Holden given secret $200m

[tapeworm]

^^This loan stuff will be conveniently left out of the Casguide newspaper section, imho. Ford would be absolutely slammed by this bloke if it was happening to them.

[Piotr]

Originally Posted by imugli

Where's Mr. Gover with all his editorial / journalistic wisdom on this? Does anyone think it'll get a run in this weeks carsguide? I'll put $20.00 that if it does, it's with a positive spin - something like "Government shows confidence in Holden" with the first para being something along the lines of "The Australian government has shown confidence in Aussie Icon Holden by agreeing to guarantee a $200million line of credit..." with nothing of the fact that Commbank pulled the plug because they're losing fistfuls of cash and Delloitte's have said that without it they'd be up the proverbial creek without a paddle...

Report THIS fairly and balanced, Mr. Gover.

End Rant.

Deloitte are well known for writing doomsday reports.

[metalmania]

People don't be fooled into believing this will save Australian jobs. The writing is on the wall for Holden, Ford and possibly Toyota.
I worked at South Pacific Tyres (US Goodyear owned) for many years and for many years we received Government grants to restructure and so on. This went on time and time again to try and keep the company viable here in Australia.
It eventually closed down last year on the grounds that it was not viable to make tyres in Australia. Mind you this is after it was making a profit but not enough in Goodyear's eyes.
When Goodyear took over they closed the Footscray , Thomastown and eventually the Somerton plant.
The workers where continually told we need to compete with China , Indonesia and Thialand. We had no chance.
Unfortunately many more companies will go under or move overseas.

[Polyal]

Originally Posted by metalmania

People don't be fooled into believing this will save Australian jobs. The writing is on the wall for Holden, Ford and possibly Toyota.
I worked at South Pacific Tyres (US Goodyear owned) for many years and for many years we received Government grants to restructure and so on. This went on time and time again to try and keep the company viable here in Australia.
It eventually closed down last year on the grounds that it was not viable to make tyres in Australia. Mind you this is after it was making a profit but not enough in Goodyear's eyes.
When Goodyear took over they closed the Footscray , Thomastown and eventually the Somerton plant.
The workers where continually told we need to compete with China , Indonesia and Thialand. We had no chance.
Unfortunately many more companies will go under or move overseas.

South Pacific, if they are the same company that supplied Ford with tyres during BA and possibly now I know why they might be struggling; dud product.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Wally

They are getting extra funding, its called Ozcar

Ozcar funds dealers who lost their finance. Ford dealers are not owned by the company, they are independently owned.

Ford has recieved no direct funding or lines of credit to stay viable like Holden has.

[Fordman1]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Ozcar funds dealers who lost their finance. Ford dealers are not owned by the company, they are independently owned.

Ford has recieved no direct funding or lines of credit to stay viable like Holden has.

Spot on !

Try again Wally ?

[500SEC]

Holden is therefore technically insolvent because that article states that their current liabilities exceed their current assets. I had no idea things were so bad for them. Afterall, they seem to have had a few good years, but it makes you wonder how much of it (eg, new wagon, statesman, top-selling VE, exports etc) was commerically beneficial; very little it would seem.

A doomsayer would say that an injection of $200m will do little to turn things around, especially when they cannot obtain finance from the commerical finance market (ie, CBA).

Does anybody have any info on Ford Australia's state of affairs?

[4Vman]

Originally Posted by 500SEC

Holden is therefore technically insolvent because that article states that their current liabilities exceed their current assets. I had no idea things were so bad for them. Afterall, they seem to have had a few good years, but it makes you wonder how much of it (eg, new wagon, statesman, top-selling VE, exports etc) was commerically beneficial; very little it would seem.

A doomsayer would say that an injection of $200m will do little to turn things around, especially when they cannot obtain finance from the commerical finance market (ie, CBA).

Does anybody have any info on Ford Australia's state of affairs?

Ask Wally, he's the Ford grim reaper...

[Joe5619]

.....

[Wally]

Originally Posted by Barraxr8

Spot on !

Try again Wally ?

hey I'm only the messenger offerig input and don't need a reciprocal swipe. If you had been following the whole thing via the press, which I'm sure you have, you would know that Ford approached the Govt after GE and GM finance shipped out. They were concerned of a substantial loss of sales as a consequence. We can all get cute and play oneupsmanship games, but it's arms length finance, nothing more nothing less. I'm not suggesting it's right or wrong, a victory or failure, just that Ford asked for and got Govt assistance.

500SEC both Ford and GM are in deficit equity, they are both technically insolvent. You can readily get the first half financials for Ford on the web and you will see they are not in great shakes either.

[GT69]

Out of curiousity, Holden is a business, How many cars do they actually need to make a profit? I can't imagine they sell 3000 odd comodores a month and have nothing to show for it.

I was told by my tech teacher once, 'If your gunna go broke, Might as well do it getting a tan on Bondi.'

It just seems so odd that the 'highest selling car in Australia' And the company that builds it, would be going broke (or have already)

Like i said earlier, Both Ford and Holden were up a creek, Ford (worldwide) has taken it by the horns and re-worked the way they do business, Granted it will take a few years to get back into the black, But GM's logic seems to be the exact opposite, Do the littlest amount possible, Only under chapter 11 did GM do anything at all, and that was only because the US government got involved. It just seems that there is to much dead weight floating around both GM and Holden's corporate structures.

And to re-iterate, If a company can't blossom in booming times, They won't survive the lean times.

[The Snout]

Holden will be ok. I'm sure buying T8 will lead to a profitable spike in sales next year. :

[Wally]

Bossxr8 here is the extract from the CAR DEALERSHIP FINANCING
GUARANTEE APPROPRIATION BILL 2009 second reading

As the Treasurer announced yesterday, the
government has decided to make the OzCar facility
available to Ford Credit for the next 12 months so that
Ford Credit’s network of almost 200 Ford dealers can
continue to access wholesale floor plan finance.
This decision has been necessary in light of the
immense pressures the global financial crisis has
placed on Ford Credit’s ability to continue to raise
the liquidity it needs to support the Ford dealer
network and, through that network, the manufacturing
operations of Ford Australia.

[The Snout]

[Grunter]

Originally Posted by Wally

Bossxr8 here is the extract from the CAR DEALERSHIP FINANCING
GUARANTEE APPROPRIATION BILL 2009 second reading

OzCar is not in place for Ford Credit exclusively. Holden based dealers(amoungst others) also make use of OzCar, when the GM owned GMAC dropped there support for "non core operations in a declining market".

You could argue that at least Ford Credit made a commitment to work through the downturn with the Governments support for a year. Some would say that GM's GMAC crying poor and dropping support for Holden, Ford and other dealers, deserved no government support.

In January 2009, the OzCar special purpose vehicle
was established by the government to support interim
funding to car dealerships. The OzCar SPV is designed
to provide critical wholesale floor plan finance to
eligible car dealerships so as to ensure that the
departure of GE Money Solutions and GMAC from
the Australian market and the liquidity challenges
confronting Ford Credit does not result in the closure
of hundreds of otherwise viable car dealers across
Australia, resulting in thousands of job losses

Link

General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC), which was established in 1926 as a wholly owned subsidiary of GM, announced last Wednesday (October 22) that GMAC Financial Services will cease operations in Australia and New Zealand from December 31.

Spelling the end of 185 jobs for Australia’s oldest vehicle financier, the move follows the loss of more than $3 billion in net losses globally so far this year, which has forced GMAC to shed non-core operations in a declining global economy......

Link

[Wally]

I don't think anyones argueing that the Ozcar scheme was put in place for dealers generally, although it was iniated by Ford representatives approaching the Govt for assistance. I included the hansard extract because it goes right to the core, without journalistic licence. Ford specifically are mentioned as the beneficiaries.

This week there will be a parliamentary debate on disclosing where the $3+ billion vehicle assitance money is actually going. We know that $40m that was earmarked for the Ford small car has now been chanelled off to the I4T green program, even though the engine won't be built here. We know Holden have $127M for the Cruze even though small car margins are so poor even 40,000 units won't turn a decent profit. We know Ford have $530 odd million of the $800+m pie via the Ozcar scheme. We know there is a Govt guaranteed $200m line of credit for Holden export programs, which under the export development department guidelines should have remained out of the public domain. But that doesn't add up to $3.2b.

I think we'l find that all three makers have had their snouts in the trough. I don't know if this is good business for the economy or not, but sofar Australia is the only OECD country not to feel the full force of the meltdown.

[galaxy xr8]

Originally Posted by Wally

but sofar Australia is the only OECD country not to feel the full force of the meltdown.

Yet !!!!!!!. watch this space....

[R-Design]

More details from GoAuto:

Originally Posted by GoAuto

Holden spokesman Scott Whiffin said the money is “not tied to anything specific”.

“It is an unused line of credit and our intention is not to use it at all,” he said. “In terms of export – and I’m not saying there are any connections at all – yes, we are looking at all opportunities on that front.”

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mell...25760E002BC3CE