Another Sad Day For Australia

[polarbear]

With the announcement from General Motors today that all manufacturing of Holden Motor Cars will conclude at the end of 2017 it is yet another sad day for Australia.

A company that was born and bred in this country will now vacate it leaving behind 3500 people who will need to figure out what they are going to do for a living after the plants in Melbourne and Adelaide close their doors.

As a lover of Australia and GMH today is an especially sad day for me. I was brough home from the hospital in a HQ Kingswood. Learned to drive in a HZ One Tonner and have spent the better part of 10 years building and then rebuilding an EH Wagon.

My father learned to drive in a HR Holden

My mother was taken on her first date in a FJ Ute

My sister was (apprently) conceived in the back of a HJ Panel Van

Today I mourne the end of an era for this country.

Spark up a cigar tonight in the memory of the cars that have help shape this country and for the people who are now left out in the cold.

To All You Ford Fans Out There Who Know How We Feel: Today We Grieve As One

[MIKA27]

Yep, a real sad day and to be honest, a pretty sad era we live in these days as the car making industry world wide tend to send their manufacturing off-shore in order to save a dollar.

It's quite sad that in the end as everything is money driven off the back of cheap labor, meanwhile we have families being heavily effected with the loss of income(s). Some people have carried out these jobs for decades and have no other skills to fall back on.

I'll have a cigar for those people instead.

[El Presidente]

My heart goes out to the workers and families + all the parts manufacturers who are made up of people like myself with an overdraft secured by a house.

High dollar + High wages + limited domestic market (80,000 Holden vehicles last year) + high taxes a sustainable vehicle manufacturing business does not make. Take for instance Hyundai manufactured 4 million vehicles last year.

I worry for the this country. One of the best standards of living in the world that in many ways we can't afford.

[winelover]

Ver sad indeed. Hopefully the workers will have sufficient time to plan their next steps beyond 2017. Also it is not necessarily the case that car manufacturing dies out in wealthier nations because of high labour costs. Think of what they make in Germany and even in the UK we have a thriving car manufactoring sector http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry_in_the_United_Kingdom

[LordAnubis]

What does this mean for V8 Supercars? Doesn't a manufacturer have to build in Aus to be able to run the series?

[Fuzz AI]

What does this mean for V8 Supercars? Doesn't a manufacturer have to build in Aus to be able to run the series?

Nope. How else would Mercedes, Nissan and soon to be joining Volvo, compete in the series? None of them manufacture in Australia.

[polarbear]

The rules used to be

Had to be a 4 door saloon and be based on a vehicle available for purchase in Aus but Ford have appealed against the rule in order to use the 2016 Mustang base (which is a 2 door) in the 2017 comp

I imagine holden will do the same

They're not saying they wont be building Commodores any more, they just won't be building them here

[jangoman88]

sorry to hear guys its a tough world in general that we live in and has been changing, not for the better, and sad to see what we are use to as staples growing up are completely disappearing.

[TiminBC]

Very sorry to hear this. Very much the same story here in Canada. A high dollar has hit our manufacturing sector hard. We lose decent paying jobs and our government brags about low paying part time jobs they create.

[Orion21]

It's sad, but seems to have been inevitable considering the political/business environment GM was trying to operate in. When a country becomes more prosperous and the value of their currency rises it drives manufacturing to lower cost markets. It has happened throughout history and this is no different. I like the point that the author of the article below made - that Holden is a small price to pay for the prosperity that the Asian markets have provided Australia.

This was a good read: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/holdens-production-here-cant-just-be-for-sentiment/story-fni0d8gi-1226781030077

[stukibuilt]

That's a shame. My wife and I had a 2006 Pontiac GTO 6.0 (Holden Monero) for a couple years a while back. It was a really fun car. I always wanted a UTE, and I've seen a few imported here but they are a rare breed in the states. We've watched Detroit crumble on itself over the past couple decades as auto manufacturing declined. It's incredibly depressing to see.

Sent from my mind using telekinesis and Tapatalk.

[Dimmers]

hmm...... the cynic in me believes this is playing perfectly into the federal govts hands - scare the common folk by beating drum about dangers of our 'high wages' as they continously work to sink the unions and bring back workchoices. Corporate Australia would be much happier with workers on US minimum level wages no doubt......and down the sink we go.

[Trevor2118]

They're not saying they wont be building Commodores any more, they just won't be building them here

My understanding that while they might use the name "Commodore", the VF is the last of the true Opal based V series Commodores.

I have been buying Commodores since the first VB (a Commodore SLE 310 pack V8) and have recently brought the new VF Calais V. In between I've had a Peter Brock Director and a HSV SV90 (plus many others).

[Jeremy Festa]

Very sad! Spewin'

I saved up and got a Commodore Ute when I was only 17.

Got a hard top put on it.

Put a mattress in the back, which I custom made to hug around the wheel arches thanks to Clark Rubber.

Slept beside my surfboards. Mostly.

Those were happy days.

This is a sad day indeed!