Holden Prepares To Euthanize The Ute

Ignorance is not a virtue. I think your utes are silly and so do buyers. That's why there are virtually none. US pickups sell by the cubic ton. Live with it. It wouldn't bother me a bit if there weren't a jillion LCD buyers of UAW pickups. They drive in the far left lane at speeds that better men parallel park, at least in So Cal. None the less, there are millions of such thimble-****s that get financing every year. Just to rub it in a bit, Car and Driver recently did a comparison test of such garbage. Once they threw the Hemi Ram on the scales, they discovered that its curb weight subtracted from its GVWR left it with a payload of 801 lbs. That's not a typo. That's a 5,999 lb pickup with the capacity of a compact sedan. Sure, it had a claimed towing capability of thousands of pounds, but good luck sticking a trailer with an appropriate tongue weight on the hitch while carrying two passengers. Fiat probably sold more trucks with those specs while I was typing this than Oz consumed utes all year.

@CJinSD I'm laughing because your compatriot Big Al from South Park likes to proclaim that your child laborers make more than our engineers, yet we have a several million unit annual market for ornamental $50K pickup trucks while you can't sustain demand for chopped taxicabs. Something doesn't add up.

@CJinSD - You have to not keep adding doors, equipment, accessories and offroad capabilities if you want decent payload. Prioritize. Do you want payload or 100 MPH thru Baja in pure luxury?

@CJinSD He is right about the pay rate. A little research brings that out. But, from my research cost of living is probably much the same to ours. Houses, and apartments are expensive to rent, and buy. Cars are more expensive. Example the mid sizers hit $50k. Fuel prices are also more expensive ($5.30 / gallon). We even see this here as fuel prices have risen so has the sales of more fuel efficient vehicles. I think it all works out in the end. But, you do end up with better healthcare, and better retirement, and more vacation time when your working.

@Onus and CjinSD There's a reason why Australia has the 2nd highest standard of living in the world. Manufacturing in Australia is increasing across certain segments, like robotic production, medicine more so than in other countries. Our income is very high in comparison to the US. But it comes at a cost like Onus stated. Many still consider manufacturing a 'high' capability. But its the type of manufacturing. Is fabric manufacturing high tech? No. Automotive manufacturing is heading down that track as well. Australia just can't compete in low tech manufacturing like automobiles. Why should we subsidise the industry? All that does is reduce everyone's standard of living. It's great to be nostalgic and romantic, but business is business. If you don't run your country correctly they can go bankrupt like a home or any industry. Like a home there is only so many handouts you can give your kids or you will go broke. @CjinSD, there are some who don't realise that the US isn't the best at everything. Size doesn't matter, what does is the quality. We do earn fantastic incomes, our economy has been increasing above 3% (in real terms) for over 20 years now. This started in the 70s, when both sides of politics stuck to a common goal of improving the country. In the late 70s and 80s when the changes started our standard of living dropped down significantly into 20th position(?). This is what the Eurozone/US/Japanese have to do. But it appears you guys are fighting and are polarised more than we ever were regarding these changes. Restructure or go broke. Whilst you fight internally, you will not make the changes and become truly post industrial societies. Corporate handouts and protectionism is killing modern economies, not social welfare. Look at where the changes need to occur, it will scare many. But they are necessary.

@DiM How far can you drive before you need fuel? Works well in the Outback, you might get 150 miles in front, but I'll need to stop and refuel you :-) Like I stated you have a penis issue.

It's like Germany. Expensive country to build cars in. But, they do it and they do it well. They have made a name for themselves one that people willingly buy the product even though it is more expensive. Problem is your auto industry was run by Americans and lost their chance. They struggled to adapt to a changing market here at home and abroad. Even in Europe where they had much larger market share at a point, likewise at home. Being a importer will probably help there bottom line. Sure they might not sell much but if they make a profit on every car sold whats the matter? At least that is ford strategy these days and a good one at that.

@Onus Here is a good piece to read. It shows the US/Euro/Japanese might be in the future when your wages and conditions get to where we are in Australia. It's just a waste of money subsidising an industry, whether it's pickups or Commodore utes. This money can be better spent to aid a country's progress rather than propping up uncompetitive jobs. http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2013/11/1/manufacturing/stop-spinning-auto-sectors-wheel-misfortune

@Robert Ryan Australia will not lose engineering and design. I would rather become a design centre than a manufacturing centre. We need to have the best and highest skilled jobs, not the lowest skilled jobs of the future. Look at our mining, because our wages are so high, up to 1/4 million dollars we are using more and more robotics in the mines, from the ore trains to the huge dump trucks now. But we need technicians/engineers to maintain these new systems that the world doesn't have yet. That's our future. Australia leads in logistics, bulk equipment engineering, energy. This is where Australia has lately been one of the leading forces globally. For our size we are contributing lots to design, engineering, pharmaceuticals, biomedicine, space tech, aerospace, electronics, etc. This will improve our education system, our wealth, etc. Leave manufacturing to the countries that are more suited to this. Look at design now, it's all computer based. You can be designer working out of Singapore for GM and send your work to Detroit. Baby boomers are more inclined to be 'manufactured' idealists because our fathers worked their lives in this area. The loss of vehicle manufacturing isn't the end of engineering or design in Australia. We have to look at fully automated manufacturing. This will keep us in the forefront of technology, engineering, etc. Car assembly and manufacture has to be left to low cost cheap countries. We are nowhere's near low cost and subsidising the auto industry is almost akin the subsidising fabric weavers and potters. Use the subsidisation money for ventures that will keep us in front and secure our futures. Investing (subsidising) so we can compete against China and Thailand doesn't sound logical, we should leave that to the US, Japan and Europeans. http://www.alp.org.au/cm14_290813 http://www.archive.dbcde.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/20452/Productivity1.pdf

@Big Al from Oz Al, your theory sounds nice, but it has a blind spot: not everyone wants or has the skills to participate in that kind of economy. So my question is, what do you do out of that people?

@Athos Noble We will still have highly paid workers that are needed to do the more mundane tasks. If that floats your boat. The manufacturing sector only makes up a small percentage of our economy, even in worker numbers. 12% or our economy is manufacturing and the vehicle manufacturing sector is tiny. The affected people would be a very tiny percentage, if any at all. I mean how many people are upset because we don't make candle sticks? What are we going to do with them? The same goes for the refrigerator assembly workers in Orange. I feel sorry for them, but China, Korea, Thailand, etc can make refrigerators very cheaply, like LCD TVs. If they want to make refrigerators desperately they can go to one of those countries. A career as an assembly line worker I don't think is that appealing. So a person who really wants to work on an assembly line putting tyres on a car. He can get a job at Bob Janes. These people who want assembly line careers ultimately can emigrate to a country that pays less to work in the vehicle assembly industry. Or just work for a dealership as a globally highly paid mechanic or car detailer. Athos, you brought a non issue in to the argument. What happened to all of the jobs from 200 to 300 years ago? What are we going to offer the people who want to work in those 'olden' industries? You have to change, or end up like the US, Europe or Japan.

@Robert Ryan I didn't respond to the aspect of my job you mentioned. It is getting off shored slowly. Maintenance in aviation is becoming outsourced, not engineering. This is inevitable, aircraft are highly mobile. This doesn't worry me. If you look at the amount of jobs that evolve around the motor vehicle you would be amazed to find that most aren't in the manufacturing sector. Look at the construction industry, road, bridges, carports, garages, carparks and on and on. Petrol stations? Mechanics? Widnow tinting, panel beater, insurance and insurance assessors, Old Man Emu, ARB, TJM? These automotive industries are more profitable and supports many small mum and dad businesses and industry. They provide many more jobs than Holden, Toyota and Ford. The same can be said for the aviation industry. As we talk about several thousand jobs going in our motor vehicle industry Melbourne airport alone is looking for three thousands workers. The world is in a transition, we had better grab this change by the balls while we have the collateral to do so, not waste the money competing with $3 000 a year Chinese and Thai workers.

@Big Al from Oz Agreed Big Al. You can go Euro big-government subsidized stagnation and decline, which is what the US has chosen, or you can embrace the future and adapt. There is no economic nirvana. Paradise on earth does not exist, but the Euro route is the route to bankruptcy and the US is in train. Now it is managing its decline, just like Europe. Australia has apparently chosen another path. If so, well done and may others with wisdom follow your example.

@Onus "Problem is your auto industry was run by Americans and lost their chance." Toyota and Mitsubishi are American? Funny, I learn something new everyday. The problem was that the entire Aussie market was built on protectionism. Without an export orientation, that approach is doomed to fail when the protections are reduced. Lower tariffs are killing the industry because it now makes more sense to import than it does to build locally. Production volumes locally are too low to scale, and the world isn't clamoring for Australian cars.

@Pch101 You really should hit the books. Your comment I would have expected from a numptie. Australia wasn't built on protectionism. Protectionism was trialled heavily for a 20 or so year period after WWII. What protected Australia back then was its isolation from Europe/US and Japan didn't even matter. Australia had extremely close links to the Empire, the UK. Everything in Australia was almost imported. We relied heavily on agricultural exports until after WWII. You had better get off your ass a travel around the world and see what goes on. Australia has managed to always keep one step in front. I would like to see us get two steps in front.