Gm Confirms 'game Over' For Holden From 2017

[gobbledonk]

For those outside Australia, this will be about as relevant as the fact that GM no longer sells Pontiac or Oldmobile-branded cars, but the estimate is that 50,000 jobs will go and it's basically the nail in the coffin for a manufacturing industry which has struggled with our high dollar over the last 3 or so years.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holden

 

Their MD is doing his best to spin this as a win for consumers - 'Holden will continue to be a strong brand in this country' - but tell that to Pontiac owners. Ford have already announced they are pulling out, and Toyota are now making noises about nixing what's left of their own manufacturing operations in Australia. The kick in the guts with our auto industry is that the Australian taxpayer has been repeatedly ask to hand Detroit very large sums of money to keep manufacturing in this country - often to a chorus of 'We're only postponing the inevitable !' .I guess that's one of the great things about being a doomsayer - sooner or later you'll get it right.

 

http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/holden-will-cease-operations-in-2017/story-fnda1bsz-1226780720596

 

The most tragic part of the press conference was when the boss said that GM would be working closely with the relevant govt agencies to ensure that their workers find new jobs - I wonder how unemployed auto workers in Detroit would have greeted that assurance ?

[Flashermac]

Oh, my ... when you say cars and Australia, I automatically think of Holden.

[gobbledonk]

As Tanya Plibersek, acting leader of the Opposition, said in her press conference today, Joseph Benedict Chifley saw the first Holden off the production line in 1948 and Treasuer Joseph Benedict Hockey will see the last Holden off the production line in 2017. Ben Chifley remains a revered figure in Australian politics, but poor old Joe Hockey hasnt taken a trick sine they won the election just a few short months ago.

 

I wont argue that the writing has been on the wall for the auto industry in Oz for many years, but this will hurt a Coalition government already down in the opinion polls. QANTAS are also signalling mass layoffs - interesting times ahead.

[baa99]

Not to worry, China will take care of Oz.

[gobbledonk]

Sure - we sold a large chunk of QLD to the Japanese in the 80s - the Chinese might as well buy the parts of Sydney and Melbourne they dont already own !

 

Adelaide is in a particularly nasty location - no-one really wants to live in the dryest state on the dryest continent on earth. Weird how that works.

[unit731]

All is the Walmart Syndrome.

Buy the cheapest crap possible.

 

Kind of sad that Australia is losing a home grown automobile.

Maybe the government should have provided some incentives to GM.

But, of course, that is socialism. And God, we don't want that.

So now it will be cheap China, India, and Thailand cars.

[cavanami]

>So now it will be cheap China, India, and Thailand cars.

 

...who get all the gov incentives they need...

[Flashermac]

So does GM ...

[gobbledonk]

Excellent points, one and all. Oz media has reported that the Commodore will be built in China from 2017, and Flasher is 100% right - GM did get a taxpayer-funded bailout. Those of us in IT or energy dont see governments intervene if our employers decide they need to make staff cuts, but the auto industry is - along with certain banks - seen as 'too big to fail'. Somehow the fatcat execs dont seem to lose their golden parachutes.

[unit731]

The Australian government could ponder some incentives.

 

All of the new automobile plants in the US have received massive tax subsidies from state governments.

• In 1992 South Carolina ushered in the new wave of investment by foreign carmakers in the South by offering BMW a package that was ultimately worth an estimated $150 million. A decade later, the state put up an additional $80 million in infrastructure aid when BMW decided to expand its operations in the state.
  
• In 1993 officials in Alabama lured a Mercedes-Benz facility, the first foreign auto plant in the state, with a package worth more than $250 million.
  
• In 1999 Alabama put together a $158 million subsidy deal to land a $400 million, 1.7 million-square-foot Honda plant. In 2002 state and local officials provided an additional package worth $90 million, including $33 million in tax breaks over 20 years, when Honda decided to expand the facility.
  
• In 2000 officials in Mississippi lured a $950 million Nissan plant with a $295 million subsidy deal. While the plant was still under construction, the company announced an expansion of the project that also involved an increase in the subsidy package to $363 million.
  
• When South Korean carmakers Hyundai staged a competition for a $1 billion plant, various states put together bids, but it was Alabama that won the contest in 2002 with a package worth $252 million.
  

LINK

 

 

Whose money do you think these subsidies came from?

 

These states must be a hot bed of Socialism, right?