The Australian car industry enigma !

By world standards, the Australia car industry is small.   We produce about 250,000 Australian made cars annually and these support about 50,000 Australian jobs - and this entire industry is concentrated in Victoria and South Australia.

The problem is that what we produce is now not what the Australian public is buying.   As recently as a couple of decades ago most Australian families made the decision to buy either a Holden Commodore or a Ford Falcon.    The big six cylinder car was king because it suited the size of the average Australian family, and it had the power to pull a caravan or a boat on the holiday scene.

Sales of these two icons have dropped and most car brands have added smaller - and cheaper - cars to their range of products - and these are made in either Korea or India.   We are seeing new brands emerging from both Korea and China and these are competing across all aspects of both the size and model range.    The buying public have a huge spectrum of opportunity offering when making a decision to purchase - and this will widen further with the inclusion of electric cars - and the widening choice between petrol or diesel engines,

The Australian car industry has seen  industry contractions as iconic brands have ceased manufacturing  and relied on imports, and now big decisions are facing those that are left in this field. The entire world car industry relies on financial help from host governments and if Australia is still going to manufacture cars - the taxpayer will need to shell out to keep the industry solvent.

The question is - can we compete in this fast changing world market ?

There is no doubt that the end of car manufacturing in Australia would be a crushing blow to our national pride.   It would reinforce the idea that Australia has allowed itself to be transformed from a vibrant manufacturing economy - to the world's quarry !     It would probably doom whoever was in political power in Canberra to certain defeat at the next election.

As the remaining car industry in this country ponders the local product question, the economists in Canberra will need to figure whether the jobs are worth saving in relation to what it will cost the economy to keep this industry running.

And the even bigger question.   If we abandon car manufacturing as a lost cause, what other source of employment can we lure here to give those fifty thousand Australian workers a new pay packet ?