Holden closing down Factory 2016 - 2018

[Sabbath']

if no-one on here got anything postive to say or useful
i'm not responding any-more

Finally. Silence.

 

[Ian Johnston]

I am 60 years old, am on Centrelink(at the moment), struggle to get out of bed in the mornings, my wife can hardly walk, but we hold down 3 part time jobs between us. And, my wifes tits are bigger than mine.:rofl2:
I lean sometimes, although its not a disease.

And last but not least, I just bought a Subaru.:smoking:


We have 3 Holdens in the yard as well. Am I doing my bit to save Holden????

 

[gemini]

Holden should just hire Indians and Africans as they work for peanuts.

 

[SavVYute]

On the positive side...getting rid of our manufacturing industries lowers Australia's carbon emissions.

 

[Calaber]

The ignorance that pervades early posts in this thread, regarding the reintroduction of tariffs and high levels of protection for our local industry, completely ignores the historical facts and the reasons why we don't have them today.

We had very high tariff levels until the mid 1980's. Those high barriers, and a restriction on the numbers of cars that could be imported, gave our industry far too much protection, and as a consequence, the quality of the local car production was absolute rubbish by the international standards that existed at the time. Holden was building the VK, Ford the XE and Chrysler had given up on the Valiant and was focussed on Mitsubishi products. With the exception of some of the Mitsu's, they were all absolute rubbish. Large, inefficient carburettor six cylinder engines that were bloody thirsty and ran on leaded petrol. Drum brakes on the rear of all of them - disc front brakes had only been made standard within the previous few years, leaf rear springs, live rear axles (on the Falcon), column shift 3 speed manuals on the Fords, 4 speed manuals on the others, virtually no luxury equipment as standard. The quality of assembly depended on how far back from the production line the assemblers stood when they threw the parts at the car as it passed. I owned a few local cars from that era and I loved nearly all of them (except the Valiant), despite all their faults, but that was because I had never experienced anything else from overseas.

The Hawke government, with the Button Plan, kicked the locals into the next decade and made them wake up to the advances they had to make for our car industry to compete. Tariffs were to be gradually reduced and of course, all the local manufacturers bitched like crazy, saying it was the end of local production. Well, it's taken thirty years for their messages to become reality, and the local cars have improved out of sight in that time, but some things can't be overcome. The high cost of production, the legal requirements car manufacturers have to comply with here, (workplace safety, compulsory superannuation, leave loading, intrusive unionism) and the wrong car mix have put paid to locally designed and built cars.

Holden has tried all the tricks in the book to remain here but so long as they sell less and less local models, and have to rely on the imports to remain viable, then local production is doomed. I really hate the thought that everything with a Holden badge will probably eventually originate from Daewoo (hell, I drive one now and it's insomnia on wheels) because I have yet to see a single Daewoo model that wasn't abso-bloody-lutely dull and ordinary.

 

[corhijasna]

peoples tastes have also changed in that time,you now see a lot of women and older people in suv's and 4wd's that never go off the road because they think they are safer and possibly are,however a lot of these vehicles never see dirt and are a image people want to project that we are higher etc blah blah blah

I do agree with the above points,especially regarding the wages etc

 

[Calaber]

peoples tastes have also changed in that time,you now see a lot of women and older people in suv's and 4wd's that never go off the road because they think they are safer and possibly are,however a lot of these vehicles never see dirt and are a image people want to project that we are higher etc blah blah blah

I do agree with the above points,especially regarding the wages etc

True. There is a local four wheel drive used car specialist who advertises on the radio pretty frequently in Newcastle. One of the "actors" in that ad is a woman who says she wanted her kids to be safe in the car so she went to this dealer to get a 4WD. That mentality exists pretty strongly, yet many 4WD's are far less safe than normal sedans or wagons.

 

[corhijasna]

I totally agree calaber,I grew up on the land and we had 1 4wd for the farm and the rest were cars,trucks etc,20 years ago there was no such thing as a suv,out of all the cars on the road back in the 80's and 90's only 1 in 20 were 4wd's ,now with the advent of the suv's,they the suv's and 4wd's far outweigh the average family sedan on the road

 

[nes138]

True. There is a local four wheel drive used car specialist who advertises on the radio pretty frequently in Newcastle. One of the "actors" in that ad is a woman who says she wanted her kids to be safe in the car so she went to this dealer to get a 4WD. That mentality exists pretty strongly, yet many 4WD's are far less safe than normal sedans or wagons.

What add is that? I'm in newy too
Must admit Newcastle radio is some of the worst I've ever heard. It's where dj's come to retire and they are all owned by the same company so they don't even try to compete.

 

[Demonica]

Fudging soccer mums and 4wds are a bad mix. Always found them to be so much worse than men with their driving mentalities. The amount you get with the of get out of my way cause my ride is bigger than yours attitude :ranting: