Ford versus Holden

[Donunder]

Originally Posted by BMK

I am wondering now that we don't have an auto industry to protect, if the tariffs on imports will come down and we can pay world wide comparable prices on both Ford or GM cars along with the European vehicles.

Don't be holding your breath on this one Bernie.

Ethically and morally (there are two words politicians have trouble dealing with) following the demise of our local car manufacturing industry there would seem to be no reason to continue imposing protective tariffs on imported cars.

However, once a government has become accustomed to raking in this money from the poor old mug Aussie motorist, there's no way they're going to forego it any time in the future.

Even though they'll be saving $250 million occasionally by not having to keep proppng up a hopelessly inefficient industry, they'll want more. The tariff will simply continue under a different guise. Import duty could easily be raised, ditto for GST, the luxury car tax threshold could be lowered, wharf and customs charges increased etc etc. We'll never be on a parity with Europe or the US on car pricing. We're such a drop in the bucket market for all the major manufacturers, yet I read the other day that there are approximately 360 different variations of models available across all makes of cars in Australia. Ridiculous!

The financial rug should have been pulled out from under Holden long ago. I feel for the workers who now face an uncertain future but from what I read, they have only their Unions to blame for killing the goose that laid large golden eggs for far too long.