The Australian Carpocalypse is complete

Kinja'd!!! "Simplify, then add beer" (jeffoh)
02/10/2014 at 03:42 • Filed to: None

Kinja'd!!!1 Kinja'd!!! 15
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Toyota now pulling out of Australian Manufacturing. Within 3 years, no cars will be built here.

I get that Australian manufacturing companies have had their market share go from 90% to 14%, but this wouldn't have happened if they built cars people actually wanted to buy.

http://www.smh.com.au/business/toyot…


DISCUSSION (15)


Kinja'd!!! JustWaitingForAMate > Simplify, then add beer
02/10/2014 at 03:46

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All 3 companies built cars that the Australian public wanted to buy, the margins were just too high to build them here.


Kinja'd!!! MtrRider Just Wants Doritos > Simplify, then add beer
02/10/2014 at 03:58

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People want to buy them ,it's just too expensive to build them there and there simply aren't enough people (Australians) to make it profitable. The market is too small and margins are too small. GM tried to export them, but.. Well, you know.


Kinja'd!!! jdrgoat - Ponticrack? > Simplify, then add beer
02/10/2014 at 04:11

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For the same reason as as everyone else is taking issue with your word choice, I do too. I read that the labor rate for an Australian worker was literally 6x the rate for a worker in Thailand. Now. You tell me what the business case sounds like.

Signed,
Still bitter over people saying the same things about companies in the USA without taking a wider view of the picture. And also a driver of an Australian-built car.


Kinja'd!!! JustWaitingForAMate > JustWaitingForAMate
02/10/2014 at 04:25

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Signed,

Proud owner of 4 Commodores, from a family of Commodore and Falcon buyers in a circle of friends that buy Australian so fucking hard we shit kanagaroos.


Kinja'd!!! @rbalch1 > Simplify, then add beer
02/10/2014 at 04:27

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I wonder what the police will use for HWY Patrol
and general duties
will the paddywagon be replaced by an Amarok or a colarado ute?
and who will arrest this kid?

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Kinja'd!!! JustWaitingForAMate > Simplify, then add beer
02/10/2014 at 04:54

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Domestic car sales are no longer enough to sustain an assembly line because the Australian market is the most congested in the developed world, with more than 60 brands competing for 1.1 million sales. In the US, 38 brands compete for more than 15 million sales.


Kinja'd!!! Simplify, then add beer > JustWaitingForAMate
02/10/2014 at 05:02

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Nice work, but you're in the minority.

If Toyota built the Corolla here instead of the Aurion, we'd have a market. Ditto the Focus from Ford.


Kinja'd!!! JustWaitingForAMate > Simplify, then add beer
02/10/2014 at 05:11

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No we wouldn't.

The issue is not the cars being sold, the issue is the fact that cars are expensive to make here, that's it, there's no other argument or point to be made. These companies were either losing money or barely braking even on the cars that were made it.

Point me to any documents or citations that you can find that say if the Corolla or Focus were built here they would have sold as well. They would have either been more expensive or the companies would have had to absorb the loss and we'd still be in the same situation.

It is not financially viable to build cars in Australia.


Kinja'd!!! Goshen, formerly Darkcode > JustWaitingForAMate
02/10/2014 at 05:36

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Two words: export sales.


Kinja'd!!! Simplify, then add beer > JustWaitingForAMate
02/10/2014 at 05:40

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Toyota produced just over 100,000 vehicles a year and experts have told the Commission that a production run of at least 200,000 vehicles a year is needed to be globally competitive.

The Corolla outsold the Camry by 2 to 1. If you built that here then you save the $70 million thrown at Toyota to 'encourage' them build a hybrid - when they had already decided to build it . You also don't need to spend any money on R&D, because you're copying your own import.

I'm not saying it's not fucked, it just isn't surprising.


Kinja'd!!! Simplify, then add beer > Goshen, formerly Darkcode
02/10/2014 at 05:43

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Export to who? The US has massive import tariffs designed to help its own suffering car market, Asia charges ridiculous import taxes (5% to import a car from Bangkok to Aus, 80% to import an Aussie car back there), and Europe doesn't need any more cars.

The Middle East is the only option left, and Toyota already exports there.


Kinja'd!!! Goshen, formerly Darkcode > Simplify, then add beer
02/10/2014 at 05:48

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To virtually anyone. It's pretty easy to overcome those import taxes by partially assembling cars in the country.
Also, LOL @ Europe not needing any more cars. PSA and the German Big Three virtually control the market, but there are many people who would never consider a car by any of those brands. Meaning there's a lot of leeway in various segments.
Not that I expect you to get it, judging by the OP and other comments you can't even figure your own home market.


Kinja'd!!! JustWaitingForAMate > Goshen, formerly Darkcode
02/10/2014 at 05:53

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The GTO, the G8, the SS. Holden tried that, GM set terms and only wanted X brought into the US and configuration Y. Saudi sales are low because they're fucking Saudis, why would they drive an Aussie car when the can get a bimmer/merc/audi. British sales are low because, well, rear wheel drive large V8 sedan in Britain....yeah, that'll work.

You're looking at Aussie companies who's production amount is tiny compared to other car manufacturers. Could you imagine trying to build a brand image world wide to even get people to consider buying your cars? And then trying to steal market share from companies that have been embedded for decades? You're also looking at the costs of support, service, sales, marketing, shipping, everything.

Also, as much as these Aussie companies liked to portray they were stand alone Aussie ra-ra-sis-boom-bah, they weren't. They were still beholden to their parent companies in the US. If the US said no to any form of expansion, they had to live with it.


Kinja'd!!! Simplify, then add beer > Goshen, formerly Darkcode
02/10/2014 at 05:59

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http://www.toyota.com.au/toyota/contact

Go and tell them you've solved all of their problems


Kinja'd!!! Simplify, then add beer > jdrgoat - Ponticrack?
02/10/2014 at 06:46

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The labour component of the cost of making a car is 10%. Yes you can save up to 75% in wages by using lower paid workers, but consider this; the Australian govt pays $30k per employee. In reality Toyota isn't saving that much on salaries, it is losing money by designing and making Australian specific models for a market that has no interest in them.