Comments by "Helmuth Schultes" (@helmuthschultes9243) on "American Learns What REALLY Happened to Holden" video.

  1. Not mentioned was that Holden for a very long time relied on considerable government handouts, and had to be bailed out from memory at least twice by GM. The final closure followed refusal for more government handouts. Holden and Opel had very close engineering connections and GM US was already running Opel down considerably along with the UK Vauxhaul operation. With Holden closed and in effect only selling import cars GM ended off 'Cutting off its nose to spite its face' as one saying goes. Sales dropped in favour of the Japanese offerings. If you could not get a local built car, and had to chose a import then the Toyota's (now also closed), Mazda, Honda and others gained market over the GM models offered, even Japanese Isuzu and Suzuki part owned by GM did not gain as much as the other major Japanese brands. Further inroads by Korean brands have left GM further behind. Holden (GM USA) also sold off the finest proving ground existing with extensive track surface high speed circle emission and crash testing capabilities. In effect not only manufacture but engineering was closed. Ford while having closed car manufacture have maintained strong engineering and proving ground facility ( almost same standard as GM Holden had). The Australian engineering of Ford continues in development and testing support for Ford US and other Ford related operations. As seen the new Ford Ranger just recently released here and around the world. They can give extensive support on hot testing endurance testing optimising suspension for rougher, tougher road usage. Holden full shutdiwn lost excellent engineering and technical capacities that are going to be sorely missed and irreplaceable at reasonable cost. GM is unlikely ever to occupy a significant automotive position in Australia ever again. Ford could grow into a essential part of world strength in Ford world organisation. In extreme case depending on future developments in EV battery , hydrogen fuel or who knows what, Australia may yet be an important part in automotive. Australia has some the world's largest Lithium supplies presuming we do not mistakenly sell our rights to China. We could become a major Lithium battery manufacturer. In many future scenarios Ford is possibly able to use the remaining base to build on GM has cutoff all future, without huge expense to re-establish what existed already and cheaply sold off. Mitsubishi will be a marketing only operation, with factory gone they had little else of the once Chrysler base. Toyota, like Ford, still has some engineering and part ownership/lease of a proving ground that has had many uses for a long time much related to trucks and special vehicle needs including 4WD, rough country needs but good car skid pan (Bosch ABS and other brake system testing established there decades ago) Australia has a number of tiny specialist development groups that may find niche market positions but large scale car manufacture remains unlikely, long distances to world market makes export less than competitive anyway. Special purpose vehicles do remain options.
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