In reply to mad_machine:
It'd be cool. But instead it looks like we just end up lumbered with the Mondeo, Wich isn't at all comparable
In reply to DirtyBird222:
Yeah, sad for sure. One of my mates, a die hard Ford man, is borderline catatonic today.
daeman wrote: In reply to DirtyBird222: Yeah, sad for sure. One of my mates, a die hard Ford man, is borderline catatonic today.
Good to know Aussies still have beer...
I must say, I mourn the loss of the jobs more than the cars. That's a set of skills that is hard to re-apply elsewhere. (just ask Detroit)
pinchvalve wrote: I must say, I mourn the loss of the jobs more than the cars. That's a set of skills that is hard to re-apply elsewhere. (just ask Detroit)
Yeah, no one else will pay you insanely high wages with awesome benefits and a pension waiting for you after putting the same bolt in the same cars for 30 years. That's what killed Detroit, and i think that's what is killing the auto business in Australia.
novaderrik wrote:pinchvalve wrote: I must say, I mourn the loss of the jobs more than the cars. That's a set of skills that is hard to re-apply elsewhere. (just ask Detroit)Yeah, no one else will pay you insanely high wages with awesome benefits and a pension waiting for you after putting the same bolt in the same cars for 30 years. That's what killed Detroit, and i think that's what is killing the auto business in Australia.
Yeah, it'll be a big hit to the local economies where the plants were located.
The other problem is the supporting businesses that will also suffer as a result.
Wages and conditions played a major role in the downfall of auto manufacturing here. Though the problem seemed to be made even worse due to a number of fta's signed with trade partners across the Asia Pacific region over the last decade or so. Its not just Auto manufacturing that's suffered, its all manufacturing in Australia. Pretty hard to compete when your neighbours will work for a quarter of the wages and have only a fraction of the cost of living to contend with. Couple that with a consumer base that won't pay for quality and you end up with a dead manufacturing sector.
I certainly hope that ford and GM of Australia didn't make the same mistake they did in the US. When the first European cars came over, they ignored them, not fearing small, funny looking cars that were more expensive than their ill built and ill handling (but what power!) cars.. but when the Japanese appeared on our shores with small funny looking cars that were cheaper.. they ignored them again.
We all know what happened after that.
In reply to mad_machine:
I'd love to say no, but that's pretty much how it happened. Jap cars really got a good foothold in the 80s and 90s as they started to be seen as serious Motorsports contenders and highly reliable and affordable transportation.
During the 90s the Korean cars started to arrive and weren't seen as a threat as they were considered borderline disposable. But like the so called Jap crap before them, the Korean cars started to increase quality whilst maintaining a very competitive price point.
Id say around the early to mid 00s Aussies then also started to desire the previously shunned euro cars. No longer were they seen as over priced and overly complicated, instead they were looked at as luxury items and status symbols. At the same time, Ford and Holden were increasingly seen as passé, unrefined, over priced bogan mobiles.
You combine those factors with high production costs and you're doomed.
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