Yes, it’s here:
The Guardian is upset:
The new Holden Commodore – the first to be made overseas – is a “missed opportunity” to launch a high-profile electric or hybrid car in Australia, according to pro-renewables groups.
The 2018 Commodore has been launched after the last operational Holden plant in Australia, in Elizabeth, South Australia, closed on 20 October last year.
The German-made car has fewer cylinders than previous models (between four and six instead of eight) and is an all-wheel rather than rear-wheel drive. It is Holden’s most fuel-efficient and low-emissions Commodore, at 5.6L per 100km and 148g of C02 per km for certain models.
Environmental groups said the flagship car could have been a powerful statement to promote electric cars in Australia, but an underlying lack of government investment, and “fear of the unknown” was putting local manufacturers off bold steps.
“It would have been good to see Holden pursue electric vehicle technology,” said Clint Steele, from the Alternative Technology Association. “But I understand why they decided to take the path they took. It comes back to the local market being misinformed when it comes to electric vehicles.”
Well, if we were competitive, folks, it would never have left. But that would mean lowering immigration, house prices, wages and the currency. All of the things that The Guardian and the Fake Left has no time for.
We shouldn’t let the moment pass without doffing the cap to the Abbott Government, Treasury and the RBA. It was their decision to rocket the currency to “make room” for the supposed thirty year mining boom that went bust in two, even as they drove the car industry into the sea. It was Ford that doomed the industry as it took out scale:
Well…they made so much room that now Australian’s can’t get a pay rise to save their lives.
Since then the AUD has fallen 26% against the EUR. And even though German car industry labour costs are roughly comparable to Australian (some penalty rates are higher here) we’re now importing what we could be making for ourselves cheaper than they can. Not to mention we could be exporting them as the dollar keeps falling, as we did at the turn of the millennium.
Of course Malcolm Turnbull won’t notice the change as he cruises around his German-made BMW 7-series limousine, the first PM in seventy years to pimp an import.
