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Originally Posted by bungarra
And Keating said it was and still stands by it today, one of the best things to happen to Australia and the automotive industry.
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Problem was, they never changed it to suit market conditions. It stayed the same the whole time. They should have adapted the tariff rates only if it was feasible to do so. So when times got tough they still had some protection.
When times eventually got tough tariffs kept dropping and the tariff protection was gone. Completely stupid.
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Originally Posted by Sprintey
Also, the only hope for Holden would have been if the billionaire auto parts entrepreneur (think he owns a GM transmission plant in Belgium) was able to buy the Aussie production. That deal didn't go through.
If it did, they would still be making the RWD VF platform, there would be no FWD Commodore fiasco, Aussie who buy patriotically would still have an option, affordable RWD performance fans would still have an option (RWD wagon fans too!) - and there would still be large scale auto value-adding going on in SA. GM might benefit too, selling V8 motors and V6s to the concern with none of the manufacture/distribution risks. For the billionaire, the risk would be selling VF as a sedan as the segment continues to shrink, so the smart money would suggest they would have an SUV based on the platform at advanced development stage about now.
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Was never going to happen in a million years. Why would GM allow someone to use their IP to compete against them for sales?