Holden to cut 500 jobs

[private9]

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/ho ... 6615030091

This sucks.


HOLDEN has announced it will offer voluntary redundancies for 500 factory and engineering workers - its biggest round of job cuts since the Global Financial Crisis.
The car maker will lose 400 workers from its car assembly line at Elizabeth near Adelaide and a further 100 engineers based in Melbourne.

It is the first time in memory Holden has publicly announced a redundancy program for engineers. The move comes as most of the work done on the new Commodore has been completed before it goes on sale in June.

The announcement comes just one week after Holden released figures that showed it had received $2.17 billion in government funding over the past 12 years, roughly twice as much as what Ford ($1.1 billion) and Toyota ($1.2 billion) received over the same period.

The engineering losses are also confirmation that Holden is no longer the engineering "home room" for any particular General Motors vehicle, and its future locally-made cars will instead be adaptations of global models.

The 500 job losses announced this afternoon follow 180 job cuts at Elizabeth in November 2012, and a further 40 at the Port Melbourne engine plant in March 2012.

It is the biggest single redundancy program since Holden axed 500 positions in July 2009 in the wake of the GFC, after exports of the Commodore to the USA ended when the Pontiac brand was shut down.

The latest cutbacks take the Holden factory workforce down to 1750 jobs, while engineering will shrink from 675 positions to 575. By comparison, Ford Australia employs about 1100 engineers, most of whom work of overseas vehicle programs even though they are based locally.

The latest job cuts are yet another grim reality facing the Australian car industry as it struggles to compete with cheap imported cars aided by the strong Australian dollar.

Last year Ford axed 340 jobs (to take its workforce at Broadmeadows and Geelong to 1500) while Toyota axed 350 manufacturing positions, to take its head-count to 2500 at its Altona facility.

Holden said the job cuts were due primarily to a reduction in demand for its locally-made Cruze small car “led by the high Australian dollar, combined with one of the most open and competitive car markets in the world”.

The restructure will see Holden build 350 cars per day from August, instead of the 400 cars a day it currently builds during each daily eight-hour shift.

A statement from Holden boss Mike Devereux said: "A workforce reduction is always the last resort and Holden has taken every possible step to address our challenges over the past 12 months. This is a very difficult decision because people and their families are involved. These are hard working Australian men and women and we will be doing everything in our power to help them make informed decisions about their future."

Holden says it has committed to local car manufacturing until 2022, while Toyota is negotiating for the next generation Camry it plans to build to 2024.

Ford is yet to apply for government assistance for a locally-made car beyond the 2016 deadline set for the Falcon sedan and Territory SUV.

[EFFalcon]

its almost a race to the end.

painful decline.

[private9]

its almost a race to the end.

painful decline.

Certainly seems that way - guess we can thank the button car plan for starting all of this.

[GIFFO97]

Our president said the Falcon nameplate will stay beyond 2016 and that we are having a new shape come the end of this year, However my cousin works at Ford and she says the new Falcon's parts will be made over sea's and assembled in Australia. Territory sells decently so i can almost garuntee its survival.

I heard Holden's job cuts were do with the a decline of demand for the Cruze? Doesn't suprise me, It's actually a bad car compared to the others it competes with.

[superhuS!]

I heard Holden's job cuts were do with the a decline of demand for the Cruze? Doesn't suprise me, It's actually a bad car compared to the others it competes with.

Holden said the job cuts were due primarily to a reduction in demand for its locally-made Cruze small car “led by the high Australian dollar, combined with one of the most open and competitive car markets in the world”.

Read the whole article please.

It's hard enough finding a job nowadays, and then more cuts? For some reason I can see a big spike in unemployment over the next ten years.

[mickyyyy]

Funny thing is everyone from overseas likes our commadores and falcon's and wish they had them apposed to there crappy eqivilent... I would of thought design/engineer here and have same design across the world!!!

[someLS1]

Funny thing is everyone from overseas likes our commadores and falcon's and wish they had them apposed to there crappy eqivilent... I would of thought design/engineer here and have same design across the world!!!

Not wrong when i was over in canada all the sedans were farking crap to say the least dunno about the US...

[nstg8a]

Our president said the Falcon nameplate will stay beyond 2016 and that we are having a new shape come the end of this year, However my cousin works at Ford and she says the new Falcon's parts will be made over sea's and assembled in Australia. Territory sells decently so i can almost garuntee its survival.

I heard Holden's job cuts were do with the a decline of demand for the Cruze? Doesn't suprise me, It's actually a bad car compared to the others it competes with.

I think falcon is down to something like 40% local content these days already, so falcon parts being made overseas are nothing new.


Territory can't be built without falcon, they need each other to maintain volume.

[SexcEB]

Very sad, Just hope Ford can live up to there name

Fords are a great car and hope they can still make cars in years to come

It is sad for Holden and their workers but I prefer FORD

[itsmee]

Biggest problem with Ford and Holden is they are still run from headquarters in the good ol US of A.
They might have management in Australia but the real bosses pull the strings from the other side of the Pacific, always have.
There is no interest in what Aussies really want, it's what they perceive we want as cars.......
You only needs to look at what you get for your money with an imported car, even with the tariffs the government puts onto the price.

[GIFFO97]

If we wanted to save jobs, We may as well Print more money. Sure it'd screw US in the arse, But it'd better OUR economy. The value of our money would drop, meaning it would cost more to import things - Imported foods & cars would go up in price and homemade goods would go down. People will start buying Australian again. It'll bring more companys to Australia as it would be cheaper to produce goods here and export them, We may even see the return of Mitsubishi... All thanks to printing a little extra money. Would keep so many more jobs, Would give us a chance to compete with the Koreans, Chinese, Japanese etc.

But No, Our stupid government wants to sit here and wait for the next 10 years for the US to get up and running again and steady our dollar back to 70 US Cents. In the mean time, All our people will suffer, Lose there jobs because our companys are going off shore.

Surely the simple solution is to print more money now, and lower our dollar? When the US gets up and running again in say 10 years time, Our Dollar would be worth something like 30-40 US Cents and that would be when the Government burns a certain percentage of the money they take from taxes, taking money out of circulation and once more rising the price of our dollar back upto around 70 US Cents, how it was before the Wall Street Crash...

I'm only 16, But i think it seems like a smart idea. GIFFO for Prime Minister

[TUFED6]

Not an economist, but pretty sure you are suggesting that we deliberately cause inflation to devalue the AUD.

This has the effect that *everything* will get more expensive, not just imported goods.

The government doesn't have any mechanism to "take money out of circulation", once you give it to people the only way you can get it back is with taxes.

So no, giffo for high school, not prime minister.

[Commando]

What I don't get about printing more money is that there's a thing called electronic transfers?

[GIFFO97]

Not an economist, but pretty sure you are suggesting that we deliberately cause inflation to devalue the AUD.

This has the effect that *everything* will get more expensive, not just imported goods.

The government doesn't have any mechanism to "take money out of circulation", once you give it to people the only way you can get it back is with taxes.

So no, giffo for high school, not prime minister.

Point taken

[falcon4life]

I tthink the issue is there is too many cars in oz why would people buy brand new when there is a heap of cheap reliable second hand cars, or for the really cheap, just a car that runs. Maybe we should start sending more cars to the wrecker after it becomes a certain age and gets caught on the road in a downright dangerous condition. Compare sales of cars from 20 years ago weren't we selling at least 3 times more cars back then?

Also what if we make it so you can't buy a second hand car less than say 3 years old? Unless it's from a licensed dealer? The extremely high price a dealer will charge might encourage more brand new car sales

[EFFalcon]

Cars shouldn't be treated like disposable items.
Theres a whole heap of environmental issues that result of our wasteful society, shoving more cars in to be recycled just so we can prop up an industry is backwards.

don't punish low income earners just to keep these guys running.

New cars are still selling plenty, theres just a much more diverse choice, and the fact that people simply don't want Falcon's/Commodores anymore.

Sedan's are a waste of space when you compare it to a Wagon or Hatch variant.

[TUFED6]

My beef is that foreign manufacturing isn't on a level playing field. Their working conditions aren't as good as ours (eg. health & safety). They don't have to look after the environment like we do here (EPA, carbon tax, etc). Import duties should be placed on them so that there is a financial incentive for them to do so.

Companies shouldn't be able to just offshore manufacturing to get around all the regulations that we have decided are in everyones best interest. People wont go for that tho. They want a shiny new shit for as cheap as they can get it.

Theres an interesting doco on manufacturing in China if you ever get a chance to watch it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1512201/?ref_=sr_1

[nstg8a]

Best post in the whole thread.

My beef is that foreign manufacturing isn't on a level playing field. Their working conditions aren't as good as ours (eg. health & safety). They don't have to look after the environment like we do here (EPA, carbon tax, etc). Import duties should be placed on them so that there is a financial incentive for them to do so.

Companies shouldn't be able to just offshore manufacturing to get around all the regulations that we have decided are in everyones best interest. People wont go for that tho. They want a shiny new shit for as cheap as they can get it.

Theres an interesting doco on manufacturing in China if you ever get a chance to watch it:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1512201/?ref_=sr_1

Society has become a 'I want it now, cheaply and screw where it came from' society.

Falling sales aren't the cause, last year more new cars were sold than ever before. But look at what makes up the top ten sellers, small cars, and double cab utes.

Holdens has showed there's not enough profit building small cars here, they're not even breaking even with cruze. It's just propping up the numbers.

They both should have seen this coming and been building ranger, Colorado etc here, but the problem with global companies is they don't care about the locals they care about the bottom line.

Makes no sense to build a ranger here for say 30k, when they could build it for 20k in Thailand.

I think ford will continue, as will holden, but it will be basically ckd builds, like cruze is now.

Can see Toyota being the last one standing though if it does go all pear shaped.

[Nikk O'lass]

Biggest problem with Ford and Holden is they are still run from headquarters in the good ol US of A.
They might have management in Australia but the real bosses pull the strings from the other side of the Pacific, always have.
There is no interest in what Aussies really want, it's what they perceive we want as cars.......
You only needs to look at what you get for your money with an imported car, even with the tariffs the government puts onto the price.

Holden build the Cruze

Ford build the Territory


Both are in categories that are booming. Territory outclasses most of its opposition...even the Mazda 3 (sales leader) has only just got all the features a base XT falcon has.

[mickyyyy]

Funny thing is everyone from overseas likes our commadores and falcon's and wish they had them apposed to there crappy eqivilent... I would of thought design/engineer here and have same design across the world!!!

Not wrong when i was over in canada all the sedans were farking crap to say the least dunno about the US...

I was showing pictures of the falcons we have here to a bloke engine builder in the USA and he freaked out, he loved the sedans and thought it would be embraced there... Imagine if we had the same sedans there and the aftermarket parts made for them... e.g XR6 turbo exhaust, intercooler, suspension, wheels and the list goes on and how much cheaper would it be for us!!!

[nstg8a]

Funny thing is everyone from overseas likes our commadores and falcon's and wish they had them apposed to there crappy eqivilent... I would of thought design/engineer here and have same design across the world!!!

Not wrong when i was over in canada all the sedans were farking crap to say the least dunno about the US...

I was showing pictures of the falcons we have here to a bloke engine builder in the USA and he freaked out, he loved the sedans and thought it would be embraced there... Imagine if we had the same sedans there and the aftermarket parts made for them... e.g XR6 turbo exhaust, intercooler, suspension, wheels and the list goes on and how much cheaper would it be for us!!!

How far are you willing to take it though?

How about if say, xr6ts were built in Thailand, and exported round the world, and sold here for say 32k rrp...
Win, because its cheap performance
Lose, because no more local manufacturing.

What happened when the dollars drops, that 32k become mid 40s again, and no one has any option to buy local anymore because everyone chose the cheapest option earlier and screwed the locals.

[wombi90]

That'd be so good for the Australian company's doing after market parts for them now :/

[SexcEB]

The smaller cars seem to be selling alot easier... sad, because I like my big cars

[nstg8a]

Small cars aren't that small anymore... Park a e series next to a corolla and its like parking next to a small SUV.