Holden to stop making cars by 2017

[Lima]

AUSmotive.com » Holden to cease local production in 2017

A sad day. I know there's enough old timers, even with VW in their veins, who will be saddened by today's news.

[tigger73]

Be interested to know where the govt of the day thinks all the people in that industry are going to find jobs.

Sad day for SA and Vic manufacturing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Transporter]

Be interested to know where the govt of the day thinks all the people in that industry are going to find jobs.

Sad day for SA and Vic manufacturing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh, everybody will be a teacher so we have all the unemployed highly educated with at least double degrees surfing at the beach, since the government already sold out almost everything that we manufactured here, including utilities.

[Sharkie]

Well, I have been toying with the idea of buying a SS-V Redline Ute for a few years now as a 2 seater toy (OK just to be able to hear that V8 roar ). May now have to do that sooner rather than later before I can't get 1 anymore ....

I believe it is a mistake to kill off such a fundamental manufacturing industry, however labour costs (and the unions) are making it impossible to continue to do and make a profit. Unless we as taxpayers fund a loss making industry for another purpose, there is just no business sense in keeping it going.

And Miro, its not the government's fault, its all down to the high cost of doing business due to unacceptably high labour costs compared to the rest of the world.

[wai]

I believe it is a mistake to kill off such a fundamental manufacturing industry, however labour costs (and the unions) are making it impossible to continue to do and make a profit. Unless we as taxpayers fund a loss making industry for another purpose, there is just no business sense in keeping it going.

Not entirely. It has more to do with the fact that we are not buying the large cars that Ford and Holden are making. The cars from Ford and Holden that we do make are already allocated to other manufacturing plants, and there is simply not the economic muscle that Australia can exert.

Unions and the deals do have some impact, but if people bought the cars they used to, there would not be a problem. There is NO level playing field out there. We took away our protection, but there is plenty of protection where we would like to sell the Commodores and Falcons.

Well, now here's an opportunity for Toyota to get a foot in. As Holden and Ford are no longer manufacturing in Australia, maybe we need to get on board with Toyota and make sure they do not go the same way.

[Sharkie]

Not entirely. It has more to do with the fact that we are not buying the large cars that Ford and Holden are making. The cars from Ford and Holden that we do make are already allocated to other manufacturing plants, and there is simply not the economic muscle that Australia can exert.

Unions and the deals do have some impact, but if people bought the cars they used to, there would not be a problem. There is NO level playing field out there. We took away our protection, but there is plenty of protection where we would like to sell the Commodores and Falcons.

Well, now here's an opportunity for Toyota to get a foot in. As Holden and Ford are no longer manufacturing in Australia, maybe we need to get on board with Toyota and make sure they do not go the same way.

Actually, no .... Toyota in Australia only makes cars in the same segment as the Commodore and Falcon which is a segment correctly pointed out as a segment in decline ...

Holden already previously identified this issue and to combat this segment problem started building the Cruze locally which is the segment of the moment it appears. It is actually quite a good car and deserves to do well. Ford attempted the same a while ago and tried to get approval to build the Focus locally. Both manufacturers intended to shift to building the right cars for the current market.

Ford's proposal got killed off due to the high cost of building the Focus locally compared to elsewhere and Holden has stated that they can build the Cruze $3750 per car cheaper elsewhere.

Its a no brainer really from a business perspective and I expect Toyota who only builds in the "wrong" segment locally to be gone soon too. They are already making such noises .....

[Tom87]

Be interested to know where the govt of the day thinks all the people in that industry are going to find jobs.

Sad day for SA and Vic manufacturing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

They're putting on a happy, smiling face infront of the cameras because they know that the majority of them are unskilled assembly line workers who will not get another job which pays them anywhere NEAR what they're accustomed to and won't accept a job with a normal salary because they'll see the pay as beneath them. Luckily it is only a very small number of them who will be eligible for immediate government assistance. Majority of them will be able to live for quite some time without a job on their $300k pay outs.

If Holden does leave, workers will receive the most generous redundancy benefits around. Holden says leaving will cost $600m. Most of this will go to staff payouts. The fellow interviewed agrees with my calculation: the average production-line worker will walk away with a redundancy package of between $300k-500k.

Not entirely. It has more to do with the fact that we are not buying the large cars that Ford and Holden are making. The cars from Ford and Holden that we do make are already allocated to other manufacturing plants, and there is simply not the economic muscle that Australia can exert.

Unions and the deals do have some impact, but if people bought the cars they used to, there would not be a problem. There is NO level playing field out there. We took away our protection, but there is plenty of protection where we would like to sell the Commodores and Falcons.

Well, now here's an opportunity for Toyota to get a foot in. As Holden and Ford are no longer manufacturing in Australia, maybe we need to get on board with Toyota and make sure they do not go the same way.

Sir, Holden's death is almost entirely to be blamed on the staff.

In 1991, the pre-enterprise bargaining award wage of a Holden entry level process worker was $462.80 a week. In 1992, Holden began enterprise bargaining and now a worker at that same classification level has a base rate of $1194.50 a week, a 158 per cent increase, or a compound increase of 4.4 per cent year on year for 22 years. Right now, base wage rates for process workers in the Holden enterprise agreement are in the $60,000 to $80,000 per year range and in recent times, "hardship payments" of $3750 were given to each worker.

The modern award for such workers mandates base rates in the $37,000 to $42,000 range. This means that before we add any of the shift penalties, loadings, 26 allowances and the added cost of productivity restrictions, Holden begins each working day paying its workforce almost double what it should. After you add in the other employment costs, I estimate Holden's workforce costs it somewhere close to triple the amount it should.

Cookies must be enabled. | The Australian

Nowhere in the world is this acceptable. Unfortunately for many great Australian companies we do not have the same forgiving financial system as seen in the USA which has allowed many giant corporations nullify their outdated and impossible to service staff agreements.

[Transporter]

And Miro, its not the government's fault, its all down to the high cost of doing business due to unacceptably high labour costs compared to the rest of the world.

Well, don't forget the farmers, the land that is sold to the overseas, the houses that the foreigners are buying and than rent back. The politicians are there to make the laws that protect our interests, not to go against us.

[Finance_Analyst]

the houses that the foreigners are buying and than rent back.

I think you will find the actual proportion of these foreigners are quite small in absolute numbers, given that they cannot buy a landed property, only new ones (which is a good thing to prop up new housing approvals).

People who complain about foreign investment should remember that without money from China, this whole economy was done for years ago. Plus the fact the there is not enough local capital to swallow investment here locally.

[wai]

Oh, everybody will be a teacher so we have all the unemployed highly educated with at least double degrees surfing at the beach, since the government already sold out almost everything that we manufactured here, including utilities.

Yep, we will have the highest qualified unemployment queues in the world, per capita or otherwise.