Up to 500 new jobs when second shift begins at Holden

[bobthebilda]

Didnt Reuss say, there isnt a model change planned. The current VE will evolve with smaller changes overtime. Ie a trim change here, a SIDI there. Its quite amazing that people are still buying a car that is 4 years old, in such numbers. These things dont even happen with $700 televisions.

[Wally]

Originally Posted by jpd80

There's a lot of hype around the new VF and its weight reduction,
I'll be interested to see just how they accomplished the roughly 100 Kg drop
and whether Ford has its own plans to match them....

I don't think it's a secret there is already a shorter wheel based Zeta car? Has the short form Falcon derivative been rumoured yet?

[XR8putts]

SWB VF?!

Where the hell did that come from?!

How could Holden possibly afford all the new tooling, stamps and dies such a thing would require?! That'd involve new doors, floorpans, crash testing and a million other things that just makes no sense at all. Not to mention the sales lost due to going to a SWB.

The VE will not be replace by a SWB anything. The VF, when it happens, will be like the change from VT to VX or from VY to VZ.

The VF (not VE2 becasue those days are gone) will see a new interior, mild update on the headlights/tailights and bumpers and possibly some new wheels. I highly doubt a 100kg weight drop. Hell, I'm not even convinced Holden are in a position to bring out the VF anytime soon..

[bobthebilda]

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...2&vf=0&IsPgd=0

I think this article says it all. The announcement of SIDI was the upgrade. The next commodore will be the VD. Its when the host begins to shrivel and die (just like Holden australian vehicle production)

[Nate_Dog]

new jobs is good news, obviously, even if it is only staff returning to full time employment.
Pardon my ignorance, but did Holden only export 5k cars in 09'?
They used to export more than was sold locally, i know GM canned loads of exports, but surely it wasn't that many?
Example, Monaro, i think in total, something like 12k were only ever sold in Australia, however, there was one year alone where 25k Monaros were shipped to the states, that's on top of all other model exports.
25k annual sales in the US was considered a big failure btw.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by puts99

SWB VF?!

Where the hell did that come from?!

The VF (not VE2 becasue those days are gone) will see a new interior, mild update on the headlights/tailights and bumpers and possibly some new wheels. I highly doubt a 100kg weight drop. Hell, I'm not even convinced Holden are in a position to bring out the VF anytime soon..

Zeta II
September is the word, Holden were looking at lighter bolt on panels and
plastic foot wells but it might be just all hype BS announcements...

I think Wally meant SWB Zeta, not SWB VF

[XR8putts]

Well he said SWB VF.

When it comes to Holden, believe when you see it.

[bobthebilda]

Exactly right Puts. Holdens biggest profit maker is the 5% tariff protection they get, the millions they get in ACIS, the money they will get from the green car fund and the million dollars they get for supplier improvement. Its is in the interest of Holdens to make promises they will never meet. Its a giant Ponzi scheme funded by the federal government.

The more cars you make at a loss, the more money the federal government gives you. The Ponz scheme only ends when 1) the authorities put an end to it (wont happen as the authorities are the ones creating it or 2) the money runs out (scheduled to happen mid 2010)

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by superroo

What they don't say is the planned 2 month shut down that is rumored to come mid year

Cheers

For something that long one would think it would be a totally new model. Maybe the Cruze will be built here. Couldn't see it for an upgraded model as the model should be designed so it doesn't need that much of a change to build it.

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

Didnt Reuss say, there isnt a model change planned. The current VE will evolve with smaller changes overtime. Ie a trim change here, a SIDI there. Its quite amazing that people are still buying a car that is 4 years old, in such numbers. These things dont even happen with $700 televisions.

I was at a Holden dealership on the weekend (quite a small one) it was amazing that you could get the combination you want for a commodore...unfortunately at a Ford dealer they only have multiples of the same item and they're all the same. Quite difficult when your chasing a manual.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by vztrt

I was at a Holden dealership on the weekend (quite a small one) it was amazing that you could get the combination you want for a commodore...unfortunately at a Ford dealer they only have multiples of the same item and they're all the same. Quite difficult when your chasing a manual.

See, that's because Holden still builds quite a lot of cars for stock and not to specific orders,
Ford is mostly built to order and it's 4 to 6 weeks for a specific Falcon unless dealers can find a vehicle.
Ford used to build XTs for stock but the market now wants XR and G Series but Ford hasn't responded,
they just keep building the majority to order and only build minimal amounts of dealer stock.

[Brazen]

Hmmm let me get this straight, Holden is bringing all of its one week on, one week off workers back on full time (already 92% of the workforce are on full time anyway) PLUS they want to go to two shifts a day effectivley doubling production, yet this proves this was all a big conspiracy to not pay a couple of hundred workers redundancies.... What the? Seems like an awful lot of trouble to show that they actually want to make more cars.


IF you want conspiracies, il tell you a common one I hear on this forum.. Territory only sold 700 last month.... but but this shows that Ford builds to order and they are making squillions, and this shows that they are profitable. Imagine how profitable Ford will be if they only made 1 Territory a month, they would be rolling in the dough.

[burnz]

Originally Posted by Brazen

Hmmm let me get this straight, Holden is bringing all of its one week on, one week off workers back on full time (already 92% of the workforce are on full time anyway) PLUS they want to go to two shifts a day effectivley doubling production, yet this proves this was all a big conspiracy to not pay a couple of hundred workers redundancies.... What the? Seems like an awful lot of trouble to show that they actually want to make more cars.


IF you want conspiracies, il tell you a common one I hear on this forum.. Territory only sold 700 last month.... but but this shows that Ford builds to order and they are making squillions, and this shows that they are profitable. Imagine how profitable Ford will be if they only made 1 Territory a month, they would be rolling in the dough.

ha ha true much...

[Wally]

Ford Asia Pacific Africa made a full year pretax loss of $97M on $5536M revenue, but it did make a pre tax profit of $11m on $1681M revenue in the last finacial quarter of 2008-2009. Granted, trying to separate Australia out of the mix is difficult.

On a brighter note Ford Oz is designing and developing the new Ford Ranger

[irlewy86]

Retool for SEII must be coming around sooner than expected. Easy way to drop 100kg, put a transaxle in.

[burnz]

Originally Posted by irlewy86

Retool for SEII must be coming around sooner than expected. Easy way to drop 100kg, put a transaxle in.

holden floated the idea of aluminium/carbon fibre panel's while leaving the body steel.

but that was two years ago.

[Chopped]

Originally Posted by Brazen

Hmmm let me get this straight, Holden is bringing all of its one week on, one week off workers back on full time (already 92% of the workforce are on full time anyway) PLUS they want to go to two shifts a day effectivley doubling production, yet this proves this was all a big conspiracy to not pay a couple of hundred workers redundancies.... What the? Seems like an awful lot of trouble to show that they actually want to make more cars.


IF you want conspiracies, il tell you a common one I hear on this forum.. Territory only sold 700 last month.... but but this shows that Ford builds to order and they are making squillions, and this shows that they are profitable. Imagine how profitable Ford will be if they only made 1 Territory a month, they would be rolling in the dough.

Don't forget that only Evil Holden gets government grants (tax payers money) because Ford Aus or Toyota Aus would never ask for any.

[b2tf]

Originally Posted by Chopped

Don't forget that only Evil Holden gets government grants (tax payers money) because Ford Aus or Toyota Aus would never ask for any.

Ford got $100 Million from the Federal Government to help develop FG.

[ZA-289]

I would love to work one week at full pay and get a week of at 1/2 pay!!

They pay pretty good.

[pottery beige]

Blaa blaa blaa.... Let's bash Holden's... that place has put food on table's and flash shoe's on kid's feet for many year's... Who give's a rat's about gov money as long as aussie's still have job's!!!!!! :

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by burnz

holden floated the idea of aluminium/carbon fibre panel's while leaving the body steel.

but that was two years ago.

I'd put that up there with the RHD Camaro.

Try plastic front guards, which should be used sooner or later.

It will just mean that Holden will have even more different shades of paint on the VE as the bumpers are already different colours compared to the body. The colour match is shocking, although Ford have struggled with this too, but I haven't noticed it on FG, so maybe it has improved?

[irish2]

Delete please

[Chopped]

Originally Posted by b2tf

Ford got $100 Million from the Federal Government to help develop FG.

Yes I was being sarcastic. Ford Fanatics go quiet when they hear Ford took some money from Mr Gov.

[vztrt]

Originally Posted by jpd80

See, that's because Holden still builds quite a lot of cars for stock and not to specific orders,
Ford is mostly built to order and it's 4 to 6 weeks for a specific Falcon unless dealers can find a vehicle.
Ford used to build XTs for stock but the market now wants XR and G Series but Ford hasn't responded,
they just keep building the majority to order and only build minimal amounts of dealer stock.

Yes I know this. But when we look at the numbers game. If the dealer doesn't have stock and variety their sales will suffer. Ford do need to address this. But then Ford has been slow when it comes to fixing problems.

Originally Posted by Wally

On a brighter note Ford Oz is designing and developing the new Ford Ranger

That started back in 06 (well that's when it started).

Originally Posted by b2tf

Ford got $100 Million from the Federal Government to help develop FG.

That would have been from fund where they have to pay $2 from every $1 they take. GM are in the same boat.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by Chopped

Yes I was being sarcastic. Ford Fanatics go quiet when they hear Ford took some money from Mr Gov.

I believe it was actually $52 million and Gorman was floating the idea of
Ford progressively pulling out of Australian production if they didn't get it.

[bobthebilda]

Ford is making 50000 cars a year, Holdens making 58000 cars a year. The main car companies try to aim for a plant production of 350 to 400 thousand per year. Even Toyota aus only reached 115000 last year. Imagine either the broadmeadows or elizabeth plants running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Ford would be making 5.7 cars per hour, Holden 6.62. Now consider that over 60% of the parts used in the cars are imported. For the sake of 2 cars from ford and 3 from Holdens per hour, we australians provide a huge amount of tax payers dollars and allocate vast resources in land and buildings that could be utilised for more productive purposes. Gee at over 100 hectares for both sites, we could dig a 5 metre whole on each and capture 5 billion litres of rain water.

[superroo]

Originally Posted by vztrt

For something that long one would think it would be a totally new model. Maybe the Cruze will be built here. Couldn't see it for an upgraded model as the model should be designed so it doesn't need that much of a change to build it.

That's what we're hearing. They need to put new tooling in for the cruze, which means the entire line will be down for 2 months. Not one car will be coming down it. It's coming from reputable sources to.

Cheers

[bobthebilda]

Superoo, do you know if the Cruze will be basically a complete knockdown kit. I've heard a few minor contracts have gone to local suppliers, but at least 95% of the cruze will come in kit form.

[superroo]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

Superoo, do you know if the Cruze will be basically a complete knockdown kit. I've heard a few minor contracts have gone to local suppliers, but at least 95% of the cruze will come in kit form.

I do not know mate. But I know our "sections" of the car have been elected to be made here instead of importing the goods.

[bobthebilda]

What do you mean buy our "sections". The rear for the hatch. Surely for $170 million in governement money, Holdens is going to be making more than a $100 rear panel

[superroo]

The parts that where I work make for the industry