Totally agree Davo, bloody good post, exactly the reason I bought GM instead of something Euro!![]()
I get the distinct feeling that some of the younger members are perhaps too young to understand what actually makes the Aussie car uniquely "Australian".
The Aussie car has never been cutting edge, and it's never tried to be. It's always been simply an honest, comfortable family car that traded some final polish for overall good value, and it still is that car.
The main reason Australia has been able to continue producing a unique vehicle (primarily) for this market is because it didn't really have much existing international competition from within their own respective internationally owned organisations. Enough people wanted the sort of car we designed for this country to prevent the big bosses shutting it all down.
Australia these days is rapidly becoming a country that doesn't give a sh!t about Australian business. Care factor about Australian manufacturing is heading toward non-existant by many. Some intentionally avoid Australian made- no matter what the benefits are.
So, people are buying many other choices made overseas, ignoring the still unique benefits of the Aussie designed and made vehicle for some of the different benefits of the imports. So, what I keep hearing is that people basically want Aussie cars to be the same as an import, and since it isn't, they buy an import.
As they are entitled to do, but there will be a price to pay one day, just as there will be a price to pay one day for the explosion in overseas internet shopping.
It might be gold TODAY with the high Aus dollar...BUT.
Just remember that in the future, once the US and Euro markets finally recover, our dollar will go DOWN. Everything imported will go up in price- just like it used to be much more expensive, and by then, peoples current habits will have killed off Australian manufacturing, and a big chunk of Australian retail.
Both the above are HUGE employers.
Good luck to your kids all finding jobs as you get older. They can "thank" those that slagged off "Aussie" as inferior- when they still had a chance to save it...
Totally agree Davo, bloody good post, exactly the reason I bought GM instead of something Euro!![]()
As many have said a hundred times, every country financially supports their car manufacturing operations. They just do it in different ways. Stop the assistance, they shut down, the workers go on the dole for ages. From a purely political perspective it is cheaper to subsidise the manufacturers than to let them shut down. Manufacturing employs vast numbers of Australians.
Most manufacturing will disappear from this country in the future. Unfortunately, the best we can realistically hope for is that we don't lose the "talent" along with it.
Governments for decades have been offloading their assets. Buying Holden will never happen.
:slow clap:
O cry my a river Davo. We are all consumers here. Patriotism can only stretch so far. How dare you try and give the gilt treatment to those that use their brains to spend thousands of dollars of their hard earned over blindly dropping quite large sums of money on a product purely because its made here
People are starting to get annoyed with the premium we pay in this country. Sure I can justify it too as overall our wages are higher so it has to come from somewhere.
Where that gets messy is when we pay a significant premium for a lesser product made here that is sold cheaper overseas. Now I have no problem with that if the local demand is there. Where I do have a problem with it is if the demand isn't there and the blame is put on to the consumer as you so bluntly put it.
How about instead of blaming the consumer for walking away from the precious company you think can do no wrong. Look at Holden for their poor sales performance. The Australian public aren't the complete idiots you and the company work for assume they are. It's clearly evident by the amount of people walking into dealerships who aren't buying your cars.
You are correct in some respects Macca but if you look at the sales they are not bad when compared to the test of the market they simply reflect that there is now more choice for people and Holden and Ford just don't get the exclusive market they used to in their hay day.
Think you should re-phrase that to "people like you" macca_779.
We get high wages in this country, yet short sighted people b!tch about the price of stuff in this country. The translation, of course, is that people want their cake and eat it too. How about you start comparing all sorts of purchases as a percentage of weekly pay between different countries, and get back to me about just how "poorly off" we are on this little island.
You can buy whatever you want. I'm not stopping you. But if you spend your whole life saying how sh!t, under-developed, expensive or whatever else locally developed products are, the future for you, your friends, your family and your kids deserves whatever comes from the choices you currently make.
How much is 98 in 'straya now? It's around $2.40 a litre here in New Zealand currently![]()
The point is Davo people are walking away. If holden wants to survive with local development and manufacture they need to step up their game. The VF looks to me to be a step in the right direction. Is it enough... I hope so, but time will tell.
They are limited by what is affordable.
Holden don't have an open cheque book. Head office in the US signs the cheques.
If Australia tries to make a copy of an import, it will always be at a huge disadvantage cost per unit wise, as we have a very small market in the big scheme of things.
However, perhaps it's time to remind some that there are now approximately 60 different competitive brands available, way more than there used to be during Commodore's "glory days". Those days will NEVER, EVER return, no matter how brilliant Commodore (or Falcon for that matter) is. Many sales have been lost simply due to so many options being available.
The unfortunate thing is that these are ALL imports, ranging from cheap, disposable Chinese sh!t through to more people being able to afford Euro brands due to Australia's overall financial health.
People can buy what they want, but it is wrong to say most sales have been lost due to a notably inferior product. Commodore is better than it ever was in the past.
All imports? I thought Toyota not only manufactured cars in Aus, but also exported these cars overseas?
I am not sure how an improvement in Commodore quality proves any change in relative quality to other vehicles or that there is no correlation between relative quality and a decline in sales volumes?
However, I think it is more likely that the Commodore, in some of its variants, are no longer products that are relevant in this market.
Seriously there are 60 different brands for people to choose from now. As much as you constantly hate on them ve was and is a fantastic model and far better than any model commodore that went before it and to sell as many as it did for 6 years is a testament to that. As Davo has said the glory days are long gone and that wouldn't change no matter how good or bad a new model commodore is.
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