500 jobs to go at Holden

[Rivan]

Damn, bad news for local manufacturing :(

From the age:

500 jobs to go at Holden


Holden will close part of its Melbourne operations, prompting layoffs for 500 staff, Australia's car manufacturing union said.

Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union (AMWU) car division federal secretary Ian Jones said today Holden was effectively closing one part of its operations at its Fisherman's Bend plant.

The move will put 500 full-time workers out of work from the end of next year, Mr Jones said.

Holden plans to hold a media conference at 4pm today at its local headquarters, said Holden spokesman John Lindsay, who declined to confirm or deny the job loss report.

Holden currently employs about 3,100 people in Victoria and 6,500 nationally, Mr Lindsay said. The company is wholly owned by US parent General Motors Corp., which earlier this week announced plan to close four truck factories in North America as demand for its larger vehicles shrinks.

The Holden job losses, if confirmed, follow the release yesterday of a report on the Australian car industry by the Productivity Commission that argued against the Federal Government's plans to invest some $500 million to create greener cars.

Record fuel prices have turned many consumers away from the traditional six-cylinder sedans built in Australia by Holden, Ford and Toyota, the sole remaining car makers.

Mitsubishi Motors closed its car assembly plant in Adelaide earlier this year.

The last of Mitsubishi's 380 model rolled off the Tonsley Park production line in March, ending the company's 28-year manufacturing history in Australia, resulting in the loss of about 1000 jobs.

Ford announced mid last year that it would end production of its locally produced six-cylinder engine at its Geelong plant and replace it with an imported V6. Ford will instead assemble its Focus small car at Broadmeadows in northern Melbourne from 2011.

The Broadmeadows plant will absorb some of the resulting 640 job losses from Geelong.

[Marco]

This is bad news, but as I said in an argument a few minutes ago on another forum, it doesn't really make a lot of sense to build four cylinder engines here when you don't make a car to go with it. It made a lot more sense when this engine went into Camiras and Pulsars that were built on the other side of town.

I think it's fair to say this plant was always going to close as soon as the Family II reached the end of its production life, and it looks like that day has come.

[shane W Z]

I agree with Marco. It seems that it was more practical (i'dve thought anyway) to Keep the facility open while they were building cars that the engines were for (if that makes sense) here.So apart from exports i am only surprised it didn't close years ago when the camira died.

[VL Executive]

I think it's fair to say this plant was always going to close as soon as the Family II reached the end of its production life, and it looks like that day has come.

Spose they have been around since about 1987 - 88. 20+ year old engine.

Is it officialy curtins for it, or are they going to build them offshore?

What are the Family II 4's used in at the moment anyway?

It is bad news for Australian manufacturing.

[Goggles]

Spose they have been around since about 1987 - 88. 20+ year old engine.

I think its even older than that......83/84 I think.

anyway, I don't think a cast iron 4cyl engine would cut it today.

by the sounds of the press release from Holden, they are going to build more variants of the V6 (DOD and alternative fuels).

[planetdavo]

The Family 2 series covers a fair range of engines, including the locally built 2.4 fitted to the current Rodeo and also the Viva's 1.8. Not all variants still have iron blocks.

[German Statesman]

My God...the Family engine is going...

That noise you hear is Holden techs around the country hi-fiving and doing the Toyota jump :)

Admittedly a tough engine, but what an oil leaker

[RARASV8]

i started my apprenticeship @ Holden back in 82, my first in plant experience was plant 16 @ fishermans bend, this was and still is the home of the family 2 engine. the plant was up and running b4 i started there, and was actually going thru a upgrade from the 1.8 to the 2.0 engine.
to drive past now its a different place. the whole GMH plant @ fishermans bend has changed to what it was back in the mid 80's. many of the plants have closed and been pulled down, so what is still made at fishermans bend?

Garry

[Chappy]

This 500 jobs are but the start of the fall of the car manufacturing industry in Australia, with the fast rising petrol prices, excess government tax's and major companies looking to places like China to have their vehicles built at a reduced cost.

And the silly part of all this is we the Australian public will sit back and bitch, winge and carry-on but yet do nothing to save ourselves.

The petrol prices is a prime example, there was a letter circulated many times over the internet talking about a total ban on the buying of fuel one or two days a week which would have had a huge effect on the fuel companies but as normal did the Australian public back it NO and we continue to pay the price.

Anyway this is my bitch but remember "united we stand and divided will fall" the government sense January this year has made no moves to restrain the fuel rises and in their short time of government we have had several sharp rise from memory $1.12 to $1.70 plus a litre .

Cheers and I will get down of my :soap: Box now.

[Jac001]

This 500 jobs are but the start of the fall of the car manufacturing industry in Australia, with the fast rising petrol prices, excess government tax's and major companies looking to places like China to have their vehicles built at a reduced cost.

And the silly part of all this is we the Australian public will sit back and bitch, winge and carry-on but yet do nothing to save ourselves.

The petrol prices is a prime example, there was a letter circulated many times over the internet talking about a total ban on the buying of fuel one or two days a week which would have had a huge effect on the fuel companies but as normal did the Australian public back it NO and we continue to pay the price.

Anyway this is my bitch but remember "united we stand and divided will fall" the government sense January this year has made no moves to restrain the fuel rises and in their short time of government we have had several sharp rise from memory $1.12 to $1.70 plus a litre .

Cheers and I will get down of my :soap: Box now.

*sigh* where to start..

The 'start of the fall for the australian car industry' started 20+ years ago.. this is nothing new....

Do people understand why car companies like holden and ford etc started biulding cars in australia in the first place?

Because it was cheaper to biuld cars in australia than bring them over from the US and Europe etc.

So why complain now that it is cheaper to biuld cars in places like china?

Want to lower the price of fuel, stop using it completely... Stopping for a day or two will do nothing...

The only way the government can reduce the cost of fuel is to remove the taxes on it.

So if petrol is currently $1.70/L then the government would be able to reduce it by (38c exciss + 17c GST ) 55c, so we would still be paying $1.15.

This is only a tempory solution but a very bad one.

As petrol is cheaper people will use more of it (and buy cars that use more of it) and then their is a greater demand for it which in turns pushes prices higher...

High petrol prices means more investment in alternative fuels which in the long run mean we, (as a nation) will be better off than stuck to the signapore's light crude oil price.

[Chappy]

*sigh* where to start..

The 'start of the fall for the australian car industry' started 20+ years ago.. this is nothing new....

Do people understand why car companies like holden and ford etc started biulding cars in australia in the first place?

Because it was cheaper to biuld cars in australia than bring them over from the US and Europe etc.

So why complain now that it is cheaper to biuld cars in places like china?

Want to lower the price of fuel, stop using it completely... Stopping for a day or two will do nothing...

The only way the government can reduce the cost of fuel is to remove the taxes on it.

So if petrol is currently $1.70/L then the government would be able to reduce it by (38c exciss + 17c GST ) 55c, so we would still be paying $1.15.

This is only a tempory solution but a very bad one.

As petrol is cheaper people will use more of it (and buy cars that use more of it) and then their is a greater demand for it which in turns pushes prices higher...

High petrol prices means more investment in alternative fuels which in the long run mean we, (as a nation) will be better off than stuck to the signapore's light crude oil price.

Ok fair enough it may have started 20 years ago I personal don't know but what I do know is that we have to be careful not to farm out stuff like Chinese Holden s as that will take more Aussie job that's for sure, maybe we just refuse to unload the boats its been done before by the waterside workers.

Fuel I seriously do believe that if there was enough people stop buying fuel twice a week from their local servo.s the effect would flow on to the fuel companies and I think that the government could reduce the tax rate on fuel if they were serious but we all know they are not its guaranteed money in there pockets you might say.

Maybe the Australian government need to be putting some of the 100's of millions dollars it give to overseas country's for nothing in to finding and producing more oil in Australia that way we don't need to buy Singapore oil.

Lets start to worry about Australians and spend the wasted money we pump into other countries.

Cheers

[planetdavo]

As long as we continue to demand high wages for the least amount of work we can get away with in Australia, this will continue!
Exports were far more attractive when the Aus dollar was low, but now, it's not so attractive. People need to realise that GM's 4 cylinder engine family are made in several different engine plants around the world, so it makes economic sense for a global company to source from more attractive alternatives.

[Carby650]

A bit OT guys but I think Holden might have a real problem on their hands very soon. With the new Fraud Falcon six being head and shoulders a better motor then the V6 in the Commordore and feul prices being what they are I think many people who would've been in the market for a V8 will now be looking at 6cyl instead.
They will still want some performance. Our v6 whilst apparantly having potential is a boat anchor currently and I think this could be bad news for Holden. I think some big dollars needs to be spent in a hurry getting the V6 up to scratch in both performance and economy to compete with the fraud otherwise I think there will be more jobs going around the country in Holden prodution plants.
cheers
Carby650

[Jac001]

A bit OT guys but I think Holden might have a real problem on their hands very soon. With the new Fraud Falcon six being head and shoulders a better motor then the V6 in the Commordore....
Carby650

No offence, but the alloytech is the least of Holdens worries at the moment. To invest any money in it over and above what R&D is happening overseas would be a waste..

The falcon is no longer the commodores main rival.

The future for the commodore is no longer in the australian market, and hasn't been for the last few years. Holden need to be making sure that its export cars are at the top of field... thats where its survive is, not in some local pi*ssing match with ford...

[Carby650]

No offence, but the alloytech is the least of Holdens worries at the moment. To invest any money in it over and above what R&D is happening overseas would be a waste..

The falcon is no longer the commodores main rival.

The future for the commodore is no longer in the australian market, and hasn't been for the last few years. Holden need to be making sure that its export cars are at the top of field... thats where its survive is, not in some local pi*ssing match with ford...

Nup fair point that. And no offence taken. :)

cheers
carby650

[kart_racer]

A bit OT guys but I think Holden might have a real problem on their hands very soon. With the new Fraud Falcon six being head and shoulders a better motor then the V6 in the Commordore and feul prices being what they are I think many people who would've been in the market for a V8 will now be looking at 6cyl instead.
They will still want some performance. Our v6 whilst apparantly having potential is a boat anchor currently and I think this could be bad news for Holden. I think some big dollars needs to be spent in a hurry getting the V6 up to scratch in both performance and economy to compete with the fraud otherwise I think there will be more jobs going around the country in Holden prodution plants.
cheers
Carby650

Well Holden's V6 will be getting direct injection before long, which will help it considerably.

Also, Ford's I6 only has a couple of years left before their global V6 is imported to replace it.