Holden to be built with fewer Australian components, so much for the 24,000 workers.

[Ausmartin1]

I still think the best V8 rumble was a Valiant Hemi an ex cop car which went real well, family friend had it and that was music to the years much like the 3 barrel Chargers.
Wonder what their power figures were as they looked a way better setup in the 70's to the opposition.

[Smitty]

Didn't the VE have barely more than 50% local content? Probably the last very high Australian content Holden would have been the VT series 1 5.0L 5 speed manual. Considering how high the AUD has been I hardly blame Holden for buying more parts overseas. Plus it becomes a vicious circle, as volumes drop for local parts makers, their unit price goes up and they become even more uncompetitive. With Ford going, even if Holden stays, there will be even less Australian componentry being used. A good guide for the future of our component industry is look at the Cruze. If the Malibu or Impala gets built here then it will be a glorified CKD car, so very little componentry will be Australian.

Cheers, Matthew

yes.. that is all pretty correct
and its simply based on economics and who can supply what.

Ignoring the dribble from Dowling for the moment, The figures (productivity Commission data)
shows that Holden spend around $16000 in parts/components from local suppliers on an EVOKE sedan.

That figure of course ignores the local labour force used to make the car ..plus of course all the factory suppliers like
the power company, the water board, the pallet suppliers etc who are local.

the actual $ paid to people/companies/suppliers make up much more than 50% of the total cost of making the car.

which by the way is not bad, given the $2000+ auto trans is not available locally nor are the tyres and interestingly
neither is the auto glass . Local glass maker VIRIDIAN (aka Pilkingtons) refused to bid for the VE business so Holden
were forced to go overseas for the glass (the glass is now made by St Gobain).

[XUV]

yes.. that is all pretty correct
and its simply based on economics and who can supply what.

Ignoring the dribble from Dowling for the moment, The figures (productivity Commission data)
shows that Holden spend around $16000 in parts/components from local suppliers on an EVOKE sedan.

That figure of course ignores the local labour force used to make the car ..plus of course all the factory suppliers like
the power company, the water board, the pallet suppliers etc who are local.

the actual $ paid to people/companies/suppliers make up much more than 50% of the total cost of making the car.

which by the way is not bad, given the $2000+ auto trans is not available locally nor are the tyres and interestingly
neither is the auto glass . Local glass maker VIRIDIAN (aka Pilkingtons) refused to bid for the VE business so Holden
were forced to go overseas for the glass (the glass is now made by St Gobain).

That's way more then we're lead to believe , so the question is why don't Holden use this to defend themselves .

Maybe they want out or maybe more so, GM wants out , maybe Tata could buy Holden, I'd support that.

[VYBerlinaV8]

Local glass maker VIRIDIAN (aka Pilkingtons) refused to bid for the VE business so Holden
were forced to go overseas for the glass (the glass is now made by St Gobain).

Interesting. Anyone know the back story to this?

[SCiFiRE]

Interesting. Anyone know the back story to this?

I don't know the exact details, but coming second hand from someone who used to work at pilkingtons it was because Holden wanted them to spend $Xmill upgrading their processes for better quality glass and they refused, wanting Holden to pay for the upgrades. So Holden went to India (I think), as the glass supplier there was already providing the quality they wanted. Again, this is second hand info recalled from a conversation a good 5 years ago or more... so don't take it as gospel.

[planetdavo]

People have very short memories.....

When they announced the death of the Aussie V8 there was heaps of negativity. I remember when the LS1 SS was first released it got bagged for being doughy till it got up in the revs and sounded crap compared to the Aussie V8.

It wasn't until LS1EDIT came out that people started to accept it as better than the Aussie V8.

There's negativity attached to most changes in life.
Whilst the naysayers made plenty of noise (something most people are used to hearing in life and don't take much notice of), sales figures told the story about which engine was more popular with the punters. Once LS1 came out, V8 sales had a big surge. HSV performance for Holden money.

[XUV]

Well we now have an FTA with Sth Korea, so Craptivas for everyone .........

[Ausmartin1]

I don't know the exact details, but coming second hand from someone who used to work at pilkingtons it was because Holden wanted them to spend $Xmill upgrading their processes for better quality glass and they refused, wanting Holden to pay for the upgrades. So Holden went to India (I think), as the glass supplier there was already providing the quality they wanted. Again, this is second hand info recalled from a conversation a good 5 years ago or more... so don't take it as gospel.

I recall Holden was demanding new investment to meet a higher specification and Pilkington did not see the numbers in financially.