Car making and profits: mutually exclusive?

[PlukaDuck]

Originally Posted by jpblue1000

we should be building wind turbines, or packaged power generators or trains or ships, flat pack houses, bridges. High value, complex, technological items where the labour cost and vagaries of international currency is partially irrelevant. We should be building things others cant and not giving our secrets away so they can build it after buying one.
Australians can make stuff, just not mass produced cars profitably. we need to think smart about building what others cant or wont.

JP

Unfortunately your mentality is why Australia is going downhill.
ALL your above mentioned are uneconomical and unsustainable.
By the way what are the things we can build that others can't ?????????
FOOTBALL....MEATPIES...KANGAROO'S ...and HOLDEN CARS.
OOOPS forget the holden cars

[Spammy]

[QUOTE=PlukaDuck;5018496]

Originally Posted by Spammy

Spammy.
Your dreaming if you think a merc and a BMW is ALL THAT.
There taxis in Europe. Just like the falcon and commodore is here.
Another example of a mislead ausrtralian believing he is something special because he drives a car that an advertisement says makes him special if he drives it.
Here is a link to your overpriced EURO TRASH being flogged to death by American muscle
http://www.streetfire.net/video/corv...ago_701287.htm

Thanks mate- I have owned 3x BMWs and my brother has had 2x Mercs so I sort of know what they are like.

I also lived in Europe for 3 years so am amare of the fact Mercs are used as Taxis.

Any other advice for me before I start my day?? I need to tie my shoe laces--- do people in Europe tie their laces?? Got a link for me so I can learn more on the topic??

Do you have a newsletter I can subscibe to ...you seem to have a lot of very fwd thinking ideas and I"m keen to learn from you.

[jpblue1000]

Originally Posted by PlukaDuck

Unfortunately your mentality is why Australia is going downhill.
ALL your above mentioned are uneconomical and unsustainable.
By the way what are the things we can build that others can't ?????????
FOOTBALL....MEATPIES...KANGAROO'S ...and HOLDEN CARS.
OOOPS forget the holden cars

Whatever!

JP

[prydey]

Originally Posted by PlukaDuck

ROAD-WARRIOR.......Great post.
Problem is Australians consumers need to set the terms.
If they buy a foreign car rather than say a Locally built ford territory then
sooner or later they will stop making the territory here.
At the end of the day the consumer dictates the market.
Australians are bringing this all on themselves.
Best-selling SUVs in January
1. Holden Captiva - 2155 . ............Foreign
2. Mazda CX-5 - 1625 ............Foreign
3. Hyundai ix35 - 1301 ............Foreign
4. Nissan X-Trail - 1294. ...........Foreign
5. Subaru Forester - 1246 ............Foreign
6. Ford Territory - 1161
7. Honda CR-V - 1117. ...........Foreign
8. Toyota Prado - 1048 ............Foreign
9. Nissan Dualis - 1033. ...........Foreign
10. Toyota Kluger - 960. ...........Foreign

[QUOTE=DoreSlamR]

Originally Posted by PlukaDuck

1. Holden Captiva - 2155

Scary.

This is one of the reasons why the Australia car industry is gone to the dogs.

I'd hazard a guess the Craptiva is the cheapest SUV option?

Do people not test drive cars back to back anymore? It is the worst built out of the 10, yet is the best seller.........

I would love to see a survey of new car buyers, see what goes through their heads when purchasing. Not a lot for some I suspect!

sorry, but i can't agree that consumers have made much of an impact at all. the factories need volume. even if territory was the top seller, and sold double the amount of the current top seller, it still wouldn't be enough volume to keep the doors open.

the real issue is, how did australia come to have so much choice in the market, and at prices that make it impossible to compete locally? that is the issue, and it all started many years ago now. without industry protection on a higher level, it was doomed.

tariffs needed to be at least 10% and probably closer to 15 or 20. free trade agreements needed to be a 2 way street.

no point pointing fingers at any one government either, as this all started some years ago. i bet all those who cheered about the extra choice in the market and the cheaper prices are now scratching their heads at why the industry has folded.

[zilo]

Originally Posted by Spammy

All of those brands have very long and well regarded pedigrees --- name me a few start ups that have managed to survive, be profitable and grow beyond a cottage industry in the auto industry.

How about the only manufacturer that has orders up to TWO years in advance? and has been heavily invested in by Mercedes and Toyota?

And has a model that can do 0-100 in 3.9s?



TESLA.

[Spammy]

Originally Posted by zilo

TESLA.

And lost $38m last year.

[XR Martin]

And if you read into it, Tesla have done a alot of 'shifting of the deckchairs' to make things look more rosey than they are.

[zilo]

Originally Posted by Spammy

And lost $38m last year.

LOL...how much have Ford/GM/Toyota lost?

38m is lunch money.

[Spammy]

Originally Posted by zilo

LOL...how much have Ford/GM/Toyota lost?

38m is lunch money.

Maybe think about how many cars each of those comnpanies made and divide the loss by that number as a way of comparision.

Or would that not be logical -- help me out here, you seem to know more than me.

[zilo]

Originally Posted by Spammy

Maybe think about how many cars each of those comnpanies made and divide the loss by that number as a way of comparision.

Or would that not be logical -- help me out here, you seem to know more than me.

I don't see any plant closure announcements yet, can't simplify it any more than that for you.

[Spammy]

Given they only ever built 1 of the 3 plants they had planned it makes it a bit hard to shut many down.