OutdoorKing Repair Forum Forums General Discussion Forum Off Topics More Sadness ... Last Aussie V6

Well the last Aussie V6 was made and now more people are made redundant, not really much to cheer about is there ?

Check out the link.

http://www.wheelsmag.com.au/news/1611/holden-builds-last-australian-v6-engine

Not quite sure as to what they are all cheering about and why all through the video they have smiles on their faces, maybe a huge open tab at the pub afterwards ? I'm lead to believe that the payouts were rather huge with a few employees to be having a fully paid gap year before looking for future employment.

Cheers,
BB.

BB I noticed the same at the Ford plant, all smiles and looking happy with a bleak future to look forward to for many of them. A fully paid gap year doesn't go very far when you are looking at the long term unemployment for many of them. So glad I am as old as I am so I am out of the workforce and away from this horrendous traffic chaos that Melbourne is developing into as a result of 2000 people a week coming to live here. What I want to know is with all the manufacturing closing what are these people doing for work. We can't work it out but we sure know that the road and rail can't keep up

G'day Mod BB and Norm
It's amazing how workers are manipulated to smile as their jobs come to an end.
Such is the power of global economic forces.

At least the alarm bells are ringing ... with Brexit and the American experience.
I feel this is the first real threat to the sham doctrine of Globalisation for three
and one half decades. That is a good thing!

Poor folks are powerless, but the lower middle classes are now revolting!
Wouldn't it be great to see a return of manufacturing to this country.

All very disturbing.
----------------------------
Jack

I think it's disgraceful that we seem so blas� about our LNP government throwing away this expertise. It is more than the jobs of thousands of employees. It is national moral at stake. The Koreans must be rubbing their hands while laughing at those antipodean white folk so willing to bend over.
We are also breaking a traditional connection with our American brothers that was built up over many eras. Holden saved GM from itself by being the last bastion of rear wheel drive passenger cars in the GM universe, who foolishly went headlong into a front wheel drive future, alienating many loyal customers in the American domestic scene.
It seems it hasn't hit home in the national consciousness yet, untile car production here becomes the past tense and we will feel like a backwater that imports our stuff.
Hyundai vs Toyota won't carry the same weight.

I can see it now, when Holden and Ford are gone it will be the "Asian Supercars" and no one will turn up and watch the racing, much the same as what happened in the late 80's when Nissan, BMW, Vovo and countless others decimated the Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC) and it wasn't until it was all reversed to the V8's only that the sport came back to life.

Sorry Bathurst will never be the same with Toyota Klugers, Nissan X-trails and Hyundai Teracan's running around doing a tenth of the lap times around the circuit.

Australian Manufacturing RIP

Its a very sad day for Australia and Holden

And to make matters worse, Holden and Isuzu are parting company in the next two months and that takes the "Colorado" out of the Holden Dual Cab ute market.

Isuzu are forming an alliance with Mazda. I just wonder who's making all these decisions at General Motors as they just can't take a trick nowadays. They used to have 25% market share in Australia and now are down to 5% and shedding dealers left right and centre.

I just can't see what's going to be the end result for this once proud nation of ours, just kids and imports working in Macca's, and then who's going to have the money to go to Macca's in the first instance.

Cheers with Tears,
BB.

We seem to be selling out on all that is dear to us. The Victa 2 stroke, Holden, Ford, We even sold Vegemite. What's next??

BB, it is now a case of who cares what GM do, no longer a company in Australia employing Aussies, just another American company, same as Ford, people might as well just buy Korean, not going to make any difference to us which overseas country gets our money now

so much for free trade being good for us very soon nothing made hear any more
our politicians all sold us all out never thought I see day no ford or holden cars made anymore

Taken 1979.

Yes it is so very very sad.I have noticed over the last 5 years here at the Port Of Brisbane as the imported car yards just got bigger and bigger.More and more land got taken with these imported cars.I also know of 3 other very large sites that are just full of imported cars.It's just so sad that we can't compete with these cheap horrible imports.I'll still stick with my Aussie made Falcon that you very much.It's just very sad to see them not being around much longer,even when you drive around you don't see many Aussie made cars left.

Had 2 XDs myself. Had them both at the same time too! Had one for 10 years. Not the most economical machine but I kept them because they were so reliable and repairable!

And on reflection I guess we are all guilty. I had Falcons and Commodores from the eighties 'til the mid noughties. Since then it's been Toyotas and Nissans. Perhaps, at the risk of being controversial, Ford and Holden have to admit to not following the market. They tried to tell us we wanted two wheel drive, rear wheel drive six cylinders and the market was wanting four cylinders, front wheel drive or some sort of hilux, navara, land cruiser thing. They just didn't give us what we wanted any more.

It's a shame either way. This country has always missed the boat when it comes to manufacturing. We've been doing it since WW2. Another major embarrassment to this country is the amount of food we import! We have massive agricultural capacity!

That photo. Remember when it didn't need to be Movember to sport a 'tache? And the guy in the suit on the right. Looks a bit like Edsel Ford II? Could that be right?

prd, pretty sure Edsel was out here at that time, he might have been running the show here for a while, memory is getting a bit vague

Edsel was also at Bathurst in 1980 if I recall correctly, the year [Censored] hit the infamous rock.

Looks to be the same guy that came up with these as a way to garner interest in the final lot of hardtops. It worked! This pic was taken by me in Gosford several years ago.