Hi all

In the wake of car manufacturers leaving Australia , it is time for us to think on keeping manufacturing in Australia . The current Government policies are flawed and will make the situation worse . Here is a different view point http://www.india2australia.com/saving-the-australian-manufacturing-industries-the-failure-of-the-abbott-gang/
Would like to know whether it matters

Dear meetoo,

Welcome to the forum and thank you for your post.

I think a government with a modicum of vision would do something like take the $1.5 billion we have given the 'old style' car manufacturers in subsidies and offer it let's say as a rebate on electric cars designed and manufactured in Australia.

If only a thousand are produced in the first year so be it. Yes a tag of $1,500,000 subsidy per car would seem a tad excessive but this would quickly diminish as players and numbers increased. The world market for electric vehicles, especially performance models, is increasing dramatically and is the future.

Most importantly we currently have in place a well developed parts industry supporting the motor vehicle manufacturers, but obviously this will be decimated once the Yanks pull out. Things like springs, windows, lights, seats etc will be that much harder to source locally once they disappear.

The mantra of the Liberal government seems to be our wages are too high to compete with other countries therefore we have to let them cease production. This is rubbish. Germany builds twice as many cars as the US and pays its workers twice as much.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/frederickallen/2011/12/21/germany-builds-twice-as-many-cars-as-the-u-s-while-paying-its-auto-workers-twice-as-much/

Part of the crucial changes needed here is combating the enormous divide between the Unions and the bosses. This is an American style of doing things and should be a thing of the past. In Germany the unions often have a place on the boards of corporations. This would be an absolute anathema to our current government so it is unlikely to happen. But one of the conditions we could place on companies accessing our subsidies would be that they structure their businesses in this manner.

We could, through the head start we have of having a well formed parts industry, really drive a first class electric car industry that would prime us for export into the world of escalating fuel prices.

SR,
Inclined to agree.
SD

Yes welcome and a question that is confronting.
Asa former union official I know EBAs have taken the warfare out of some union management sit downs.
Unfortunately not the leftist one involved in most manufacturing.
However if we dropped wages by half over night it would make no impression on this industry.
Hang on yes it would removing the blame game, saying workers are the problem would leave over paid and creators of poor results, management exposed to an unwelcome truth.

What you need to remember is that in Germany people are trained & qualified in whatever they do therefore everything goes a lot smoother. They have a sober mentality on top of of it & believe in planning for the future instead of just tomorrow morning. Having a qualified workforce results in a more fairly & even distribution of wealth which is the main stabiliser in an economy.

Steel Redux, I would love to have an electric car.
I am possibly the only one here that has driven an electric car and I
drove two different ones, the Nissan Leaf and the Mitsubishi iMEV.

They are an absolute dream to drive, very high acceleration rate if
you need it, very smooth and very quiet.
However the people they suit are in a particular group such as myself.
One car owners;
Retirees who do very little long trips, mostly running around the city
such as Sydney.

Two car owners;
One member of the family who use the car every day to go to work.

Have a friend with the Mitsubishi who drives it to work every day
and is car of choice at weekends. Costs about $5 a week to drive to work.
For long trips they take his wife's car.

The catch; Electric cars are subject to GAR, the Great Australian Ripoff.
The Nissan Leaf sells in the US for just under $30,000.
The Nissan Leaf sells in the UK for just under $40,000.
The Nissan Leaf sells in the AU for just over $51,500.

So you can see why they do not sell here, the dealers are trying
everything to get rid of their demo cars.

Because of this history I cannot see electric cars being a goer until
some reality enters the market when petrol reaches over $3 a litre.