Suggestions on how to lift Aussie-made car sales

[DJR-351]

Good luck on your quest but.....

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopS...rm_747041.html

.....seriously.....

Edit: i know it's not cars, but i thought it was a good indicator on where we are heading as far as Australian made goes....

[Fiesta_Man69]

Imagine if Holden/Ford had, instead of building the VE and the FG, run these designs thru a photocopier at 75% (so the size of a Cruze or 3) had the cars weigh around 1300kg, rear drive, 2litre turbo motors as a range topper(ala ecoboost that's only happening now), and sell from the Mazda 3s price point with a similar engine.... Return of the escort/torana! If this had of happened 5 yrs ago both companies would be in great shape in Aus. I'd own one of them for sure, and I bet alot people on here would too.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Fiesta_Man69

Imagine if Holden/Ford had, instead of building the VE and the FG, run these designs thru a photocopier at 75% (so the size of a Cruze or 3) had the cars weigh around 1300kg, rear drive, 2litre turbo motors as a range topper(ala ecoboost that's only happening now), and sell from the Mazda 3s price point with a similar engine.... Return of the escort/torana! If this had of happened 5 yrs ago both companies would be in great shape in Aus. I'd own one of them for sure, and I bet alot people on here would too.

why would holden do that when they already have cruze??? don't bother mentioning the RWD aspect. if you look at the cars that sell, you will notice FWD isn't a stumbling block.

Ford know that the large car segment is a niche market now but they have stated that they still want to compete in that segment. they have plans in place to make building the cars here more viable, whether it be assembling a global car here, like toyota do with camry, or sharing a global platform and technology.

[minheim]

In my opinon the big six market suffered when novated leasing took hold. That took what was part of the tradational fleet market away as staff decided that they could buy an individual vehicle. This encouraged people to buy vehicles that addressed their want and preferences. I know people who then decided they could get a better snob value vehicle than the base or med spec 6 cylinders. If novated leasing required you to buy a vehicle from a local manufacturer's range (local and imports) that would help the manufacturers in volume and/or incentive to stay in local manufacturing

[Fiesta_Man69]

Originally Posted by prydey

why would holden do that when they already have cruze??? don't bother mentioning the RWD aspect. if you look at the cars that sell, you will notice FWD isn't a stumbling block.

Ford know that the large car segment is a niche market now but they have stated that they still want to compete in that segment. they have plans in place to make building the cars here more viable, whether it be assembling a global car here, like toyota do with camry, or sharing a global platform and technology.

I clearly state that IF Holden/Ford had considered this 5 Years ago... So instead of spending millions trying to repanel a Daewoo (which is what the Cruze started as) and instead developed their own rear drive same size car they would now sell more than commodore/cruze combined. Such a platform (ie not a large car that the market doesn't want) could have sported endless variants, from cheap, efficient models, to a coupe, to an HSV variant, even a funky Veloster type version off the platform. Ford could have done the same thing (instead of wasting money on Falcons that aren't sellng) imagine how more secure those Geeling workers would now be...

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by prydey

why would holden do that when they already have cruze??? don't bother mentioning the RWD aspect. if you look at the cars that sell, you will notice FWD isn't a stumbling block.

Ford know that the large car segment is a niche market now but they have stated that they still want to compete in that segment. they have plans in place to make building the cars here more viable, whether it be assembling a global car here, like toyota do with camry, or sharing a global platform and technology.

Good post.
Both Ford and Holden already have their RWD car in existance, therefore we're not talking about starting
a brand new RWD vehicle versus a global FWD/AWD platform so the scales of economy are much closer.

It's more about maximizing sales across the large midsize and large car segments using one car
like Toyota does but do they use a RWD design or a FWd-AWD design?

Either way, the intent is to free FoA from that $700 million up front cost every six years as well as
the $200-300 million mid cycle refreshes, that's what kills the profits on the cars..

[Moby Vic]

The best way to lift Aussie-made car sales is to buy more Aussie-made cars.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Either way, the intent is to free FoA from that $700 million up front cost every six years as well as
the $200-300 million mid cycle refreshes, that's what kills the profits on the cars..

i think both GM and Ford see many benefits in having a production base in australia and i think they will try hard to keep it going before ever considering moving offshore. whether they continue with the falcon and commodore nameplates remains to be seen but my guess is they will.

[Nikked]

I hope the Government does some sort of sorting out.


At the moment, its all about the mines, and the government getting as much money as they can from the mines, through the carbon tax. This same tax will hurt all manfacturing. Coupled with free trade agreements, that in effect, only work in one direcion as the Thai government has shown us with heavily taxed Territory Imports.

When mining operations pack up...whats going to happen?

If the Industry is not supported, it will be a major blow. I'm sure that these component manufacturers and suppliers involved also supply other areas in Australia. Those companies would be dependant on the flow of work from GM-H, Ford and Toyota...


With any luck, both Fords "one Ford" policy and GM's similar plan will save local manufacture.

[39ClevoUte]

Originally Posted by Nikked

I hope the Government does some sort of sorting out.


At the moment, its all about the mines, and the government getting as much money as they can from the mines, through the carbon tax. This same tax will hurt all manfacturing. Coupled with free trade agreements, that in effect, only work in one direcion as the Thai government has shown us with heavily taxed Territory Imports.

When mining operations pack up...whats going to happen?

If the Industry is not supported, it will be a major blow. I'm sure that these component manufacturers and suppliers involved also supply other areas in Australia. Those companies would be dependant on the flow of work from GM-H, Ford and Toyota...


With any luck, both Fords "one Ford" policy and GM's similar plan will save local manufacture.

Getting rid of the mining tax is a great idea, but a better idea is to let foriegn countries have our resources for free, come and mine them themselves. That way there would be no foriegn $ flowing into the country, which would mean we would have no foriegn currency to spend overseas, this would stop imports and people would only be able to buy local products, Holden and Falcon sales would do OK.

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by 54Ghia

Getting rid of the mining tax is a great idea, but a better idea is to let foriegn countries have our resources for free, come and mine them themselves. That way there would be no foriegn $ flowing into the country, which would mean we would have no foriegn currency to spend overseas, this would stop imports and people would only be able to buy local products, Holden and Falcon sales would do OK.

Why should I have my choice limited?

Maybe I don't want a RWD large sedan, with just a stereo and a 6 stacker CD player? Have a look at the stuff the new Focus and Mondeo comes with, thats what I expect in my cars, Falcon only just got an 8" touch screen, has a poor quality interior which is made out of hard plastics.

$36,000 gets you an XR6 Falcon, or the top of the line Focus with everything.

If people want family car, they go SUV.

90% of people don't give a fat rats *** about RWD, 6 cylinder engines, V8s or if its made in Australia. I really don't and I've had 3 new Ford cars from the dealership floor in the last 3 years.

Maybe Ford should start off with making cars that people actually want, they're on a winner with the new Focus, hell come into the Focus section on the forum and look at all the new comers in there.

[pottery beige]

Originally Posted by DJR-351

Good luck on your quest but.....

http://bigpondnews.com/articles/TopS...rm_747041.html

.....seriously.....

Edit: i know it's not cars, but i thought it was a good indicator on where we are heading as far as Australian made goes....

thats a disgrace.. love the slimey cop out excuse.......