Posted on 12/11/2013 2:15:01 AM PST by Olog-hai
General Motors Co. said Wednesday it will stop making cars and engines in Australia by the end of 2017, with nearly 2,900 jobs to be lost, because of high production costs and competition.
The decision could spell the end of car manufacturing in Australia as the industry will be too small for supporting businesses such as parts makers to remain economic. Toyota Motor Corp. announced it is reassessing its future in Australia. A union said 50,000 jobs in the auto industry are in jeopardy.
GM’s Australian subsidiary Holden once dominated Australian auto sales, but lost market share to imported cars. Ford Motor Co., once Holden’s major rival in Australia, announced in May that it was ending production in the country in 2016. Toyota is the only other auto manufacturer in Australia. …
(Excerpt) Read more at hosted.ap.org ...
Production will probably be moved to Thailand.
AH- once again UNIONS plague their own job security by forcing auto makers to move to places WITH OUT UNIONS....never learn...
Mitsubishi is already there.
The new Mirage is made there.
Other than saying “the high cost of production” the article does not address what I believe to be the problem; labor unions. I worked on a proposal for the Australian Navy. It said right in the solicitation that the hardware would be FOB at the base in Australia. We were not allowed to use an Australian flagged ship for transport. The reason, I was told, was if it was Navy owned then it would be handled and moved by labor unions and might get held up. Everything was done, by the solicitation, to keep the Australian content low due to labor laws.
Better get my name on the list to get a B&S ute while they’re still around.
“Mitsubishi is already there.”
So’s Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Isuzu, Ford, Mazda. At least some GM products are also already made or assembled here. Chevys, for one.
Bummer that GM no longer making cars in OZ
If they do a reboot of the Mad Max movies...they will have to use foreign cars...no more Holden’s (GM cars)
Better inport your Holden UTE before they roll up the factory.
On the other hand, maybe there will be lots of parts available on the cheap . . .? Woo Hooo!!!
THAILAND?
Max's car was a modified Ford Falcon XB.
Do you think this might be more fall out from the death of pontiac as well?
They where gonna bring a bunch of them over here and sell them as modern sports cars/trucks.
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