Weatherill reveals he's been in talks with other car makers about replacing GMH

[93EB_SXR6]

A niche-market Australian auto manufacturer could be profitable but there is a considerable amount of risk involved with such a venture.
Who would be crazy enough to take that risk when manufacturing giants have tried and failed here before?
In my opinion, it's as simple as that.

[Crazy Dazz]

Originally Posted by BroadyFord

Interesting...

Combet to head up Holden-exit taskforce

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...257C44000B7E9B


“It’s made by a company called Magna Steyr and they do not make cars in volumes higher than 100,000 – they usually make them in numbers much smaller than that – and they are very profitable.[/B]

“So don’t tell me that we can’t make cars profitably in small volumes – but it is a different way of making cars.”

What a ******* retard. He obviously has no ******* clue what Magna Styr are or what they do.
Put simply, they are a highly efficient, very high quality OUTSOURCE manufacturer that builds particular models of other makers’ cars. They don’t design or develop their own cars. (Although they also have divisions that can and do undertake outsourced development and engineering work.) They are based in Austria, and have production facilities in several European countries, where their costs would be similar to most of the Western European makers. They’ve also been doing the same thing in North America, and have expanded into China. Essentially they are a subcontractor.
Also, reference to the limited production runs is misleading. Overall, they are a massive company and so achieve excellent economies of scale, and since they are simply building somebody else’s car with parts & tooling provided, their setup costs are minimised.

The GREAT advantage that MS have, (why companies like GM love to use them) and why they are the LAST thing we need here, is that they have no political investment. So if their German workers are too expensive to get a contract, they either cut costs or just move production to Poland. And if GM decides it needs 100,000 less cars, it’s the MS employees who get the boot.

Despite what people keep prattling on about, the underlying problem is NOT what Ford and Holden have been building in Australia. After all Ford COULD have been building the Focus & Ranger. The problem is that it’s just not ECONOMICAL. For our purposes, it doesn’t really matter whether the Daewoo assembly plant is operated by Holden, Daewoo, or even Magna Styr. Simply fact is its way cheaper to build them in Korea.

[eb2fairmont]

Only hope is a Chinese manufacturer as stated above. Magna Steyr model won't work because the supply chain is too long and he marks to far away.

[eb2fairmont]

Only hope is a Chinese manufacturer as stated above. Magna Steyr model won't work because the supply chain is too long and the markets too far away.

[csv8]

Hyundai would be feasible?

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by neptune blue

No ones going to set up shop here to build cars unless they can pay the workforce 20% less than they used to. Like the AMWU is going to sign off on that
It's all just hot air and a show : as already posted to be seen to do something and some Labour Party cronie gets $160k pa to attend meetings & lunches

I'm I sounding a little cynical ?

Just cause they would buy the Factory doesn't mean they would keep the labor. You would send them on their way and advertise the job openings. Seeing as there isn't any work around the area at the time they would have to be payed less.

[zilo]

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

Problem is the money we gave the auto industry was seen back ten fold by sheer numbers working in the industry. No niche company can provide that. That's why the now niche Australian products are leaving.well sort of..

tell that to Tesla, they are having investors fall over them selves to buy in, and orders well into 2015 atm.

[mik]

The facts are we are flooded with cars from all over the world, it is very hard to ever see one manufacturer mass produce cars here and make a worthwhile profit on their own unless something hugely changes, think pie graph......... sales split up between 60 importers and one local producer...........
Just not going to happen.

[jpblue1000]

mass production of cost effective locally sold suburban cars obviously does not work in our economy, points proven recently. However what about a high value complex vehicle like a tank, or assault vehicle or ships or aircraft even submarines. Australians are regarded as being great at solving problems, not so good at innovation. why don’t we transfer our manufacturing to produce high value complex objects and do it better. we have the engineering and well trained manufacturing workforce, admittedly they are expensive so every hour their work needs to contribute to value adding.
We can build anything, and with some practice or opportunity build it well. now we just need to decide on what to build if we want to be a manufacturing nation.
Taiwan was once a manufacturing backwater, couldn’t glue two pieces of paper together. Today they are world class or even leaders in Carbon fibre manufacturing and tech (as an example). We need to achieve that in whatever we choose to manufacture.
GM and ford are gone, tears won’t bring them back. There may be many hare-brained schemes along the way but if we don’t look seriously at options we will stall and loose this opportunity to transform manufacturing in Australia. And one of them might actually be a good idea but the naysayers will boo it down, the Chinese will take it and become richer and more powerful.
Oh who am I kidding...we are all ******.
JP

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by zilo

tell that to Tesla, they are having investors fall over them selves to buy in, and orders well into 2015 atm.

A tesla is a far cry from a commadore.
And it's not built here in Australia with our unique economy either!

[zilo]

Originally Posted by 1TUFFUTE

A tesla is a far cry from a commadore.
And it's not built here in Australia with our unique economy either!

you completely missed the point.

of course it's not built here, but could be...and that is the point

as for not being a commodore...as suggested by others we are talking nique market production options not mass whitegoods

[danzvtil]

Originally Posted by csv8

Hyundai would be feasible?

would you pay 30k for a base model i30?

[Tonz]

want to really bring this state down...

assemble Great Wall.. in Sailsbury ha ha haa.

Sorry but weatherill g=has just seen a hint that he'll be out of work next March...and flapping his gums about anything.
The whole roumour of car assembly has been in the wind last 10 years, but did ANY goverments do anything ..."nah not going to happen brush it under the table" . "Shoit where did that come from....lets blame somebody"

Australia is its own worst enemy we do not plan for the future. My self since the age of 18 have planned the next ten years, yes there have been speed bumps and wheels falling off... but...take a deep breath and start again.
I am now 63 just started another business and have 2 more ideas fermenting... i also have plans for the next 20 years.

For govemints the future is the next election or public opinion poll not 10-20 years in future.

Why has this all blown up because we all saw it comming, hoped it wouldn't but bang lets blame someone else.

[irish2]

The concept of small volume and high profit works well for Koenigsegg.