A 7 September win for the Liberal-National parties coalition in Australia’s federal election would lead to General Motors Holden ending manufacturing. So claims Phil Horton, the managing director of BMW Group Australia.
“With a coalition government, the writing is on the wall for Holden,” Horton told Fairfax Media, the publisher of the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne’s The Age newspapers.
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The BMW boss, who was speaking to journalists at the Australian market launch of the facelifted Z4. He said a potential conservative government would end the subsidies which have been given to Holden, Ford and Toyota for many years to support their local manufacturing operations. Ford has already announced that it will close its car and engine plants in 2016.
“It makes no logical sense for Ford and Holden to have a manufacturing operation in a country like Australia,” Horton added.
“There are some massive economic factors that you just can’t get away from: we are a very, very long way from anywhere else and, right at the moment, even though the dollar has weakened, it’s still a very expensive place on a worldwide basis to do anything,” Horton said.
A Holden spokesman said the company did not wish to comment on the matter.
The incumbent Labor government has recently announced an additional half a billion dollars in assistance to local manufacturers, as well as AU$200m worth of aid to counter recent federally-levied tax hikes on new cars.
BMW’s Phil Horton was at pains to be seen as politically neutral, stating that he believed that should the Labor government be returned, the future for local car manufacturing would also be bleak.
As for Toyota, Horton said he believes it might yet find a way to thrive amidst the potential trouble ahead.
“…they’ve (Toyota) got much more standardisation of parts so they could make it work somehow,” he believes.
The leader of the federal Opposition and Australia’s potential next prime minister Tony Abbott is currently on the campaign trail. He recently visited a Volvo Trucks plant in Brisbane before briefing the media on his views of subsidies to vehicle manufacturers.
“I’m very pleased to be here at Volvo today because this is proof that we can make things, make sophisticated things in this country without a government subsidy,” Abbott said, according to a report by GoAutoNews.com.au.
“We can make sophisticated things in this country without a government subsidy and do so profitably. This plant proves that you do not need to write blank cheques for businesses in order to have a strong and dynamic manufacturing sector in this country,” Abbott added.
Ongoing subsidies provided by the state governments of Victoria and South Australia to support car and engine production will not be affected by any potential change of government in Canberra.
Author: Glenn Brooks
