With the benefit of hindsight, imagine if instead of handing out all the subsides to the individual car makers, the Federal Government instead used that money to build a multi-brand car manufacturing facility (government owned, but allowed the three manufacturers to use it). We’d still have ownership of that factory, and we could restart manufacturing cars (or similar) without having to start from nothing.
I think the blame can be shared with the consumers as well as GM greed. We as Australians didn't buy enough locally build cars. Both the last model Holdens and Fords were the best cars ever produced in Oz.
People would rather buy a Kia/Hyundai or European luxury cars than good old Holdens or Falcons.
Unless we get every conceivable option and berserkly blinged it's not good enough now.
The bulk of cars built in Oz over the last 30 years have all been great.
I would rather drive (and do) a 20 year old car with a few K's on it than the latest from Asia.
All very well to blame the government (They spent something like 800 million propping up 4 companies) but the real reason the big manufacturers left Oz was because they didn't sell enough cars. We didn't buy enough.
Shania and the twins Jayden, Jaxtynn and the pitbull Hades now drive around in a Hyundai Elantra, she can buy 3 cartons of winnie blues with the money she saved (the child support buys all the man meals at MacDonald's with enough left over for some krack) compared to getting a new Australian car, not that it's an option now.
