Holden seeks $300million to build two extra production lines in Adelaide

[Brazen]

Potentially big investment on top of the Cruze line added last year. Interesting to see how it goes, they are still profitable which helps their cause a bit with Detroit and the government. Exports are out and domestic production is in. Im betting Toyota will also be seeking money for Corolla or Rav4 soon.

http://www.news.com.au/business/m-mo...-1226282123276

$300m more from taxpayers to save car jobs Save this story to read laterby: By Neil Wilson
From: Herald Sun
February 27, 2012 12:00AM

HOLDEN says taxpayers will have to kick in another $300 million to save jobs.
The car maker has indicated the Federal Government will have to put in more cash on top of its co-investment on the Cruze model to ensure its Detroit headquarters does not send future production offshore.

The car maker's Australian chief, Mike Devereaux, made it plain yesterday that other governments were prepared to enter similar agreements with parent General Motors.

He said Australia must be competitive if the car maker was to keep producing models.

Mr Devereaux said Holden would like to put two extra production lines into its Adelaide plant by 2020 in addition to its present line for the Cruze, which had a $150 million Federal Government contribution.


The Holden chief told the ABC TV's Inside Business that $300 million was closer to the range that the company would require than the $100 million speculated.

He said the multiplier effect of five support jobs for every GM job made it obvious why "every country in the world is engaged I think in a competition" to lure car manufacture.

"A lot of people wish that the world was flat and that everybody played by the same rules but countries aggressively compete for what Australia has," he said.

Mr Devereaux said Holden remained profitable but its costs were more in line with General Motors plants in the US than in China or Thailand.

The high Australian dollar severely eroded export potential and meant its business had to remain domestic-focused.

Mr Devereaux stressed the British Government had just doubled its co-investment fund for general industry to 2.4 billion, attracting 170 applications from companies including BMW and Nissan.

"So very smart policies in the UK; we think that not just auto but broad-based manufacturing should have similar policies in this country," he said.

He said GM deployed 10 per cent of its revenue on both engineering and capital investment.

"As that capital is deployed around the world, we try to deploy it in a way that returns the best return to our shareholders," he said.