Aussie Motoring

Two more small vehicles available in Australia have been given a five-star crash test rating by the Australian New Car Assessment Programme - ANCAP

The top of the range Lancer ated highly for occupant protection following a series of crash tests – a frontal offset, a side offset and a pole test. The model tested was the top-spec model, which includes head-protecting side air bags and Electronic Stability Control (ESC) – both prerequisites for a five-star rating under ANCAP’s rating methodology. The lower spec Lancer scored four stars.

The Hyundai i30, which also includes side curtains and ESC, achieved five stars after a recent modification improved the vehicle’s knee impact area, which ANCAP had raised as an issue. The New Zealand i30 will receive the same upgrade. Similar to the Lancer, the lower spec i30 scores four stars.

Mitsubishi has announced that they will close their South Australian plant in March with the lost of 930 employees.

In a statement released a short time ago Mitsubishi stated that the ” … decision has been made because Australian consumers are moving towards smaller, more economic, and environmentally friendlier cars like those in the rest of the Mitsubishi range.”

Of course the closure of the plant means the end of production for the 380 - the car that very few people seemed to want.

Now if the reasons given for closing the plant are correct then I wonder what’s in store for Ford when they release the new Falcon. Have Australian consumers really moved on from the big 6 cylinder cars?

The ABC is reporting that Mitsubishi will make a decision later today on whether or not to close their assembly line in South Australia. The money is on the plant closing and production moving to plants in either Russia or China.

You can read the full report here

We’ve always been a nation of big car buyers. There was a time when you weren’t a real man unless you drove a six cylinder, a V8 or even a big 4WD and you could have been considered unpatriotic if you drove anything but a car built in Australia - unless of course you were driving that big 4WD that looked like a tank and could pull the side off a mountain.

But times change, pain in your hip pocket can cause you to make decisions that reflect on your manhood and your patriotism and now we’re beginning to see change in the buying habits of Australian motorists … and the local manufacturers have been caught flat-footed.

Sales of Imported Cars Surge
In the period January to June this year - at a time when new car sales were increasing substantially - less than 20% of cars sold were actually built in Australia. Ford and Mitsubishi were the hardest hit as Australian car buyers looked overseas for their next new car.

Sales of light and small cars continued to climb as did sales of smaller 4WDs. Sales of small 4WD models are up by over 18% while sales of big 4WDs have dropped by over 13%.

And this trend will only continue to become stronger. The strong Aussie dollar means that imports from overseas are cheaper, the rising cost of fuel - tipped to be $100 a barrel by year’s end - will reinforce the appeal of smaller cars and another rise in interest rates tipped for August will further impact on the sales of big cars.

Manufacturers’ Response
And where are the manufacturers in all of this. Toyota is doing very well with it’s Aurion and Camry models but Holden has the VE Commodore with a fuel consumption that hasn’t improved in years. Ford has a new Falcon coming out next year that is just another big car and Mitsubishi is revamping its 380 - a car that hasn’t sold well in the past and probably never will.

It seems that there’s just more pain on the horizon for the local manufacturers. Admittedly Ford has announced that it will begin production of the Ford Focus here in Australia but that won’t begin to happen till 2011 - the first smalal car to be built in Australia since 1999 - and you might be forgiven for wondering if, in today’s ever-changing world, Ford Australia can last that long.

Meanwhile more and more small cars are coming in from overseas as savvy manufacturers take advantage of the Australian car makers inability to respond to market trends and things are only set to get worse for the big car makers when Kia launches it’s new cee’d range later this year. Trendy economical small cars like the Kia cee’d hatch and cabrio will become even more appealing to Australian car buyers.

by Stuart Livesey

It’s strange what thoughts can come to you in the dead of the night when all you want to do is sleep.

Yesterday I pointed out in The Japanese Manufacturers Turn Up Everywhere that two of the new vehicles Chrysler wants to introduce into Australia this year are built using a Mitsubishi platform.

Last night it dawned on me that our Hyundai Grandeur comes with a 3 litre V6 motor that’s built by Mitsubishi.

Now if so many other car makers around the world are using major components designed by you Mitsubishi why are you going broke?

Mitsubishi showed the prototype for the 2008 Lancer for the first time at last week’s Detroit Motor Show. The next Lancer certainly has some mean looks and interesting mechanicals

The technical details can be found here

It’s not going to happen

The head of Mitsubishi in Japan has assured the federal Industry Minister and the South Australian Deputy Premier that Mitsubishi has no plans to shut down its assembly plant in South Australia.

But stay tuned, I’m sure there will be more because sales of the 380 - the car that was supposed to save Mitsubishi in Australian - are still not happening in the numbers Mitsubishi needed.

Despite the denials it does not look good

Several months ago the ABC broke the news that Mitsubishi was looking at plans to shut down their production lines in Adelaide. Of course that brought a flood of denials from Mitsubishi and the government.

Then the ABC broke the story again when they had further information and once again they were howled down with denials from every man and his dog.

And now the federal Industry Minister and the South Australian Treasurer are in Japan today seeking assurances from Mitsubishi management that they are not going to close the plants.

Seems that a hint of smoke has developed into something much more serious.

Didn’t the federal government give Mitsubishi a multi-million dollar handout earlier this year to help with research?

The ABC is reporting that Mitsubishi is looking at four options for a strategic plan that involves closing its plant in South Australia.

It’s easy to see (by the fact that you don’t see many 380 models on the streets) that the 380 has not been the sales success that Mitsubishi had hoped for - in fact sales of the vehicle are well below what was forecast and nothing the company does will improve that situation.

If the plant does close around 1600 people will lose their jobs and a considerable amount of tax payers’ money will have been wasted in trying to encourage the company to remain in Australia.

You can read the full ABC story here

Ajax Fasteners, the parts manufacturer that supplies specialest screws and clips to all four Australian car manufacturers has managed to stay in business until at least Friday.

Aussie Motoring reported back on August 12 that the company was on the brink of collapse and if it did go the consequences for Ford, Holden, Mitsubishi and Toyota would be dire. (You can read that report here)

Somehow the company managed to trade through Monday and Tuesday but workers on the first shift this morning reported to work with the expectation of being stood down. However overnight the four Australian car makers managed to cobble together a plan that will see Ajax Fasteners last until at least Friday.