Growing Car Imports Costing Australian Jobs

[JoeT]

Imported Cars Costing Australian Jobs

Brian Littley
26 June 2007
www.carsguide.com.au

Good news for new car buyers but not for Australian automotive employees.

It has been a turbulent past year for Australia's automotive industry but one that will go down as its best, at least in numbers of cars sold.

A record one million new cars are tipped to be sold here in 2007, the first time the magic million will be eclipsed.

It should be good news but such sales have only encouraged new brands to flood the market and pressure the local manufacturing base and established marques - cutting margins on new cars and largely to blame for forcing redundancies in Australian factories.

Good news for new-car buyers, at least.

By the end of this year, Czech and Indian-built cars will be sold in Australia, with Chinese-made cars soon to follow.

Those cheap imports, along with more than 40 other imported brands competing for the Australian new-car dollar, have been held partly to blame for job losses at Holden, Mitsubishi and Ford.

Holden cut more than 600 jobs at its Elizabeth plant in March, Ford announced it will stop production of its long-wheel-base cars, putting more pressure on its Geelong workforce which was cut by 600 late last year, while Mitsubishi's Tonsley Park factory is operating at just 50 cars a day with a “skeleton” staff.

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Australian & New Zealand May 2007 Sales Results
Car Makers Ask For Higher Tariffs To Save Local Industry
Australian Government Calls For Greener Locally Built Cars
Australian Car Industries Uncertain Future

[hunchman]

To our friends down under..........Welcome to Detroit

[1931Chevy]

This is like dejavu but now in AU, we feel ur pain

[Ssom]

Welcome to the real (Globalised) world.

[TDi]

I doubt cars being imported from India and the Czech Republic are going to make any difference to the situation. It's not like they will sell in huge numbers, so I don't understand why they have singled out these two countries.

It's the record number of car's being sold by the Japanese and to a lesser extend South Korea, is what is making the situation worse - Toyota, Nissan and Honda come to mind quick.

Imports from India, Czech Rep, and even China and South Africa, combined, wouldn't even come close to the huge gaines that some of the Japanese manufacturers have been able to do on Australian market this year.

[TKR]

Originally Posted by Ssom

Welcome to the real (Globalised) world.

Which is ok but for some reason China still gets to live by different standards than us because they are seen as a 'developing nation'. The thing is, they have had exactly the same opportunities as all other countries but decided to concentrate on building their military power rather than building industries that would benfit their nation. Plenty of 'developed' countries do not have nuclear arsenals or huge armies, munitions etc but spent their time and money on deveoping trade so why should China get special attention? China is playing catchup by copying designs rather than 'inventing'.

[paul8488]

Are import cars in Australia better quality or cheaper or safer than domestic cars? If so, I can't blame people for buying imports. If not, I hope people make the conscious decision to buy domestic, or they'll see their auto industry disappear.

[mikmak]

Domestic vehicles are still perceived as budget vehicles although their quality is probably around middle of the road. Where they excel is longevity (IMO) and value for money. If/when the aussie automotive industry dies, people will wonder where their tough RWD family cars went. They will complain about how small their cars are and whinge about feeling cramped when traversing the country. Name another RWD large car (the class that aussies do best) that competes in price, size and equipment.....I'll save you the time; there is no-one that does it better because we didn't settle for less.

[ByTheLake]

Originally Posted by TDi

I doubt cars being imported from India and the Czech Republic are going to make any difference to the situation. It's not like they will sell in huge numbers, so I don't understand why they have singled out these two countries.

Wow, does that sound painfully familiar.

In the US, in the '60s and '70s, we giggled at the silly little Japanese cars sold here. 'Real' import buyers bought Volkswagens or something European. We called the first Toyotas "toy-autos". They sold in tiny numbers, and certainly couldn't appeal to the mainstream buyers.

But the market is lost one vehicle at a time, over decades.

[skylark68]

Originally Posted by TKR

Which is ok but for some reason China still gets to live by different standards than us because they are seen as a 'developing nation'. The thing is, they have had exactly the same opportunities as all other countries but decided to concentrate on building their military power rather than building industries that would benfit their nation. Plenty of 'developed' countries do not have nuclear arsenals or huge armies, munitions etc but spent their time and money on deveoping trade so why should China get special attention? China is playing catchup by copying designs rather than 'inventing'.

The question i have is...What is China going to do with this military? Why this massive buildup? Are they planning on attacking Taiwan?

Regarding the subject of the thread...I hope the Australian automakers can withstand the Asian horde. The whole world doesn't all want FWD Asian cars.

[samkung]

Originally Posted by TKR

Plenty of 'developed' countries do not have nuclear arsenals or huge armies, munitions etc but spent their time and money on deveoping trade so why should China get special attention? China is playing catchup by copying designs rather than 'inventing'.

hahaha i m sure NZ doesnt have any "nuclear stuff" not even a US nuclear subamrine and i m sure NZ doesnt need a BIG armforce becoz of its tiny population+surrounded by sea. On the other hand i m surprise by ur surprise that China has a BIG army, 1.3 billion people what do u expect, and when u compare its Armforce per population, the ratio is pretty low, and beside China is next to its OLD enemy "japan", n beside i m sure all the permanant member of the UN security council has nuclear weapons so nothing to be surprise

PS: i do feel bad that chinese company doesnt respect intellectual copyrights of other, but if one day chinese engineers become inventive+cost 1/2, where are all the jobs gonna go

PPS: Please understand why china doesnt have the chance to develope, after WW2 there was the civil war, and then the communist came to power, different power struggle and followed by the cultural revolution, there arent that many chance for china to develop before recent "stable" period

[samkung]

Originally Posted by skylark68

The question i have is...What is China going to do with this military? Why this massive buildup? Are they planning on attacking Taiwan?

Regarding the subject of the thread...I hope the Australian automakers can withstand the Asian horde. The whole world doesn't all want FWD Asian cars.

Dun wanna carry away too far, but yeah the military build up has something to do with taiwan, i believe if taiwan calls independent, then war will come, and beside i m sure china need a big army to protect itself from japan.

PS: there is no massive buildup, in fact the size of the military is going down from the peak of over 5 millions to now around 2.5 millions

Back to the thread, i just think the local industry need to adapt and might consider buying smaller car for the local market Will that be possible? Personally i like little euro hatchbook, so might be the next focus/astra/golf will be my choice

[mcool]

I'd love to see Holden reintroduce a 3rd shift to send us more product in the US. Hopefully the G8 will inspire such volume, and perhaps we can get the Park Avenue or some other WM product here too.

[GM-Joe]

that is why there is a need for free trade. those from romania, check, and china barely make enough for a bicycle, let alone the products they assemble.

[Havasavana]

Do any of the Japanese companies have assembly plants in AU.?

One likely reason for a large Chinese military is the fear of domestic unrest.