a car or anything else. It also became painfully At its lowest, the Australian car manufacturing
clear when each closure announcement was industry suffered from extreme inefficiency, union
made in succession that the foreign owned car based productivity restrictions and other factors
manufacturers based in Australia were only here that rendered the industry unable to effectively
for as long as the massive Government subsidies compete without continued Government protection
were in place. from competition, coupled with ever increasing
The Australian car manufacturing industr y amounts of subsidies.
built major communities across Victoria and clear as stronger competition loomed from Asia
South Australia due to the vast employment and at a fast pace from Europe, that the local
opportunities they presented. All of the big three, automotive manufacturers were not connecting
and at one stage the big five, enjoyed long term with Australian motorists through their marketing
staff employment, some even with generations of communications anywhere nearly as effectively as
the same families working with them. their competitors.
These companies were such prolific employers that Whatever the business reasons for its demise,
if you lived in Melbourne or Adelaide, everyone contrary to what you have read just about every
knew someone who worked at the Ford, Holden day since the final Australian car manufacturing
or Toyota factories along with the Nissan and plant closed in October 2017, this is not the end of
Mitsubishi plants in previous decades. the Australian automotive industry. The millions
Over the decades, there is a huge amount to
be proud of by the employees and management
teams of our former car manufacturing industry.
Through the 70’s and 80’s, Australia became one
of the most cost-effective countries for automotive
manufacturing. At its height, one Australian
It also became very
of cars on our roads along with the millions still
to be sold in the years to come, will still need to
be serviced, have brakes, tyres and batteries
replaced and be meticulously maintained or
performance upgraded by repairers, tuners and
and parts re-sellers just like you.
car manufacturing factory was designing and It won’t matter if these cars run on electricity,
producing engines along with other drive train hydrogen or some other pollution-less fuel we
components that were successfully exported to haven’t discovered yet, you will still be needed to
European and Asian car manufacturers. maintain these cars for your customers and you
are now the Australian automotive industry.
CAPRICORN IGNITION HOLIDAY EDITION 25