Thread: Holden: Last vehicle rolls off production line as Australian car manufacturing ends

Thank you David, hard to believe as I thought Holden was as Australian as a Wallaby.

blame the thais for the demise of holden.


of all the free trade agreements that australia has with other countries, none was more brutal than the one with thailand which was introduced in 2005.

since australia agreed to lift the import tariff on cars from Thailand, over two million thai-made vehicles have been imported
from brands such as ford, toyota, honda, nissan, mitsubishi, mazda and others.

in return, australia shipped to thailand just 100 ford territory suvs.

that’s because thailand maintained hidden, non-tariff barriers while australia opened its borders completely.

ingeniously, thailand continued to impose higher registration fees on cars with larger engines – such as those made by ford and holden.

toyota already had a camry factory in thailand so couldn’t export cars there.

thailand – regarded as the ‘detroit of the asiapacific’ – is now the second-biggest source of motor vehicles in australia after japan and ahead of south korea.

from "autocar"

Zambia Police had Holden patrol cars back in the '80s.... they were crap as well.

Vauxhall Opel Holden

Blame currupt politictians, know the guy who set up the move from OZ to Thailand, he was the Australian trade delegate in BKK, car man from OZ to the US, high flier.

A few made millions out of the deal and 1,000s of workers lost their jobs, it was nothing to do with wages or costs, simply those with the power were bought by big industry.

Cheap cars never arrived and people can't afford new cars as they don't have real jobs, come from a car town.

The writing has been on the wall for years.

Just like there are no more British Leyland shopping trolleys in the UK so can Holden never compete with SEA for cheapo generic family wheels.

But just like the British car industry survived and thrived by re-focussing on its speciality: luxury and prestige badge SUVs and sports coupes/sedans, so can Australia's car industry thrive by focussing on the niche for which it is famous: V8 supercars/utes

The Monaro was reintroduced while I was living there and grown ockers were crying into their stubbies of VB.

Originally Posted by Luigi

The Monaro was reintroduced while I was living there and grown ockers were crying into their stubbies of VB.

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-g...es-5-episode-1

https://www.topgear.com/videos/top-g...es-5-episode-1

Holden? About as Australian as Ho Chi Minh or a heterosexual fireman. It's been owned by GM since the '30s.

GM and Ford competing in a tiny market killed home grown motors for Oz. Cut prices to undermine your competition and allow the Asian manufacturers to clean up through cheap labor and more reliable products.

Originally Posted by Norton

Or

Or recognize Australia simply doesn't have a large enough domestic market to support a major car company
2016 domestic car sales:
USA - 17.5 million
Japan - 4.8 million
Germany - 3.6 million
UK - 3 million
Aus - 1.1 million (Holden 39 thousand)

Suppose Aussies could have their very own car manufacturer if they wanted to subsidise it. After all Malaysia's Proton sold 38 thousand in 2016.

Norton sort of nails it.

Plus, our cars were rear-wheel drive, mainly 6 cylinder running on Petrol.

Plus our relatively high wages.

Plus our Zero tarrifs on inports.

Plus the little Aussie Battler, the Dollar a few years back soared to over US$1.10, not down near the US $0.70 it trades at now.

And then you have critical mass which we lost when Toyota, Mitsubishi, Ford and lastly Holden stopped manufacturing.

A perfect Storm.



Below is one of the unique style of cars that invented, produced and became part of our lifestyle ... the Ute

Holden has been an American company for the last 80 years. Get over it.

Originally Posted by Looper

so can Australia's car industry thrive by focussing on the niche for which it is famous: V8 supercars/utes

They're called Supercars and now have a twin turbo V6.

A near neighbor of mine has a new V6 Camry made in Australia.

That’s a shame, I like Commodores.

Always rent one when I’m in Aust/NZ.

Originally Posted by David48atTD

Below is one of the unique style of cars that invented, produced and became part of our lifestyle

Not an Aussie invention. The design was inspired by the American El Camino.

the new shaggin waggon will have to be a cruiser troopy - no more sandman

Originally Posted by David48atTD

Below is one of the unique style of cars that invented, produced and became part of our lifestyle ... the Ute

Originally Posted by bsnub

Not an Aussie invention. The design was inspired by the American El Camino.

SIGH ...





... the 'coupe-utility' that Ford Australia developed in 1933 not only formed the basis of every locally-made ute, it was also arguably
the granddaddy of every utility sold anywhere in the world, including the Aussie ute's North American cousin, the pick-up.

Yet the impetus for this game-changer of a vehicle came not from a marketing committee, nor any other kind of industry think-tank.
No, it was a letter to Ford Australia's then-boss, Hubert French, from the wife of a Gippsland farmer asking why it was that Ford didn't
offer its customers a vehicle that would take them to church on Sunday and then cart the pigs to market on Monday.

ford-australia-we-drive-the-original-ute

Originally Posted by Norton

Suppose Aussies could have their very own car manufacturer if they wanted to subsidise it. Afterall Malaysia's Proton sold 38 thousand in 2016.

Aus gumbyment handed out billions of dollars to the automotive industry.

I was always a Ford fan, but have to acknowledge Holden built some brilliant muscle cars over the years. A few would include:

GTR XU1




SLR 5000


Monaros of various vintages








A9X (And I could easily hang a poster of this car at home, that's petrol-head perfection)


And the last performance cab off the Holden rank, the 2017 GTS W1. Not a bad way to go out with a bang, these things have +/- 650 HP straight off the showroom floor.


I'm sure the Holden guys will know of other worthy mentions that I've forgotten, but there's some nice cars pictured above. Thanks for the memories.

I had one of these - 2nd car - 200 bucks - the front right brake pad came off and locked it up and smashed into the middle island on Hapmton Road outside of Freo Jail.



Then had one of these - many a trip down south surfing, load up up with piss and cones for the trip down - sleep in the back - even had a few roots in the back too


Heaps of mates had 'em - 3 on the tree, bench seats - you could turn the wheel nearly 180 degrees and theyd just go straight - hit a tree dead centre outside Dalkeith Tennis club on my 21st birthday with 6 of us on board - beers and bongs went flying and then we hid in the bushes when the cops showed up. Broke the bench seat! Luckily we were well loaded else someone coulda been hurt!

Originally Posted by Eliminator

I really do believe it's the UNIONS that play the biggest part of killing MOST businesses all over the world. Number one reason why most BIG companies went to China or other countries to reduce costs and give the stock holders more profit. Big CORPS don't care about the WORKERS, just more PROFIT. The UNIONS saying GIVE US MORE MONEY when the reast of the world was willing to work for a lot less.

Heard this story for years, remember when they closed the Williamstown [Melbourne ship building yards] government minister on TV with the union guy, we can't compete with South Korea ship builders, wages/costs are too high.

Union guy said, my members are happy to except South Korean wages, they get paid more than us.
Ship yard closed, nothing to do with wages.