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GM give up HOLDEN ?

BlackoutSteve

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Nick, we used to have tarrifs on imports that protected our auto industry and allowed Holden to produce Commodores, Geminis, Toranas, along with Ford's models and Chrysler and employ a heap of people.
But since the Hawke gov't's moronic "Button Plan" (after Senator John Button) that removed the industries' tariffs and all of it's protection, all makers have, or soon will, stop porducing here.
That's why we have been importing the sh!tboxes in the above post as well. We used to produce cars that size here ourselves..
Anyway, it won't be long before Toyota pull the pin too. There is no way the local parts producers will be able to survive with just one customer, so even if Toyota wanted to stay, I doubt that they could..

It is way too late to re-introduce tariffs for an all but dead industry.
You've now got 95% of drivers / import buyers, who would be furious at new tarrifs on what they are now firmly in the habit of buying. It would never pass and will never happen..
Besides, Australians in general don't give a sh!t about buying Australian either. ..and that's the real sad truth.
 
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NickVR

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Nick, we used to have tarrifs on imports that protected our auto industry and allowed Holden to produce Commodores, Geminis, Toranas, along with Ford's models and Chrysler and employ a heap of people.
But since the Hawke gov't's moronic "Button Plan" (after Senator John Button) that removed the industries' tariffs and all of it's protection, all makers have, or soon will, stop porducing here.
That's why we have been importing the sh!tboxes in the above post as well. We used to produce cars that size here ourselves..
Anyway, it won't be long before Toyota pull the pin too. There is no way the local parts producers will be able to survive with just one customer, so even if Toyota wanted to stay, I doubt that they could..

It is way too late to re-introduce tariffs for an all but dead industry.
You've now got 95% of drivers / import buyers, who would be furious at new tarrifs on what they are now firmly in the habit of buying. It would never pass and will never happen..
Besides, Australians in general don't give a sh!t about buying Australian either. ..and that's the real sad truth.

I realise what happened in the past to tarrifs. But what I'm saying is that for another company to take over Holden, tariffs would need to be adjusted for it to work. I also realise that we used to have many factories that made many cars in Australia. That won't happen but it needs to if they want another company to take over.
 

Reaper

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Hands up those that realize that higher tariffs mean you pay more for those goods? That means, in this case every car imported into Australia will cost the consumer more $$$
 

delcowizzid

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holden should just start remanufacturing HQ's monaros toranas etc and sell to a neich market LOL
 

BlackoutSteve

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Hands up those that realize that higher tariffs mean you pay more for those goods? That means, in this case every car imported into Australia will cost the consumer more $$$

Tariffs means you pay more for those imported goods that are also manufactured here, and of course, that's the whole point. That's how you create a level playing field and protect yourself. Otherwise, how else are we supposed to earn $30 an hour to pay a mortgage, put kids through school, maintain our standard of living etc., all while competing against a Chinese worker earning $5 per hour?
If you want to learn why factories close, jobs are lost, dollars plummet and economies die, don't buy the locally made product.

It's no coincidence that the USA was once the strongest economy in the world during a time when 80 or 90% of cars on their roads were made there, along with so many other locally made commodities.. I love watching old movies and seeing the streets lined with old Chevys and Dodges and Cadillacs and Mercurys and Plymouths and Pontiacs and Buicks and Oldsmobiles and Lincolns.. and.. and.. and.. but look at them today. Hondas, Toyotas, Lexus', BMWS, Mercs etc.. Like here, the locally made is few and far between. Today, the USA are in a disgusting amount of foreign debt and now China practically own them. There is so much importing.

Yes, tariffs are required if you want production to survive here. This country would never have had any car industry if it wasn't for tariffs. ..and that's just a car industry. :)
 

mpower

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Exactly when you are competing with slave labour nations you need tariffs.
 

'ssv'

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So the camaro is coming...
 

SavVYute

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What if......say GM keep the Holden name.....then import the Camaro in right hand drive.......and we all love it and buy it ...
so much that we cry out for a four door and wagon and ute Camaro .....and they decide to make these specialty versions here and call them Holden's.....and they're so cool everyone wants one and we export them...and......and....:blah blah:
 

mpower

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Hands up those that realize that higher tariffs mean you pay more for those goods? That means, in this case every car imported into Australia will cost the consumer more $$$

Actually, importers will have to knock back the "Australia Tax" they put on everything to compete.

So the camaro is coming...

ironic that we get a Zeta based car....
 

BlackoutSteve

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What if......say GM keep the Holden name.....then import the Camaro in right hand drive.......and we all love it and buy it ...
so much that we cry out for a four door and wagon and ute Camaro .....and they decide to make these specialty versions here and call them Holden's.....and they're so cool everyone wants one and we export them...and......and....:blah blah:

I doubt GM would produce the Camaro in RHD because of cost. Australia's potential Camaro buyers are a tiny percentage that wouldn't make producing a RHD Camaro viable.
Even though the Camaro is on the Zeta platform, it's the Zeta 2 platform that shares practically no interchangeable parts with our Commodores. So, lot's of one-off RHD parts that don't currently exist would still need to be produced and volume just isn't there.
The only thing we could hope for in a sh!tty situation of having no car industry, is like in New Zealand, that the laws would (be relaxed to) allow small volumes of late model/new car private imports that we could fully register as LHD, rather than just those that are 30+ years old -which is current law.
New Zealand have no local auto industry that would be threatened by small volumes of new car private imports, so as long as you pay the tax on them, you can fully register a LHD vehicle there and drive it.
 
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