Ford and Holden on Shaky Ground....(again)

[Taily]

The problem with the exchange rate is that petrol would skyrocket with a drop in the AUD. This would also count against bigger 6's and 8's increasing their market share. The government has sold the farm and has allowed too many foriegn manufacturers into the Australian market with low or no tarriffs on imports that are made in countries with much lower manufacturing costs than Australia. This has been happening for more than 30 years and will continue until there is no manufacturing industry in this country at all, not just in the car industry.

Pretty close to the mark. There is a distinct difference between foreign investmant and foreign ownership of Australian resources and business. I seriously believe governments for many yeaqrs have completely lost sight of that simple concept, hence the horse has bolted...

Anothe faux pas I feel was the linking of our fuel prices to the Singapore market. Don't believe those for a minute who would have you believe that Australia doesn't have enough accessible crude of the right grades and/or volumes to cover our own needs for quite some time. In 2009 I was working out of Darwin for a dry season for a company that transferred crews for the NW shelf and also across to Dili to service the other side of it as well. Many of those I was in contact with were upper level management involved in both the oil and LNG. What they had to say got me thinking about it.

Problem is, in reality, who does one vote in to achieve giving the country some real stability and direction? Don't blame the voters, they only made their choice from the choices available at the time...

[HK1837]

I didn't realise VZ were 2100kg. The same regarding carrying capacity applies though. This has to include the towbal load which is normally about 10% of the trailer total mass.

[Paddy_77HZ_Ute]

Would probably help if taxpayer funded organisations bought Holden's and Fords, that way they would sell heaps more cars, and instead of taxpayers funded bailout payments that achieve little, we would actualllt get something for our money, any likely an actual result as well.

[agr071]

My 2c worth.
It sounds like 1978 again, when Holden introduced to mid size car to replace the Kingswood/Premier/Statesman because no-one wanted the larger sedans.(This ended in WB)
THEN in 1988 (4 years later) Holden brought the VN into the range - a large size sedan again.
Get rid of it in 2016 and re introduce a larger car in another 5 years. Good on you Holden.
Can't stand Toyota's (Except Supra's) Over-rated and Over-priced and Hybrid's are a joke. Green house friendly - pigs ar$e!!!!!

[cheesygrinner]

This in today's news:

http://www.couriermail.com.au/busine...-1226573139742

[Alien DNA]

Push button park brake??!! Don't have much faith in that!!

[Dick61]

Unfortunately car company executives are just like politicians, they are unable to learn from their own and others mistakes, they can't plan any further ahead than the next model release and they have no loyalty to their customers. The GFC showed GMH to be the only GM franchise to be making money, strangely also the only franchise still producing a large rear wheel drive platform! The Commodore experiment showed that Australians like their larger vehicles, GMH lost a lot of ground to Ford as it could still be bought as a 6 seater which the Commodore couldn't. Holden didn't make a larger car again until the VN, it had the 6 seat option even if it did look like Moby Dick's bigger brother, and Holden outsold the Falcon once again. Since then both Ford and Holden have lost ground to the imports due to a range of factors. I am in real danger of climbing on my soap box here and raving about tariffs, cheap crappy imports etc etc

[Robbo]

"Cheap Crappy Import's" is exactly what is killing the market for established brand's. Tradies can go and buy the cheap chinese tray back ute's or 4wd's, loaded to the hilt with extra's, for a fraction of the cost of a hilux. The vehicle's are no where near as good as a hilux of course. Only when they go to upgrade do the purchaser's realise their big mistake, the vehicle is worth bugger all.

[Taily]

Cheap imports, who remebers the Lada Niva? What a beast - NOT! When I see the Great Wall I feel the same way about that machine, despite the fact it is built from the left over plant from the old model Isuzu/Colorado.

The problem is that some of the imports set the bar a little higher than our local home grown cars were at in terms of fit, finish, appointments and refinement at a time when Holden were offering us the first installment of the Buick V6 which, while they went OK and were reasonably torquey were harsh, resonating fuel guzzlers that leaked through just about every casting hole of the engine and rattled like a chaff cutter when the timing chain tensioner broke (which they did - often) and stopped at every other set of traffic lights or car park with a knackered fuel pump or relay.

They eventually evolved the engine to a reasonably refined package but the horse had bolted a bit as people seemed to become more accepting of imports and by the time they were looking to replace their first import purchase they were spoiled for choice in the market as the cost of imports had dropped markedly by then.

To balance the discussion Ford were able to refine their 4.0lt straight six into a big loping smooth effortless cruiser (more the 4 speed automatic toned the engine down a bit) but were let down by fit and finish (as well as a few handling defects in the early 90's Falcons that were very quetly addressed in great haste) as well.

I guess it is a fine line between building to a price point and expecting it to sell but bland is just plain bland and as exciting as jamming your nether regions in a vice to most people so they voted with their wallets and looked elsewhere.

I agree that the buck stops with the management of the time, however as people now have a greater choice of vehicles to choose from, the market share that the large car dominated up until around 10 years ago has dwindled almost to the point of now (almost) unsustainable levels so what happens now?

Dave.

[Alien DNA]

You can see how bad it actually is for the red and blue!!