Aussie-made cars continue sales slide

[Wretched]

Originally Posted by duaned

What I am trying to understand myself is why many, many people are buying these small cars. Yes they are more fuel efficent, but slow ( or at least semi slow) to reach the magic ton. Having the straight six is more than powerful enough but many are happy to sacrifice this for a small car full of gadgets and be underpowered (Hyundai i35 / 45 for example). Obviously times are changing and I am behind the times then but I cant buy a car if pushing the accelerator to the floor doesn't provide me with enough forward thurst.

Not everyone buys a car for the same reason.
Not everyone is a traffic light racer.
Not everyone cares about power.
Some value handling more than outright power.
Budget also comes into it whereby a smaller vehicle is cheaper to run, service and most important is cheaper to purchase.

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by duaned

What I am trying to understand myself is why many, many people are buying these small cars. Yes they are more fuel efficent, but slow ( or at least semi slow) to reach the magic ton. Having the straight six is more than powerful enough but many are happy to sacrifice this for a small car full of gadgets and be underpowered (Hyundai i35 / 45 for example). Obviously times are changing and I am behind the times then but I cant buy a car if pushing the accelerator to the floor doesn't provide me with enough forward thurst.

The smaller cars of today would be quicker than the base engined Falcon/Commodores of 10 years ago.

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by duaned

What I am trying to understand myself is why many, many people are buying these small cars. Yes they are more fuel efficent, but slow ( or at least semi slow) to reach the magic ton. Having the straight six is more than powerful enough but many are happy to sacrifice this for a small car full of gadgets and be underpowered (Hyundai i35 / 45 for example). Obviously times are changing and I am behind the times then but I cant buy a car if pushing the accelerator to the floor doesn't provide me with enough forward thurst.

Performance isn't everything to most people, and with petrol only going up in price that isn't going to change. Modern small cars like the i45 are well made, have excellent resale, don't break down or suffer from catastrophic design flaws, get good fuel economy, are roomy inside, and very easy to manage in city traffic/tight parking spaces.

The Falcon and the Commodore, on the other hand, can't match them for build quality, have terrible resale, a 'bogan' image problem, known design flaws and the wedge shaped VE in particular is extremely difficult to park. It's enormous and has terrible visibility and the FG isn't much better, both would be a struggle for short men or women.

People don't go on long drives anymore so nobody cares about ride comfort, highway economy or luggage space, and nobody keeps their cars for 500,000 kilometres so the long legs and longevity of the inline six is unappreciated.

[vztrt]

http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-new...214-1ouom.html

US to keep watch over Ford, Holden
Barry Park
December 14, 2011 - 6:34PM

Interest in Australia’s car-making industry isn’t flagging, diplomat says.

The US Government will continue to watch over Australia’s car-making industry despite the embarrassment of leaked documents revealing how intimate the link has been.

Canberra-based US Ambassador Jeffrey Bleich told Drive at the Australian preview of the Volt electric car that the consulate would continue to keep an interested eye on the Australian car-making industry - although whether that would include more of the Wikileaks-style diplomatic cables wired back to head office was left unanswered.

‘‘We’re still very interested in the Australian car industry,’’ Ambassador Bleich told Drive. ‘‘We see the diversity in the Australian market as a good test market for consumer preferences.’’
Advertisement: Story continues below

Several documents published by Wikileaks earlier this year gave insight into the state of the Australian car-making industry at a time when it was going through upheavals following Mitsubishi’s decision to abandon its local manufacturing arm in favour of becoming a full importer.

One showed that Ford Australia rejected offers of government help to develop a left-hand-drive version of the Falcon large sedan and Territory soft-roader, turning down potentially lucrative export earnings.

Another revealed that Holden’s parent, General Motors, left its Australian branch to fend for itself as the US car-making industry collapsed in debt after buyers, spooked by the impact of the global credit crunch, shied away from showrooms.

A separate cable also revealed that after decades of strong exports, Holden now saw itself as a niche player in the US market, exporting police vehicles and muscle cars rather than passenger vehicles.

While he admits to keeping a close watch on the Australian car industry, Ambassador Bleich says he has just a single locally made Commodore in his diplomatic fleet.

[jpd80]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

Thats because your missing a few points -
1) Your comparing a bad month, to an even worse month.
2) Last years 11942 consisted mainly of $32000 plus cars. This Years total of 11401 includes Approx. 2400 cruzes. Assign a cruze as 3/5 of a 2010 car, and 2011 November sales end up being Approx. 10440. 11942 to 10440 ends up being a considerable drop over 1 year.

Oh no you don't, the topic is the number of Australian built cars, not the value of them.
Ford could argue that since the introduction of the territory, average transaction prices
have gone up over $10,000 due to change in sales mix. See this is what happens when
we continually look backwards instead of where the industry is going. New tech like
EcoLPI and Ecoboost will build on Falcon sales as wiil the Hatch on Cruze sales
and dedicated LPG for Commodore will most certainly improve fleet sales.

As much as we want to paint a bleak picture, i think the locals are really
working with scales of economy and picking products that work for them.
To look at raw numbers without regard to changes in company policy or
changes in community spending is doing disservice to the local industry.

[1TUFFUTE]

Originally Posted by jpd80

Oh no you don't, the topic is the number of Australian built cars, not the value of them.
Ford could argue that since the introduction of the territory, average transaction prices
have gone up over $10,000 due to change in sales mix. See this is what happens when
we continually look backwards instead of where the industry is going. New tech like
EcoLPI and Ecoboost will build on Falcon sales as wiil the Hatch on Cruze sales
and dedicated LPG for Commodore will most certainly improve fleet sales.

As much as we want to paint a bleak picture, i think the locals are really
working with scales of economy and picking products that work for them.
To look at raw numbers without regard to changes in company policy or
changes in community spending is doing disservice to the local industry.

dont forget our ecconomy sometimes can take an up or down dive a hell of a lot faster then they can respond with a new car...so it takes time to keep up with the market.....