Don't forget economy of scale. If Ford or Holden design a car for the Australian market they might hope to sell maybe 20,000 units? If Mitsubshi design a car, maybe 1,000,000 or more. Work out production costs for lower volumes and it doesn't help. We used to have a huge export market when we had the HQ but now the world has changed. I also must admit that it's been a long time since they built a car that I wanted to buy (I also don't buy Emu Export beer now there is more to choice)