Keep Holden

[SLR_dave]

It seems so wrong to me that Australia is about to lose all of it's automotive manufacturing ability, I realise it was very much on the cards, and so I spose maybe thats why theres no comment I can see on this forum on Toyotas announcement today.

I just dont understand why Australians are prepared to shrug their shoulders, seemingly with no problems as our manufacturing base and 60 years of automotive manufacture falls apart, the VF commodore and its varients is so close to being about, or is, the best sedan you could buy for the price in the world... and its all got to go so we can have free trade (with countries that underpay their workers and make shortlifespan heavy environmental cost products) just to get back to a budget surplus (a surplus we have lived without since the early 50s)???

Now that Toyotas made the announcement I dont suppose this facebook page I made will be able to attract the interest I had hoped. I should have launched it properly back in December, and got Jay Wetherall etc on board. This post, right here, is the first attempt at such a launch. If you are on facebook, you can still 'friend' it if you like.

https://www.facebook.com/?sk=welcome#!/keep.holden [Note: I have now closed that page as Facebook is the wrong social media forum for that purpose, I am considering a seperate website for this at some stage and I'll make a note on this thread if that happens]

[davegmh]

If only Australia had a Royal Commission into Unions ten years earlier ? What could have been.

[wbute]

If Holden was Australian owned it would have moved production to China like every other Australian company.

[hainzy]

Its a real pity.
Libs will blame the unions but what worker wouldnt want higher wages and better conditions...?
Labour will blame the Libs for not stepping up with a bail out, but taxpayers dont want that. Even though taxpayers want australian cars. Libs dont seem to care about manufacturing in australia. More should have been done by both parties.

Its been on the cards for years and its a real pity. We have many aussies working overseas in car design due to the skills they developed here. We have many highly skilled people here in automotive design, component manufacturing, engineering etc. Future generations wont have an automotive skill to aspire to, beyond mechanic, painter or panel beater.

Now we're staring down the barrel of 50,000+ unemployed, while we struggle to afford to buy an imported chev rebadged as a holden. Its a bit shit.

Glad i got my old holdens when I did. I hope in another decade or 2 that people will still appreciate them.

[chrisp]

Sorry Hainsy, but I have to disagree with the "Even though taxpayers want australian cars".
If we did, we would be buying them. The fact is we are not.
How many of the 5 Australian built cars (Camry, Territory, Falcon, Commodore and Cruze) are in the top 10 sellers.
There are lots of factors, but I'll just look at the one sentence I've repeted from your post.

We complain about the loss of an icon (and an industry) yet refuse to do the one thing we need to do.
If we wanted Australian cars (that in itself is a loose term) we would stop buying cars from oversees (particularly Thailand and South Africa) and actually buy one of the "Australian" 5.
The governments also need to only buy local.
Having said that by selling off alot of their assets they no longer has the clout to place the orders. And even the cops dont drive Austalian.
As a start the Australian government should provide a blanket order for 100,000 locally made cars over the three manufactures.
No hand outs, just support the industry.

last question for the mysandman people, When was the last time you purchased a new or near new "australian car"?

[Dago]

Reality is that out raw materials are prostituted out of this country for immediate gain. We're then forced to buy foreign imports as a result of our struggling system. It's all about the buck. Australia is soft and getting worse. If it doesn't turn around, we're gonna run out of material to sell, we'll be broke as a country and have nothing to offer anyone and no way of digging our way out.

[jason.ruff]

What he said

[Bigtonkatoy]

If ford is an australian car then I brought a bf a couple years ago and about to buy the new fg g6e

[Bigtonkatoy]

It would not let me find your Facebook page

[Vombil]

never bought a new aussie car and prolly never will. i leave that up to the peeps looking to take a massive haircut on resale. cant be justified from my point of view