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  #1  
Old 02-10-2014, 01:11 PM
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Toyota Leaving Australia

Seems like Toyota has had it with Australia and along with GM closing Holden this marks the end of the Australian car manufacturing industry. I had no idea that this was the case but apparently Australia is too expensive to manufacture cars in.

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  #2  
Old 02-10-2014, 01:16 PM
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I don't know if there's any relationship, but based on contacts with Mercedes owners in Australia, the prices for genuine Mercedes parts is "quite dear" for them.
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  #3  
Old 02-10-2014, 01:30 PM
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Australia seems to have hit it's head, regulatorily speraking as of late...
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  #4  
Old 02-10-2014, 02:05 PM
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Australia Minimum Wage - International Minimum Wage Rates 2014
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  #5  
Old 02-10-2014, 04:36 PM
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The BBC this morning reported that the rise in the Oz dollar, which is up 50% in recent years, is behind all of this. It is just too expensive to export anything and imports are cheap.

The car makers must think this is a long term thing to shut down such large investments.

Also the BBC says only about 40,000 new cars a year are sold in Oz, so all the demand can easily be met by China where the cost of labor is 25% of what it is in Oz.
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  #6  
Old 02-10-2014, 05:17 PM
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Prices in Australia seem quite high to me. This for instance:

2010 MITSUBISHI FUSO FG 84 TURBO CANTER DUAL CAB 4X4 for sale | Trade RVs, Australia
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  #7  
Old 02-10-2014, 05:21 PM
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The market is quite a bit bigger than that, like 90,000 a month.

9314.0 - Sales of New Motor Vehicles, Australia, December 2013

At a steady 40,000 new cars a year, assuming the average car lasted 20 years, there would only be 800,000 cars in Australia. That would be a bit sparse for a country of over 20 million.
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  #8  
Old 02-11-2014, 06:36 AM
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We are loosing all our car manufacturers. Ford, GM, Toyota. Previously lost Nissan & Chrysler/Mitsubishi.
Car parts are ridiculously expensive in Australia. I get most things from overseas.
We have one of the most generous social security systems in the world. Just as well as soon there will be a bucket load of unemployed & retirees. The countries headed for a US level of debt.
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  #9  
Old 02-11-2014, 10:01 AM
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Originally Posted by layback40 View Post
We are loosing all our car manufacturers. Ford, GM, Toyota. Previously lost Nissan & Chrysler/Mitsubishi.
Car parts are ridiculously expensive in Australia. I get most things from overseas.
We have one of the most generous social security systems in the world. Just as well as soon there will be a bucket load of unemployed & retirees. The countries headed for a US level of debt.
Thats funny 51% of the voters here think our level of debt is a good thing.
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  #10  
Old 02-11-2014, 10:20 AM
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There is also an argument that states in large numbers (10s of millions across the globe) young people are abandoning the personal automobile.

Another one rides the bus....

For some reason I can’t get Queen outtta my hed this morning.
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  #11  
Old 02-11-2014, 10:22 AM
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Thats funny 51% of the voters here think our level of debt is a good thing.
For sure, every school bond offering that is presented to the voters passes. The voters literally vote themselves into more and more debt. And for what? So they can build more and more public schools so that little Johnny and little Susie can be the recipients of a tax payer funded "public education". Meanwhile, both home schooled and privately schooled students are ten thousand light years ahead of their publicly schooled counterparts. When it comes time to apply to attend top tier colleges, privately educated students will beat out their publicly educated counterparts pretty much every time.

There isn't a day that goes by that I am not aware that I am both incapacitated and handicapped because I'm the recipient of a "public school education".

Remember kids, the system is working, working you over good.

Last edited by HuskyMan; 02-11-2014 at 10:33 AM.
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  #12  
Old 02-11-2014, 11:12 AM
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Originally Posted by Idle View Post
The BBC this morning reported that the rise in the Oz dollar, which is up 50% in recent years, is behind all of this. It is just too expensive to export anything and imports are cheap.
This. The strong AU dollar has also hammered the Aussie wine industry. They can't compete on the cheap end of the market like they used to.
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  #13  
Old 02-11-2014, 11:37 AM
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Originally Posted by HuskyMan View Post
For sure, every school bond offering that is presented to the voters passes. The voters literally vote themselves into more and more debt. And for what? So they can build more and more public schools so that little Johnny and little Susie can be the recipients of a tax payer funded "public education". Meanwhile, both home schooled and privately schooled students are ten thousand light years ahead of their publicly schooled counterparts. When it comes time to apply to attend top tier colleges, privately educated students will beat out their publicly educated counterparts pretty much every time.

There isn't a day that goes by that I am not aware that I am both incapacitated and handicapped because I'm the recipient of a "public school education".

Remember kids, the system is working, working you over good.
There is little doubt in many ways the world has evolved. The education system for the average person has changed but I feel it is not up to the demand or needs of the children for the times.

Also very sorry that Australia has decided to go the way of excess debt loading. Because in the past I suggested even on this site that money invested in Australian currency should do well at least several years ago.It has been proved correct and I no longer know what the average interest on savings there is now but I expected six percent was possible back then. It was already for all practical purposes nothing here in north america already.

As for an industry pulling out of a country. I have some misgivings on what should be allowed and them still having access to the market.To me that industry may be shortsighted as well. More profit today for an uncertain future in a given market is not wise management. The way I would look at it is as a corporation our earnings here enabled what we have. So I have both a cost of operations to deal with and a loyalty to what enabled us to work with. My high salary as a chief operating officer makes me responsible to find an equitable solution or I am not worthy of the position.

As for debt any government that allows it to accumulate must subject it's population to inflation to deal with it. It for example would not surprise me at all for americans to see a fifty dollar an hour minumin wage in the future. It will come as certainly as I am sitting here.

The issue is it is all relative. If you cannot buy what you can today for 10.00 with it the reality is you would have gone backwards. As long as the governments can control money printing it does not take a rocket scientist to guess the future.

Being 71 myself I have seen it played out in my lifetime already. How did the cost of a house we paid 16k for become 300k. Or a new car that was less than 2,000 become 30,000 today. Or a quart of milk from .25 to 2.25?

The long term problem is manipulations of things can slip totally out of control. The first and primary job of politicians should be to act in a responsible fashion when it comes to managing an economy. I thought that was a hallmark of Australia back when I looked at purchasing their currency. Well at least in comparison to other countries at the time.

Seems now they are well on their way to becoming like far too many other countries. The percentage of the population grows that cannot work with inflation present at too rapid a pace. The so called middle class gets hammered first. The actual ranks of the truly poor grow as well and this can ramp up quickly in certain conditions like letting industry go.

We already in my opinion have that scenario to a lesser degree than what will be. Of course it is pointless to point out we may as respective nations have our priorities all screwed up. Simply put a government can always pay it's debt. The reality is that the effects of doing so have to be downloaded on the population.

This to me is unavoidable but I am a pretty simple guy. So many things I look at I either miss the logic of them or it just may not be there.
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  #14  
Old 02-11-2014, 03:05 PM
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Originally Posted by barry12345 View Post
There is little doubt in many ways the world has evolved. The education system for the average person has changed but I feel it is not up to the demand or needs of the children for the times.

Also very sorry that Australia has decided to go the way of excess debt loading. Because in the past I suggested even on this site that money invested in Australian currency should do well at least several years ago.It has been proved correct and I no longer know what the average interest on savings there is now but I expected six percent was possible back then. It was already for all practical purposes nothing here in north america already.

As for an industry pulling out of a country. I have some misgivings on what should be allowed and them still having access to the market.To me that industry may be shortsighted as well. More profit today for an uncertain future in a given market is not wise management. The way I would look at it is as a corporation our earnings here enabled what we have. So I have both a cost of operations to deal with and a loyalty to what enabled us to work with. My high salary as a chief operating officer makes me responsible to find an equitable solution or I am not worthy of the position.

As for debt any government that allows it to accumulate must subject it's population to inflation to deal with it. It for example would not surprise me at all for americans to see a fifty dollar an hour minumin wage in the future. It will come as certainly as I am sitting here.

The issue is it is all relative. If you cannot buy what you can today for 10.00 with it the reality is you would have gone backwards. As long as the governments can control money printing it does not take a rocket scientist to guess the future.

Being 71 myself I have seen it played out in my lifetime already. How did the cost of a house we paid 16k for become 300k. Or a new car that was less than 2,000 become 30,000 today. Or a quart of milk from .25 to 2.25?

The long term problem is manipulations of things can slip totally out of control. The first and primary job of politicians should be to act in a responsible fashion when it comes to managing an economy. I thought that was a hallmark of Australia back when I looked at purchasing their currency. Well at least in comparison to other countries at the time.

Seems now they are well on their way to becoming like far too many other countries. The percentage of the population grows that cannot work with inflation present at too rapid a pace. The so called middle class gets hammered first. The actual ranks of the truly poor grow as well and this can ramp up quickly in certain conditions like letting industry go.

We already in my opinion have that scenario to a lesser degree than what will be. Of course it is pointless to point out we may as respective nations have our priorities all screwed up. Simply put a government can always pay it's debt. The reality is that the effects of doing so have to be downloaded on the population.

This to me is unavoidable but I am a pretty simple guy. So many things I look at I either miss the logic of them or it just may not be there.
For sure, everything you've said is correct. As far as education, a friend of mine paid for his son to attend private schools. He shared with me the costs involved, it was pricey $$$$$. After graduation, he and his mother took a road trip and visited at least a dozen different colleges. Before the smoke cleared, the boy had offers of scholarships and invitations to some of the country's top tier universities. I'm sure he is going onto be a big success in whatever profession he chooses. If his parents had settled on a public eduction for him, I couldn't help but wonder if he would have been presented with the same opportunities......I kinda doubt it......

Last edited by HuskyMan; 02-11-2014 at 03:27 PM.
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  #15  
Old 02-11-2014, 03:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Maki View Post
This. The strong AU dollar has also hammered the Aussie wine industry. They can't compete on the cheap end of the market like they used to.
I have noticed that Yellowtail has increased in price. I still buy it because every time I serve it everyone talks about how good it tastes.

I don't drink wine so I just have to go with what they tell me.

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