Ford closure spells beginning of the end for Aussie car manufacturing

Local manufacturing has taken a huge hit in the last few weeks, with Ford Australia stopping all production at its Broadmeadows and Geelong factories in Victoria and Holden stopping production of its Cruze model at its plant in Elizabeth, South Australia.

It spells the beginning of the end for mainstream car manufacturing in Australia with Holden and Toyota both exiting local manufacturing completely next year, with all three brands to rely solely on imports.

Australian Made Chief Executive, Ian Harrison, says the closure sends yet another message to consumers and Governments, at all levels, about the value of buying Australian.

“The loss of the auto industry to Australia goes way beyond the immediate job losses, although there will be thousands of them, but to the loss of a core foundation of Australia’s manufacturing capability – skills, technical expertise and innovation. Australia is one of the few countries in the world that can take a motor vehicle all the way from the drawing board to the end of the production line.

The industry has always been a vital source of skills and engineering expertise for the rest of Australia’s manufacturing sectors and, through that, the economy generally.

And in a country the size of Australia with such a small population, the access provided by vehicles makes them an essential part of our community fabric. So what we don’t make here we will have to import – an added and ongoing commitment on our foreign reserves.

Most of Ford’s 850 manufacturing employees lose their jobs with the closures, while a further 300 jobs will be axed at Holden as they wrap up production of the locally made Cruze.

All of us in Australia are about to get over the next couple of years another clear reminder about the importance of buying local. Consumers need to understand the knock-on effects of their purchase decisions,” Mr Harrison said.

For Government, at all levels, the issue is whether we want Australia to have a strong manufacturing capacity or not. The problem of course is that we have managed to make this one of the most expensive places in the world to build things – something we should not be proud of.

The clock is ticking...