What shut down Holden?

From an anonymous contributor.

Holden, the Aussie icon, has ceased manufacturing in its Elizabeth plant.

The MSM has placed blame on smug inner-city yuppies who prefer the European cars over the superior locally produced ones. But the MSM also have contempt for anyone who supported the local industry.

The MSM failed to mention the other reasons why Holden and previously Ford have stopped manufacturing in Australia: I blame it on the government and their left-wing ideas.

Climate targets and energy:

For the last 20 or so years, every year we have had more and more environmental restrictions slapped on. From the Kyoto protocol to the Paris Agreement and, while it existed, the carbon tax. Factories use energy to produce. Energy as we know is getting more and more costly. Energy is normally considered fixed or goes linear with production output. Since around 2006 (funny that..) production has been reducing as power prices have gone up. Power is so unreliable these days it’s no wonder they closed shop. Don’t forget, global warming doesn’t have an affect in China, so they’re free to manufacture as they wish..

Free Trade:

Since as long as I can remember, governments (both Labor and Liberal) love their FTAs. China is getting Australian raw materials (steel, gas, etc) extremely cheaply. They build stuff and sell it back to us at a profit, while our government charges tarrifs on imports. Holden’s raw material costs would have gone up substantially. Not to mention bulk discounts of foreign buyers and price increases locally to offset the lower volume purchased locally.

As a tribute to what was lost due to globalism, here’s a classic Holden ad to remind us of the greatness of our civilisation:

Government Apathy:

The biggest contributor to the demise of the automotive industry was the apathy of consecutive governments. They heard the warning signs for years since before Mitsubishi left. Nothing was done. A few years back my old man who used to work in automotive, said workers unions would regularly visit the plants, so they knew there was trouble ahead yet never spoke out for their members. It wasn’t just the car manufacturers, even their suppliers were affected – Australian Arrow moved to Japan and Bill Shorten visited Bosch to answer questions about the automotive industry. I was told he seemed to be more interested in what electorates the workers came from then the potential loss of their jobs.

Around the time of the GFC, Labor, supposedly the “party for the workers”, didn’t care about the jobs to be lost in automotive. Not then and not now. Instead they thought the best way to “stimulate” the economy was to offer tax incentives on business vehicles. This included any vehicle the purchaser wanted and included imported vehicles. I know of people who bought a $300,000 Aston Martin under an ABN for “business purposes”.

The threshold on the luxury car tax has consistently been raised, meaning more expensive European cars are no longer considered luxury.

Political Correctness:

Given all the anti-Australia sentiment going on these days, it must have played a part in the reduced sales of Holdens in Australia. I have heard people say that Holdens are “Bogan” cars. A brand new SS Commodore with the V8 (The Aussie icon) would have cost around $60000, HSV ranged up to $150K. Clearly the cars Holden was well known for required some level of success to obtain.

As we know, anything the left hates is considered uneducated or unsophisticated material. We’ve seen this all over the ABC when they interview the “far-right” and make a mockery of them.

Obviously, these Holdens are big manly cars. Something that can’t be allowed in a feminized world. In recent times Holden’s marketing department would have been filled by women, graduates from left-wing Media and Communications degrees. Superior quality Aussie workmanship and supporting the local industry was clearly not enough to sway the mainstream. The result: the consistent watering down of Holden’s distinct features, a good example being the big spoiler on the the SS which was replaced with the lip spoiler.

Bogan or not, I’m proud there is an XR6 in my driveway.