Aussie Motoring

Early yesterday the word was out that Ford was planning to cut around 500 jobs from their Victorian operations because demand for their big-car products was down. By late yesterday afternoon it was Holden’s turn to announce reductions that will impact on over 3,000 works in South Australia.

It appears that Holden may not be cutting any actual positions but their plans will reduce the amount of take-home pay for those affected workers for the plant will be closed for an entire week in November and an extra two weeks over Christmas.

If there is one thing that both Ford and Holden are lacking in Australia it’s a hybrid car to attract buyers who want to be environmentally friendly.

Sadly neither of the big two seem interested in filling that gap anytime soon. Holden may have unveiled the Chevy Volt at the Sydney Motor Show last week but it’s still not set to arrive here in Australia till 2012 despite the fact that it was on display in America as long ago as January 2007. 

How long can they go on building cars in Australia that fewer and fewer people want to buy?

It seems that Ford Australia is about to cut hundreds of jobs from its plants in Victoria. This latest round of cuts is in addition to the job cuts previously announced.

Ford’s Victorian operation produces larger vehicles that are out of favour with the marketplace so it’s possible that even more positions might go in the future.

Every cloud has a silver lining … at least for someone … and the current economic storm clouds certainly have some silver linings for any Australian new car buyer who has the cash or the credit to make a purchase right now. And things could get even better in the near future.

Right now Holden has their fuel offer, Ford has fleet price discounts for ordinary buyers, Mazda, Toyota and Hyundai have drive-away deals on some models, Mitsubishi has a cash-back offer on all its vehicles, Mercedes has an interest rate deal and Nissan is offering drive-away deals on all models plus fuel deals on some of the range.

And yes you did read that correctly … it might be hard to believe but even Toyota is struggling to move some vehicles.

But wait … things could get even better for new-car buyers. New.com is reporting that holding yards along the east coast are packed full of new vehicles that importers have brought into the country and now can’t shift. If that’s the case then those offers are just going to get a whole lot sweeter.

In America there used to be the big three auto makers - General Motors, Ford and Chrysler.  Now of course we have the very weak and wobbly three as sales plummet, credit evaporates and fuel becomes so expensive that even the Americans now want smaller, more fuel efficient cars.

Soon though there’s a very strong possibility that the three may be reduced to just two as rumours abound that General Motors and Chrysler are engaging in merger talks. Cerberus Capital Management - the company that owns Chrysler are denying that such talks are taking place but the rumours just won’t go away.

Reuters is also reporting that one of their sources is suggesting that Cerberus is also in talks with “other parties including Renault-Nissan”.

Here in Australia new car sales are down but then that’s only to be expected. Financial times are tough and people tend to put off major purchases at times like this. Even if they want to buy a new car credit is harder to come by and no one really knows where interest rates are going.

But will things get as tough as they are in the United States? Here in Australia new car sales are down 3.1% compared to this time last year. Over there one in five new car dealerships could close. One of the biggest dealerships in the country … a company with revenues last year that were measured in the billions has filed for bankruptcy protection. Companies are laying off staff as fast as they can.

Every major car maker in the US market posted a decline in sales in September as sales dropped by a whopping 26%. And finally Toyota … the leading seller of cars in America (and Australia) has finally had to offer zero interest on loans as an encouragement to get people to buy their cars.

While I doubt that we’ll ever see zero interest rates here in Australia you can be sure that things are going to get worse here in Australia and before long the sales of new cars will fall below last year’s figures. When that happens you can expect to see some nice incentives offered to encourage you to buy a new car.

New figures show that vehicle sales remained softer in September, reflecting the broader slow down in the Australian economy.

Official VFACTS data released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) show that 80,938 cars, trucks and buses were sold in September – down 3.1 per cent (2,551 vehicles) compared to the same month last year.

Year-to-date, new vehicles sales are up 0.3 per cent compared to the same period last year with a total of 784,932 vehicles being sold.

“The September figures provide further evidence that car buyers are cautious about the current economic situation and outlook,” FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said.

“The trend in sales over recent months provides justification for further action to cut interest rates as soon as possible,” he said.

“The industry is looking to rebuild confidence in the marketplace and decisive action to take further pressure off interest rates will provide some welcome relief to motorists,” Mr McKellar said.

Sales in most passenger car and SUV segments were down, except for small cars (up 4.1 per cent), medium cars (up 1.0 per cent) and large SUVs (up 48 per cent).

Light commercial vehicle sales held up well in September with an increase of 559 vehicles or 4.0 per cent compared to the same month last year.

Sales of light buses (up 73.1 per cent), vans (up 29.1 per cent) and 4×2 pick-ups (up 5.5 per cent) were the key performers in that segment.

Toyota retained the top sales position in September with a market share of 22.4 per cent, followed by Holden with 13.1 per cent and Ford with 11.0 per cent.

Year-to-date Toyota sold 183,806 vehicles, followed by Holden with 99,600 vehicles and Fold with 81,416 vehicles.

Teson Trims in Euroa is set to close after Administrators failed to find a buyer for the company. Union representatives suggest that the closure is due to heavy cost cutting by the major Australian manufacturers who have squeezed Teson Trims to the point where they cannot meet the price demanded by those big companies.

When we look at a new car the real enthusiasts among us want to know about that car’s performance. How many seconds does it take to reach 100km/h is one popular measure of a car’s performance.

When we look at a car manufacturer’s performance we begin to look at how much money they’re making … or not making as the case may be. And in America the case is that the homegrown manufacturers are not making any money at all. GM, Ford, Chrysler are all making losses that are measured in dollar terms that few of us can really comprehend.

But here’s one measure of performance that’s easier to understand and it relates to Chrysler. Chrysler are selling just 3 cars per month per dealership. Is it any wonder that Daimler are now looking to sell of their remaining share of Chrysler?

It makes you wonder how Ford Australia and General Motors Holden measure up on the basis of new cars sold per dealership per month.

What’s the cost of tightening 42,408 nuts? If you don’t know and I don’t know then perhaps we need to ask GM in America because they’re about to find out.

They’ve just issued a recuall for 42,408 Sturn Vue compact SUVs because there is a possibility that a nut has worked loose in the power steering assembly and that loose nut allows power steering fluid to escape and that’s a potential fire hazard.

So GM is recalling 2008 and 2009 model Vues to have the nut checked and tightened.