[JoeT]

Holden Calls For 'Balanced' Government Policy

Terry Martin
16 September 2008
www.goauto.com.au

Holden boss says balanced policies will ease the way for fuel and emissions targets.

GM Holden chairman and Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) president Mark Reuss plans to “make good” on prime minister Kevin Rudd’s vision that the local car industry uses frontier technologies to increase fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse emissions, but has warned that the federal government must ensure that “the right policy settings” are put in place.

Speaking at the Manufacturing Futures Conference in Melbourne last week, Mr Reuss said Australia’s automotive policy framework to guide the industry to a lower tariff environment was being tested “in a way we have not seen before” and that it was crucial that Australia continued to be seen as an attractive place for investment.

“To do this, it is vital that we get the right policy settings for the future,” he said. “There is increasing fragmentation in global markets and there is a trend towards the production of a wider range of lower-volume products.

“In this context, a unique and inherently low-volume Australian platform is at least as likely to be seen as a target for rationalisation, as it is to be viewed as a business opportunity.

“Using the carrot and stick analogy, I want to focus on the carrot but believe me when I say the stick is there and it is very, very real.

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Sparke Ignites LPG Action

John Mellor
16 September 2008
www.goauto.com.au

Ex-Holden engineer Laurie Sparke calls for increased LPG and natural gas uptake.

One of Australia’s most esteemed automotive engineers, Dr Laurie Sparke, has called for increased focus on converting Australian vehicle fleet to LPG and natural gas if odds and evens rationing days and long queues at petrol stations are to be avoided.

In a blunt warning to a conference run by the Society of Automotive Engineers Australia on gas fuels for motor vehicles this week, Dr Sparke warned that Australia was facing a crisis of supply of transport fuels – especially diesel fuel – as oil depletion takes hold in the nations supplying Australia.

Earlier this year Dr Sparke first flagged the issue of a need for using locally available gas as Australia’s main fuel from motorists and transport operations. But he is now saying the danger to the economy is getting more urgent.

He called for a massive shift to LPG and natural gas “to avert what otherwise will be a catastrophe” for Australia.

Dr Sparke retired recently after a career at GM Holden with his final role at Holden Innovation, a think tank set up to look at the changes in the Australian motoring landscape over the next 10 to 15 years and the effects on vehicle requirements.

He told GoAuto after the conference that “oil depletion is arguably the most serious crisis ever to face Australian society”.

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Aussie Car Industry Review Released: Supports Tariff Reduction & Industry Assistance
Australian Fuel News Thread​

 

[mmciau]

Personally I believe Holden should have a 'futures strategy':

Diesel capability for the Commodore

Dual Fuel/Dedicated LPG for the Commodore

Ethanol E85 Commodore

and a hybrid capability for inner city emission reductions, not necessarily at Commodore but perhaps smaller sedans such as EPICA (The EPICA has diesel capability now)



Mike

 

[mikmak]

I do like Ruess bringing light to the fact that there is strong business opportunity in creating something unique to further justify survival. whilst there is a clear trend in many manufacturers to reduce the number of platforms, there still needs to be enough differentiation in the distilled line up. ie, don't be left with 4 different versions of FWD affordable platforms.

If you had 8 arms and 2 legs but one limb had to go, would you chop off a leg? (there was an easier analogy but I am trying to be P.C. See how awkward it is?)

 

[chinamonty]

Ethanol is not a long term option for Australia unless it can be produced from either waste resources or non-agricultural ones. There is only so much land available for agriculture and you have to eat -you dont have to drive.

 

[BBDOS CV8]

Even moreso than arable land, there is not the WATER to support an ethanol industry. I can't believe the government hasn't put a stop to the farming of water-intensive cotton and rice crops, which are simply not justifiable in Australia. Our major river system, virtually the aorta of the four eastern states the is probably dead already.

Natural gas/lpg, yes. There's now decades of experience with it, not only in the national taxi fleet, but in probably a million private and fleet vehicles in Oz. It's one thing we are abundant in, and it's way, way cleaner to produce and to use than almost anything else including ethanol, diesel or any petroleum derivatives and eons ahead of hybrid technology.

 

[chinamonty]

Even moreso than arable land, there is not the WATER to support an ethanol industry. I can't believe the government hasn't put a stop to the farming of water-intensive cotton and rice crops, which are simply not justifiable in Australia. Our major river system, virtually the aorta of the four eastern states the is probably dead already.

Natural gas/lpg, yes. There's now decades of experience with it, not only in the national taxi fleet, but in probably a million private and fleet vehicles in Oz. It's one thing we are abundant in, and it's way, way cleaner to produce and to use than almost anything else including ethanol, diesel or any petroleum derivatives and eons ahead of hybrid technology.

Didnt one of the governments just buy the largest cotton producing farm so they could stop it producing (it may have been rice though I am not sure) and get back the water "right"

 

[mmciau]

Even moreso than arable land, there is not the WATER to support an ethanol industry. I can't believe the government hasn't put a stop to the farming of water-intensive cotton and rice crops, which are simply not justifiable in Australia. Our major river system, virtually the aorta of the four eastern states the is probably dead already.

Natural gas/lpg, yes. There's now decades of experience with it, not only in the national taxi fleet, but in probably a million private and fleet vehicles in Oz. It's one thing we are abundant in, and it's way, way cleaner to produce and to use than almost anything else including ethanol, diesel or any petroleum derivatives and eons ahead of hybrid technology.

Due consideration to the sugar industry and the 'idle' crushing plant in the Ord region of WA/NT could be a catalyst for the evolving ethanol industry.

Mike