Holden on the verge of closing Australian plants

[BroadyFord]

Fresh concerns this morning:

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/bre...-1226676573288

THE South Australian government says it has real concerns that car maker Holden could announce the closure of its local assembly operations before the end of the year.

The company is in the process of axing 400 jobs at its Adelaide operations and is negotiating with the remaining 1700 staff on ways to slash costs, including possible wage cuts.

Holden says it must reduce the cost of building cars in Australia to remain viable and must also secure continuing financial assistance from state and federal governments.

But South Australian Industry Minister Tom Kenyon said ongoing negotiations for the provision of federal funds and the risk that a coalition government could reduce assistance, raised real concerns for the future of the company.

Mr Kenyon said closure of Holden's local operations would be a bad result for South Australia and a bad result for Australian manufacturing.

"I am taking the possibility of a closure very, very seriously," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"This is not some idle threat, this is not some game they are playing to try to screw more money out of the government.

"This is a genuine commercial position that they are in forced by all number of factors."

Mr Kenyon said Premier Jay Weatherill would consider making a trip to Detroit to speak with General Motors (GM) officials if that would help secure ongoing investment.

He said the state government also remained committed to doing whatever it could to secure the company's future but expected Holden to make a decision on its future "purely on logistics".

"If Holden can make cars profitably in this country, they will continue to do so," he said.