New Car Manufacturing Plan For Australia On The Way - New Certification Office Opens

[JoeT]

Green Carr Shift

Marton Pettendy
10 April 2008
www.goauto.com.au

The Federal Government has moved to allay fears by some industry quarters that the lion’s share of its $500 million Green Car Innovation.

Fund, which aims to assist the manufacture of low-emission and fuel-effi cient vehicles in Australia for fi ve years from 2011, will go to the likes of Toyota for the production of its proposed Camry Hybrid.

Speaking at the launch of the Greening the Supply Chain initiative between GM Holden and the World Environment Centre, which aims to promote sustainable development among Australian automotive industry suppliers and is part of the Australian government’s $7.2 million Supplier Capability Development Program, the minister for innovation, industry, science and research, senator Kim Carr, said last week the government was “agnostic” when it came to technologies that will promote an environmentally sustainable vehicle manufacturing industry.

Providing the clearest indication yet of the types of technologies for which the government will consider fi nancial assistance, Senator Carr said a range of vehicle and transport systems will be considered as part of a review into the Australian automotive industry by former Victorian Labor premier Steve Bracks, who issued background and discussion papers on March 31 and has called for public submissions ahead of his final report to government on July 31.

Click here to continue article



Car Making Has Bright Future: Toyota

Tim Dornin
11 April 2008
www.drive.com.au

Mitsubishi may have closed its car assembly operations in Adelaide, but vehicle manufacturing has a long-term future in Australia, rival producer Toyota says.

A local car builder since 1963, Toyota wants to continue, according to senior executive director of sales and marketing David Buttner.

The company is the clear sales leader in the domestic market and has a strong export focus.

Along with Ford and Holden, it has also built around it a core group of local suppliers, who themselves often have export programs or production agreements with major companies in Japan and the United States.

But like manufacturers in all industries, Toyota wants to ensure its Australian operations can be sustainable in the long run.

Crucial to that end will be the federal government's review of the car industry, which will take a particularly close look at government assistance and tariff protection.

It will also make an assessment of the challenges and opportunities currently facing the auto sector, including how those challenges and opportunities might impact on its long-term viability and sustainability.

Click here to continue article



Toyota Cool On Hybrid

David Hassall
10 April 2008
www.goauto.com.au

Unlike the government, Toyota is not hell-bent on winning a hybrid contract.

Toyota Australia is not counting on the apparent lure of the Federal government’s much-touted $500 million Green Car Innovation Fund to get a Camry Hybrid into production in Australia.

In fact, the company’s executive director of sales and marketing David Buttner – the man who put local hybrid production on the agenda two-and-a-half years ago – told GoAuto this week that the government had yet to fully explain the fund, which has been linked with the current Review of the Automotive Industry.

However, even though industry review chief Steve Bracks said he had been asked to include the Green Car Fund in his review, he told GoAuto that the terms of reference wouldnot allow it to consider tax breaks for moreenvironmentally friendly fuels.

Click here to continue article

[Kamshaaft]

Originally Posted by Generation IV

An interesting development. Next thing you know, we'll have green street races and green drag races and cars that clean air rather than pollute it. I'd like to see that actually, a green car drag race, Commodore vs Falcon (no diesels, they're hardly green) make for interesting TV. Expecting more and more imports and exports now because the tariffs are dropping, more American cars.....(is that a good or a bad thing???)

There are many things wrong with your post, the biggest part being the statement about diesels not being green.

In general they tend to have far less embodied energy than hybrids, are the most efficient (and thus have a much larger range), they cost a lot less to the consumer, and the options of fuel sources are limitless (in both sense, there are many options and heaps of them are renewable).

Here's a link to a good example:
http://jalopnik.com/tag/hyundai-i30/

Electric vehicles have great performance, especially when the weight can be kept down, but unfortunately they really aren't that green. They're the most harmful by miles to the environment at the building stage, and run on electricity that comes from burning coal anyway (96% of Australia's energy comes from fossil fuels) during their lifetime!

Originally Posted by bjl84

A top fuel cell dragster be funny

Hahaha it would be too surreal without the roar of a methanol drinking V8 under duress.. ..people would go insane!

Hae you ever seen the electric drag bike? 100% of the power delivered to the wheels as soon as you flick the switch and retarded amounts of torque, due of course to it being electric engine. There are insane videos of one on Youtube.

[mikmak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRpMV-Gf0hA

holy capacitance batman!

[Ssom]

Originally Posted by hrcslam

Well, this isn't WW2 anymore.

Sometimes this forum makes me double check...

It's this outdated Japanese fearing that is holding Western Industries back. As BBDOS said, why should an Australian in 2008 look more towards the US than Japan?

Look at NZ for example, Toyota may well be Oriental by origin and New Zealanders are predominantly of European origin, but try and find a company more ingrained in local culture than Toyota. Toyota sponsor our Americas Cup campaigns, held manufacturing operations right til the bitter end and still keep the people from that plant employed in refurbishment, have an extensive dealer network who bend over backwards for their customers, advertise themselves as a "Kiwi" brand (Most people here still remember the Hilux ads with Late local comedian Barry Crump). Ultimately over the last 30 years they got a massive foothold by looking at what the local consumer wanted and then conforming around that.

They got people out of British cars, by offering them the promise of a car that starts first time every time and if it weren't for that then we'd be driving Rover 25's and wondering where our next car will come from after the demise of MG-Rover.

It's the same for Australia, Holden is as Australian as Toyota, they build big cars in Australia and import the rest, spot the difference.

[JoeT]

Trade Talks

Marton Pettendy
15 April 2008
www.goauto.com.au

Government trades comments on tariffs with industry as the industry review nears.

Political posturing continues to be played out in the lead-up to the release of a final report on the Australian automotive industry by Steve Bracks on July 31.

Federal small business minister Craig Emerson used last Wednesday’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) annual general meeting to warn local car-makers and importers to prepare for lower import tariffs.

Speaking at a dinner the same day, which was also attended by deputy prime minister Julia Gillard, FCAI president John Conomos said the federal government needed to be more demanding than the previous Liberal government when it came to negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs).

Mr Conomos’ comments came as prime minister Kevin Rudd prepared to raise the possibility of signing an FTA with China, among other discussions with China’s premier Wen Jiabao the following day.

Mr Conomos said the former Howard government’s brokering of the FTA with Thailand in January 2005 had not delivered “genuine reciprocal sales access” to that nation, which continues to impose prohibitive sales taxes on imported large cars, preventing exports from Australian car-makers.

Click here to continue article

FCAI president John Conomos with Steve Bracks

[Kamshaaft]

Isn't Steve Bracks the funt that decided to make life a lot harder for hoons like mee? If so...

[mikmak]

Originally Posted by Dr Emerson

“Components whose manufacture embodies high levels of innovation and skills, such as sophisticated electronics used in modern cars, are more likely to be candidates for competitive production in Australia than those relying on low-cost labour or on large-scale manufacturing processes,”

Hmm, saved that paragraph for last.

[Slick_Holden]

So what is it??, A race to see which electric car can run the longest?.
The crowd goes wild in anticipation of which car sitting on the spot can last longer, Oh haven't seen anything like this since PB won Bathurst after the Caltex cars were DQ.. Exciting!.

Who can recharge there car the fastest on Recharge or die!.. Tune in Monday to Wednesday to see the exciting battle electric vs electric!. Team Megawatts vs Team Halogen.

Fastest from 0-12volts.

[mmciau]

Originally Posted by Slick_Holden

So what is it??, A race to see which electric car can run the longest?.
The crowd goes wild in anticipation of which car sitting on the spot can last longer, Oh haven't seen anything like this since PB won Bathurst after the Caltex cars were DQ.. Exciting!.

Who can recharge there car the fastest on Recharge or die!.. Tune in Monday to Wednesday to see the exciting battle electric vs electric!. Team Megawatts vs Team Halogen.

Fastest from 0-12volts.

All current manufacturers to be consolidated into one and the new vehicle to be called by autocratic decree - the "KRUDD"


Mike

[JoeT]

Carr Strives To End Unfair Trade Deals

James Stanford
7 May 2008
www.goauto.com.au

Industry minister to broker fairer FTAs after concern over Thailand trade imbalance.

The Rudd government will not make the same mistakes as the previous Howard government when it comes to negotiating future free-trade agreements and protecting the interests of Australian car manufacturers, according to federal industry minister Kim Carr.

Speaking exclusively to GoAuto in Melbourne last week, Senator Carr moved to assure the Australian automotive industry that the federal Labor government would learn from the 2005 free-trade deal with Thailand, which he acknowledged was a cause for concern among local car-makers and had resulted in a one-way flow of vehicles from the South-East Asian manufacturing hub to Australia.

“I think it is fair to say that there are some concerns, particularly in automotive, about the relationship between the Thai government assistance programs and the operations of the free-trade agreement, particularly the issues in regard to excise,” Senator Carr told GoAuto.

“While there has been an exponential growth of imports from Thailand, we have no measurable export of motor vehicles to Thailand.

“Passenger vehicles imported from Thailand since the agreement was signed in 2002 have increased by 356 per cent, whereas we have no recognisable exports to Thailand.”

Senator Carr said the federal government was committed to ensuring that future free-trade negotiations produced “agreements that do allow for proper access (for Australian manufacturers)”. He pointed to non-tariff barriers as issues that would need to be considered in future agreements.

Click here to continue article

New Car Manufacturing Plan For Australia On The Way
Car Makers Ask For Higher Tariffs To Save Local Industry
Confirmed: The Holden Rodeo Is Dead! Chevrolet Colorado To The Rescue
Holden Captiva Production Moves To Thailand As Daewoo Korea Hits Production Limits

Thai-built Chevrolet Colorado

[JoeT]

Free Thai Trade

David Hassall
13 May 2008
www.goauto.com.au

The head of the Australian vehicle importers' group has hit back at claims that local manufacturers are being disadvantaged by the free-trade deal with Thailand.

Lindsay Smalley, who is also the senior director of Honda Australia and therefore benefits from cheaper Thai imports under a free-trade agreement, said that Australian car-makers would have more success exporting cars to Thailand if they built cars that suited the country.

He defended Thailand’s right to take strong anti-pollution measures and rejected suggestions by Ford Australia president Bill Osborne that such moves violated the spirit of the FTA.

Furthermore, Mr Smalley was surprised that federal industry minister Kim Carr had taken a narrow view on trade balance with Thailand and did not recognise that the benefits of the FTA were heavily in favour of Australia overall.

“If you look at the total picture of the Australia-Thai free-trade agreement, trade is running very heavily in Australia’s favour, particularly favouring dairy, agricultural exports, services industries. The trade flows very heavily in Australia’s favour,” Mr Smalley told GoAuto.

“(Senator Carr) has clearly formed a view based on the best information available to him and we respect that, but it doesn’t reflect the reality or intent of improved environmental outcomes in Thailand. I think he’s missed that point and he’s missed the point of the broad benefits of the FTA to Australia’s economy.”

Click here to continue article

[JoeT]

Industry States Its Case To Bracks Review

Marton Pettendy
20 May 2008
www.goauto.com.au

FCAI asks Bracks auto review to extend ACIS beyond 2015 but stays divided on tariffs.

The continuation of financial assistance from the federal government beyond 2015, to compensate for the strength of the Australian dollar and changing consumer tastes due to record fuel prices, is the key recommendation within the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) submission to the Review of Australia’s Automotive Industry.

The FCAI submission was revealed on Monday this week (May 20), just over two months ahead of the July 31 deadline for the review’s final report to be tabled by former Victorian Labor premier Steve Bracks, and will be accompanied by submissions from Australia’s car-makers and vehicle importers.

“The key recommendation that the industry is pushing for is that the investment support provided through ACIS (the federal government’s Automotive Competitiveness and Investment Scheme) be continued beyond 2015, and that we ensure that the effectiveness of that program is enhanced to at least partially offset what has occurred in terms of a change in competitive environment over the past few years,” FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar told GoAuto today.

Officially, the FCAI has requested that the value of ACIS support should be augmented and the program should be extended beyond 2015.

Click here to continue article

[Slick_Holden]

FTA is the killer of all.

[mikmak]

Sweet mother of mercy! That article just had 500 words basically stating that the importers want the traiff to drop to 5%, but concede that the ACIS system stays in place as a compensatory mechanism that is tied to benefits gained by FTAs and said tariff reduction.

In the end it means tax payers subsidise my purchasing of a new Aussie built Holden/Ford and those that choose to purchase an import still get a better deal. I'm sure there will be plenty of people bitching about it, as in the end it does create a false buoyancy to the new vehicle market.

It is a dissproportionate investment of taxes from folks who can't afford to buy a new car, to give those that can, a better deal. There must be a better way.

[mikmak]

Originally Posted by Slick_Holden

FTA is the killer of all.

Just like anything, it needs to be managed correctly and those that are dissadvantaged are always going to be more vocal than those that not.