Will the General Survive in SA?

[Dog_ger]

GMH, Elizabeth.

I think times are very, very hard.

How do we make people buy cars in this environment...?

So many jobs directly/indirectly.

Tragic circumstances....

How would you improve the situation...?

[Dog_ger]

Maybe it's the time,

for the General to throw open the employee lease offer to the General Public...?

I'd have a top of the range Calais for around $100 a week....

[Sojourner]

GM made a decision to drop the Barina made in Spain and replace it with one made in Korea that has all of a 2 star safety rating which testing reports will cop a fatality at a 40kph hit into a door where someone is seated next to....

People expect that from the bottom end of the market, not from a company that claims to market at the top of the family car market. For Holden to succeed, if they are going to rebadge cars as their own they might want to do what they once did with the Apollo and the Nova and get hold of a decent car to start with, maybe something like a Peugeot or similar.

Why pay full price for rubbish made in Korea when you can go buy the Kia branded version for cheaper which is the same quality at a far less price - albeit crap as well?

[mypaddock]

the future is in "green" cars and GMH are lagging way behind everybody in this area. They need to invest in this type of technology quick or they will be obselete in 10years.

[TroyGFC]

Maybe it's the time,

for the General to throw open the employee lease offer to the General Public...?

I'd have a top of the range Calais for around $100 a week....

I think thats how they got in trouble to start with in North America. Practically giving the cars away with cheaper lease rates then people returning them.

[gadj1976]

I worked at Mitsubishi briefly in 2003 and found out that the initial design of a car is created about 5 years before it hits production. So therefore Holden would still be in the planning stages of designing a green/electric/hybrid car, as the economy only really hit rock bottom last year.

Dunno whether they'll survive but my comment is more in relation to those saying "just make a green car". It doesn't happen that quickly unfortunately.

[Pidge]

Do people want to spend $35,000 on a car when they can spend $20,000 on a car which is just as good?

[Psyber]

I suspect that the present "green" cars - hybrids - will turn out to be an expensive dead end.
I expect he cost of tooling up to produce these vehicles is prohibitive, and so is the cost, in cash terms and environmental terms, of producing the batteries.
I haven't seen costs on replacement batteries yet, but it should start to show up as the pioneer buyers cars start to age.

So, one has to question the point of GM or anyone else gearing up to produce them, since, ultimately, either efficient fuel cells will be developed and take over, or we'll be burning hydrogen or ethanol in engines of the existing type, until we do have the fuel cells.

The federal government could help, now, by using part of the "stimulus package" to reduce the tax take on existing fuels.
Then it could, through tax concessions, assist the funding of converting existing fuel stations and vehicles to alternative fuels from renewable sources.
Ethanol could probably be produced in Australia are comparable cost to existing fuels at current prices, and if we used, say, Thorium fission to provide adequate power for desalination plants we could extract hydrogen from sea water at the same time.

[mypaddock]

I suspect that the present "green" cars - hybrids - will turn out to be an expensive dead end.
I expect he cost of tooling up to produce these vehicles is prohibitive, and so is the cost, in cash terms and environmental terms, of producing the batteries.
I haven't seen costs on replacement batteries yet, but it should start to show up as the pioneer buyers cars start to age.

So, one has to question the point of GM or anyone else gearing up to produce them, since, ultimately, either efficient fuel cells will be developed and take over, or we'll be burning hydrogen or ethanol in engines of the existing type, until we do have the fuel cells.

The federal government could help, now, by using part of the "stimulus package" to reduce the tax take on existing fuels.
Then it could, through tax concessions, assist the funding of converting existing fuel stations and vehicles to alternative fuels from renewable sources.
Ethanol could probably be produced in Australia are comparable cost to existing fuels at current prices, and if we used, say, Thorium fission to provide adequate power for desalination plants we could extract hydrogen from sea water at the same time.

The current "green" cars might be a dead end but if GM is to have a future they can no longer keep producing 6 & 8 cylinder petrol powered vehicles as their main source of revenue.
The future is in more energy efficient vehicles and they need to get on the band wagon soon.

[Psyber]

The current "green" cars might be a dead end but if GM is to have a future they can no longer keep producing 6 & 8 cylinder petrol powered vehicles as their main source of revenue.
The future is in more energy efficient vehicles and they need to get on the band wagon soon.

Agreed...

[dinglinga]

GM made a decision to drop the Barina made in Spain and replace it with one made in Korea that has all of a 2 star safety rating which testing reports will cop a fatality at a 40kph hit into a door where someone is seated next to....

People expect that from the bottom end of the market, not from a company that claims to market at the top of the family car market. For Holden to succeed, if they are going to rebadge cars as their own they might want to do what they once did with the Apollo and the Nova and get hold of a decent car to start with, maybe something like a Peugeot or similar.

Why pay full price for rubbish made in Korea when you can go buy the Kia branded version for cheaper which is the same quality at a far less price - albeit crap as well?

the vehicle has been upgraded to a 4 star rating

as for quality with some of the korean brands i would say drive it after 20,000km and look at interior also to see if it has the same quality contro

[The Ash Man]

I suspect that the present "green" cars - hybrids - will turn out to be an expensive dead end.
I expect he cost of tooling up to produce these vehicles is prohibitive, and so is the cost, in cash terms and environmental terms, of producing the batteries.
I haven't seen costs on replacement batteries yet, but it should start to show up as the pioneer buyers cars start to age.

So, one has to question the point of GM or anyone else gearing up to produce them, since, ultimately, either efficient fuel cells will be developed and take over, or we'll be burning hydrogen or ethanol in engines of the existing type, until we do have the fuel cells.

The federal government could help, now, by using part of the "stimulus package" to reduce the tax take on existing fuels.
Then it could, through tax concessions, assist the funding of converting existing fuel stations and vehicles to alternative fuels from renewable sources.
Ethanol could probably be produced in Australia are comparable cost to existing fuels at current prices, and if we used, say, Thorium fission to provide adequate power for desalination plants we could extract hydrogen from sea water at the same time.

The batteries range from $2500-$8000 plus labour
Being in the Auto Elec game they have started to filter through
They should last 8 years/150,000km

[Bully]

word is that for GMH to make a 'green' car it would send them bankrupt as the factory out there has no area to build it, would involve mass upgrades of current factorys and install of new ones and being the current finance in the world it will send them bankrupt. Also ford is in the same boat

[smac]

Do people want to spend $35,000 on a car when they can spend $20,000 on a car which is just as good?

What car for $20K is as good as a $35k car? Curious about that comment.

[Sojourner]

word is that for GMH to make a 'green' car it would send them bankrupt as the factory out there has no area to build it, would involve mass upgrades of current factorys and install of new ones and being the current finance in the world it will send them bankrupt. Also ford is in the same boat

Why not then simply rebadge the Honda Civic Hybrid as a Holden to compete with the Prius? That would have to be in the interests of both Honda and GMH?

[Punk Rooster]

Do people want to spend $35,000 on a car when they can spend $20,000 on a car which is just as good?

What car for $20K is as good as a $35k car? Curious about that comment.

he's alluding to the fact the hybrid is $15k more than the (comparitive) petrol driven car

[Jimmy_041]

Without trying to be hard in a bad situation, they all had their chance to change a few years ago but decided to kill the new age cars.............now they're gonna pay for it

[TroyGFC]

i wonder if the plans (brought by fuel giants) of Orbital Engines will ever be released.

[TroyGFC]

on a related subject: see a further 1800 jobs went today in the texile industry. Bad times ahead for all industry.