Breaking News: Holden to cease manufacturing in Australia in 2017

[BroadyFord]

All over red rover.

Holden to close car plant: Coalition

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nati...1226776531513#

HOLDEN has decided to end its Australian manufacturing operations but has postponed an announcement until next year, senior Coalition sources say.

The Australian understands that General Motors was poised to announce it was ending its Australian manufacturing operations in 2016 as early as yesterday, but a decision in Beijing the night before has delayed the decision.

Sources say that General Motors is delaying the announcement for commercial reasons, but the decision to quit Australia has already been signed off by the carmaker's Detroit-based headquarters.

It is understood some Coalition ministers, including Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane, have not been advised of General Motors' decision, because the company "does not want to be saved", sources told The Australian last night.

"An announcement was well advanced and was ready to go," a senior Coalition minister said.

The South Australian government and opposition were understood to have been informed on Wednesday that a decision was imminent but within a few hours, they were told the announcement had been put off.

Mr Macfarlane said last night it was not his understanding that General Motors' had already made a decision to pull out of Australia.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said last night Mr Macfarlane had told him he had spoken to Holden and the company had denied the reports.

"What is happening now is that federal government ministers are briefing against their own colleagues, exposing the deep divisions in the Liberal Party over the auto industry's future," Mr Weatherill said.

"It is now time for the Prime Minister to intervene because this cannot be allowed to continue. This ongoing speculation is incredibly damaging to Holden and to the workers."

A Holden spokesman last night declined to "respond to speculation".

"Our discussions with government are continuing," he said.

The Coalition has launched a Productivity Commission inquiry to determine whether there is a viable future for carmaking in Australia. The Holden spokesman said Holden Australia managing director Mike Devereux was preparing to front the commission next Tuesday.

Holden was initially expected to decide the fate of its northern Adelaide factory operations last month, after negotiating a deal with unions to reduce operating costs. But the Productivity Commission review means any certainty around government financial assistance won't be known until next year.

Mr Devereux told senior Coalition MPs before the election, including Tony Abbott, that an annual payment was needed for Holden to continue in Australia, and to invest in building two next-generation vehicles at its Elizabeth plant in northern Adelaide.

Mr Devereux yesterday told workers at Holden's Adelaide manufacturing plant that he would stay on in his position until next year.

He had been expected to leave Australia this month to take on a senior role for General Motors in Shanghai.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union state secretary John Camillo said Mr Devereux had given "no answers" to workers frustrated at the lack of an investment decision by the company.

Toyota would be the only carmaker left manufacturing cars in Australia if Holden did decide to pull out.

[patrickian11]

Would be a real shame for the country as with Ford already gone; there's only about a dozen odd countries who can essentially design/engineer and build a car from the ground up.

[BHDOGS]

Guess tiny abbots mucho stance has backfired he's messed alot of stuff up already

[MethodX]

Originally Posted by Elks

Not that far. Last month they laid off some engineers as they was no longer a 2017 Commodore.

Sadly they are gone. So what do we make in this county. ???

Latte's

[BroadyFord]

Maybe not...?

I guess later today we'll get a clearer picture. If GM have indeed already made a decision they would need to confirm it now given it has already been leaked. Doing otherwise is just plain cruel (to workers) and careless (from a commercial perspective).

Personally, I reckon that they have indeed already made the decision to dice their operations.

General Motors to close Holden by 2016, report says - Federal Government denies the claims

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news...-1226776502766

THE Federal Government says a report that General Motors in the US has already decided to close its Holden car manufacturing operations in Australia is untrue.

Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane last night that dismissed the ABC report that Holden would go by 2016.

The report said its sources were other senior Coalition ministers.

"Consultations are continuing in good faith with Australian carmakers, the components industry and workers," a spokeswoman for the minister said.

"The Productivity Commission is continuing its work assessing the Australian automotive industry and will report to the Government. That process is unchanged and will continue."

The ABC report, attributed to senior ministers, last night said the American carmaker had decided to pull out of struggling operations in Australia and had planned to make the announcement this week.

"The ABC understands that Holden has made the decision to cease its Australian productions regardless of an assistance package," the report said.

It saids the announcement was scheduled for this week, but had been put off until early next year.

Holden workers take a summer break over the Christmas period.

Holden refused to comment on the speculation.

However, News Corp Australia is aware that Holden has been debating whether, once a decision was made, to announce the shutdown to workers before or after Christmas.

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill last night rang Mr Macfarlane and said he had been told Holden had denied the reports.

Mr Weatherill said Coalition ministers were "briefing against their own colleagues, exposing the deep divisions in the Liberal Party over the auto industry's future".

"It is now time for the Prime Minister to intervene because this cannot be allowed to continue. This ongoing speculation is incredibly damaging to Holden and to the workers," he said.

South Australian senator Nick Xenophon asked how much more we would pay in Centrelink payments than we are paying in industry assistance if Holden closes.

"What the hell is going on? We need to know," he said.

"I believe Ian Macfarlane, I'm not sure I believe other ministers in Cabinet.

"The PM needs to back Ian Macfarlane as a master of urgency.

"This is not just about SA. This is about 50,000 jobs being lost."

News Corp Australia has been told there were rumours on the factory floor this week that Holden was going to announce the shutdown on December 20, the last day of work before the summer break and the same day the preliminary Productivity Commission report on the industry was due to be published.

It is understood there was concern about announcing the shutdown before the summer break because of the personal effect it could have on the workers and their families.

However, historically, car companies have tended to share the grim news with employees soon after a decision has been made.

When Ford announced the 2016 closure of its Australian operations in May, it did so less than a week after the decision was made to prevent any leaks to the media.

A 2016 closure would coincide with the timing of the end of the new Commodore's current lifecycle.

However a secret SA Government document prepared in August floated the idea of a 2018 shutdown by extending the life of the current Cruze and Commodore.

Holden yesterday confirmed boss Mike Devereux was staying on in the role until next February.

Mr Devereux was supposed to finish up this month after being promoted to a senior international role with General Motors, based in China. Mr Devereux made a surprise visit to the Elizabeth Holden factory yesterday to address workers.

Australian Manufacturing Workers Union SA secretary John Camillo said Mr Devereux did not tell them when a decision about the carmaker's future in SA will be made.

"He never went to the situation of whether a decision is going to be made before or after Christmas but he did indicate that (Holden's parent company) General Motors will make that decision," Mr Camillo said.

[b0son]

Originally Posted by BHDOGS

Guess tiny abbots mucho stance has backfired he's messed alot of stuff up already

I doubt Holden would stay unless a hell of a lot more money was offered.

And VF sales will drop off at some point, and then Holden would cry 'sudden downturn' and have their hands out again.

I can see a point in continued investment IF there's a viable plan going forward. Throwing together a kit car from imported components doesn't really warrant taxpayer funding IMO.

[flooded one]

Originally Posted by BroadyFord

Maybe not...?

I guess later today we'll get a clearer picture. If GM have indeed already made a decision they would need to confirm it now given it has already been leaked. Doing otherwise is just plain cruel (to workers) and careless (from a commercial perspective).

Personally, I reckon that they have indeed already made the decision to dice their operations.

I reckon they have to.

[BroadyFord]

^^ In edit to my previous post:

If Holden don't quash these rumours later today then it would confirm they are indeed shutting down in 2016-17.

Interesting to see what happens from now onwards...

[flooded one]

Originally Posted by BroadyFord

^^ In edit to my previous post:

If Holden don't quash these rumours later today then it would confirm they are indeed shutting down in 2016-17.

Interesting to see what happens from now onwards...

It kind of reminds me a lot of before Ford made their announcement of closing. It is very grim times indeed for the Australian automotive industry

[BHDOGS]

South korean free trade agreement announced and Holden leaves could be linked

[Crazy Dazz]

Much as I hate Holden, I’d actually hoped that after the Falcon dies the Commode would pick up a few sales, enough to keep manufacturing ticking along for a bit longer.

But seriously, where do buttwipes get off blaming Abbott? He’s been in charge for all of five minutes. Writing has been on the wall for a few years at least, which means the blame lies fairly and squarely with KRudd, Joolya, and Shorten.

I'm not worried personally, there’s still a lot of WA we haven’t dug up and sold yet, so we’ll be right. Don’t know what the rest of you poor sods are going to do for a crust though.

[mik]

Originally Posted by BHDOGS

Guess tiny abbots mucho stance has backfired he's messed alot of stuff up already

It probably would not have mattered what he did , the industry was given the kiss of death years ago ....... and abbott had nothing to do with it.

[93EB_SXR6]

Interestingly I have seen ads for automotive workers in Adelaide's North recently.
Why would Holden still be hiring if they are planning on shutting down shop?

[Spammy]

Originally Posted by Syndrome

Looks like Paul Keating's comments in the 1980s about Australia becoming a banana republic is about to come true.

Manufacturing is 7% if the Australian economy - closing the money losing companies in the sector will have very little negative impact.

[Trump]

Originally Posted by wildrider

It kind of reminds me a lot of before Ford made their announcement of closing. It is very grim times indeed for the Australian automotive industry

The Australian automotive industry is dead. I would love to see the engineering teams at Ford and Holden survive and thrive, but with the massive base of cheap engineers in China and India, I don't see them surviving either.

In a line, very grim times ahead for the Australian economy, not just the automotive sector.

Spammy, 7% by workforce or value of production?

[Spammy]

7% of GDP

[Mulga]

Originally Posted by LOWAU;4****68

It's a shame. Toyota won't be too far behind.

Also what happens when our dollar drops are we are paying 10-20% more for imported cars?

This link below may shed some light on the affect of the falling dollar on car prices. The article is about 6 months old.

http://www.news.com.au/business/comp...-1226667459285

[P6LTD351]

At the end of the day, it's all well and good for the Government to come out and deny that Holden are closing, but until Holden come out and categorically deny it and say they are staying - it IS all over.

Oh, and a Holden spokesperson saying "We don't comment on speculation" is basically the death knell.

[GQ_Smooth]

I still see Toyota surviving if they can get their quality to match other plants. Global car, global platform. Tax free incentives, subsidized utilities, reduced employment taxes, guaranteed government contracts, fixed export contracts to the middle east. Toyota own a lot of their own suppliers already (keeps transactions inhouse to a certain degree). Cars more in line with what the general public and companies are looking for (both local production and imports). Football, meat pies, Kangaroo's and Toyotasan!

[Rico 110s]

Originally Posted by Spammy;4****79

Importers will cut their margin to some extent. Don't forget 88% of cars sold are imported.

I know this is not a popular idea among st many in Australia but we need to have an import duty on all imported cars that is the only thing that is keeping car manufacturing in other countries around the world, why shouldn't we be doing this and argument about how this effects quality in manufacturing is really absurd?

It would not worry me about the import duty as I would always shop Australian first.

I really think we need answers from our governments how they are going to fix this rather than look the other way as they are doing now.

[GQ_Smooth]

Forgot to mention, if the rumours were untrue, Holden would be organising a press conference denouncing it ASAP, sprouting how they are committed to manufacturing in Australia. Thank christ I'm a Ford fan, it's going to get real ugly!

[aualright]

Originally Posted by BHDOGS

South korean free trade agreement announced and Holden leaves could be linked

Wouldn't surprise me. The signing of an FTA with South Korea that is potentially detrimental to local car manufacturing and a 'quote' from a senior govt minister saying there is nothing we (the govt) can do to save Holden is suspicious. Later denied by actual Minister...oldest political trick in the book.

****

[Sprint]

those greedy greedy bastards, you know we pay these bosses to manage companies and make them sustainable.

I used to work at holdens and I can tell you they just spent 500+ million on making a new assembly line a few years ago.

The ******* at the helm of holdens need to stop killing families.

[Gabbs]

If Holden goes I would not be surprised if Toyota follow. I just feel for the parts suppliers as it is going to be hard for them to survive as well.

[ryeman]

^^^^ basically they won't.
It's estimated ~200K will lose their jobs or be seriously effected.

[csv8]

Lets hope the FH goes out in modernization as the VF is ????

[MercurySilver]

writing was on the wall
we all knew it
and it will happen

all this 'lets wait till we hear from holdens and not jump to conclusions' crap is just that
everyone knows its coming
car manufacturing in this country is d.e.a.d
we'll be the new detrioit (from the 70s)

[Papa Smurf]

1. Leyland
2. Nissan
3. Chrysler/Valiant
4. Ford
5. Holden
6. Toyota?

Very impressive, holden being the worst seeing as they got a grant to
start building the "Australian Car"
So many rats leaving the sinking ship and more of a different kind coming here.

[superyob]

Originally Posted by Rico 110s

I know this is not a popular idea among st many in Australia but we need to have an import duty on all imported cars that is the only thing that is keeping car manufacturing in other countries around the world, why shouldn't we be doing this and argument about how this effects quality in manufacturing is really absurd?

It would not worry me about the import duty as I would always shop Australian first.

I really think we need answers from our governments how they are going to fix this rather than look the other way as they are doing now.

This is a very popular idea amongst many Australians. Unfortunately it's not popular with our elected officials...

[ebxr8240]

Level playing fields ?? B.S !!! The same countries we accept imports from have high duty on our cars exported there..