400-jobs/

[Trump]

Did anyone seriously expect this to work?

[Makovic]

As predicted.

[Express]

Originally Posted by csv8

A bid by a Belgian tycoon to take over Holden's car assembly plant in Adelaide has collapsed.

[Syndrome]

It was never going to be saved. Facilities are too old, volumes are too low, costs are too high, GM unwillingness to share their intellectual property, local supplier base almost non-existent etc etc

[Fordman1]

The Cruze business model was completely flawed, no surprise there.

As for the "Belgian thing", pie in the sky !

[nstg8a]

Yeah, unfortunate but not unexpected.

[Franco Cozzo]

This just in, the media delivering you the latest news before it actually happens.

What did they think would happen, of course it wouldn't go ahead

[mik]

Originally Posted by Big Damo

This just in, the media delivering you the latest news before it actually happens.

What did they think would happen, of course it wouldn't go ahead

Yes if the big three couldn't make it viable, it would be a good trick for this bloke to make it work.

[FalconXV]

This isn't good news, what's with all the brevity?

[Syndrome]

Originally Posted by FalconXV

This isn't good news, what's with all the brevity?

Because it was a BS story which we could all see for what it was. We all want the auto industry to stay but know it won't happen.

[BENT_8]

Dont panic guys and girls, weve still got a housing bubble....













..'Pop'

[Nikked]

Now lets see what happens with Ethan Automotive...

[LoudPipes]

Originally Posted by Nikked

Now lets see what happens with Ethan Automotive...

Securing investment will be difficult as not many people like to just throw their money away.

[Blue Roo]

Originally Posted by tempted

Everyone is getting high on the Chinese money flowing in, but when that dries up what are we going to fall back on? We will become slaves to the Chinese on our own land.
Everyone thought the mining boom would last forever and look how well that went.
This country has become nothing more than a dry cleaner for filthy Chinese money and we are being used like a cash cow by greedy foreigners to further themselves, at the detriment of our own citizens. The situation would be laughable if it wasn’t so sad. Future generations have been screwed well and truly.

Originally Posted by malazn mafia

http://www.bbc.com/autos/story/20150...power-supercar


If a bunch of people in a war torn, tsunami battered island nation with imaginably few resources can produce something like this, what's our bloody excuse? Outright laziness, complacency, government red tape, too many rules & regulation, political correctness? We have brilliant minds, resources, relative peace & stability, minimal natural disasters and sheer land mass nations would kill for and yet, what have we achieved with it all? Why does practically everything we do end up years late, over budget and full of holes? What the bloody hell is wrong with Australia?

You can blame both sides of Government for the problems in this country. Both the Labour and the Liberal parties have continually sold us out over the years and decades in short sighted decisions and pure greed. And who suffers the most. We do, as well as our children and future generations to come.

Politicians need to take responsibility for their actions/decisions and should be held accountable.

[SB076]

There are still other options. But as others have said its highly unlikely at best you might pick up CKD but that is doubtful.

Toyota were tipped to be losing a little on every car when the AUD was at $1.08 US. Sad to think that they would be doing ok with the dollar at low $0.70's. Calmer heads needed to step in from all sides then we may have still had an Automotive Industry

[Sprintey]

Agree with so much said in this thread by many of you - even some I don't normally agree with.

You guys picked it, about 2/3 of the poll was in line with the deal falling through.

Sad that being born during Australia's most balanced prosperous decade (1970-80; Australia and Canada rated as the wealthiest countries on earth, featuring firing industry, vibrant expanding Agriculture, and strong mining with enormous reserves being identified) - as adults we get to see the guts ripped out of the country's productive base.

Hopefully this annoys enough of us to be entrepreneurial enough to make a whole lot of saleable items, and sell them well.

[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/

[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...

[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.)

[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.

[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

[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

[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

[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.

[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.

[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.