Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Terry
We are opening old wounds here, but I think this is a myth.
Ford & Holden closed down for different reasons.
Yes, large car sales were falling, but the Commodore was always at or near the top of the sales charts until the day the Elizabeth factory closed it doors.
Ford had no exports & the Falcon wasn't selling as well as the Commodore, but they were still selling well compared to some car volumes these days. With Falcon only Ford Aust's volume was too low given our high wages & Govt charges. It just wasn't viable. The GFC in 2008 resulted in little support from Ford US.
The GFC saw Holden's parent company (GM US) empty their cash reserves & rip their (very profitable) exports off them, loosing huge volumes. Even with Commodore selling well locally they now had no money to develop a new model. This left them with no future given the same lousy business environment as Ford was forced into.
It was very sad to see the end of our industry, but there were too many factors against it. Falling sales of large cars was only one minor factor.
Dr Terry
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If large car sales is a minor factor how come there are no large car sales in the top 10 today. Yes parent company support is the biggest factor however unless a ute was going to be built in Australia and exported no brand of the local 3 would have survived here regardless.....at best a delayed shutdown.