New Car Sales Hit Record High - Australia Car News

Sales of new motor vehicles jumped by the most in five months in August to reach their highest on record, a sign consumers have the confidence to splash out on big ticket items.

Government figures out this morning show new vehicle sales rose by a seasonally adjusted 3.6 per cent in August to 93,379, following a revised 1.1 per cent decline in July. Sales were up 6.4 per cent compared with August last year.

Sales of sports utility vehicles extended their meteoric run with an increase of 4.3 per cent to a fresh all-time high of 26,452. Sales of passenger vehicles rose 4.7 per cent, while sales of other vehicles, including trucks, edged up 0.4 per cent after a very strong result in July.

The robust vehicle numbers contrast with softness seen in retail sales for July and suggest consumer spending is not as weak as some fear.


Industry data out earlier in the month showed Toyota retained first place in the sales ladder with 19.2 per cent of the market in August.

Holden held second spot with 12.0 per cent. Hyundai and Ford tied with 8.3 per cent, while Mazda took 8.2 per cent.

Chinese Cars Made With Asbestos Expected To Be Recalled

China is poised to surpass other leading, industrialized nations in car manufacturing with inexpensive cars. Instead of taking decades to adapt and revolutionize car manufacturing, the Chinese industry has just taken a few short years to catch up with the rest of the world. However, this incredible transformation has come at a cost.

In recent months, many Chinese car brands have come under fire for poor safety and quality in the rush to become a viable car alternative on the international market.

Nearly 25,000 inexpensive Chinese cars from two car manufacturing companies Great Wall and Chery are expected to be recalled in Australia after it was discovered that asbestos was used in gaskets. Many industrialized nations like Australia have banned asbestos in mining and manufacturing as well as have banned the importation and exportation of asbestos.

After the discovery of the asbestos gaskets, production at both companies stopped. Great Wall and Chery are currently researching potential replacement materials for the toxic gaskets, but initially said that car production did not include asbestos.

As of Tuesday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is debating whether to issue a recall of the 25,000 cars imported into the country. A final recall decision is expected later this week. Ateco Automotive, the company in charge of importation of both Chinese brands, initially ruled that the asbestos gaskets pose a “negligible” health threat for drivers and passengers.

Up until it was banned in most countries, asbestos was a common material used in car manufacturing. Besides gaskets, asbestos was used in other automotive parts like  brakes, brake components, clutch linings, disc and drum brakes, and transmission plates.
A naturally occurring set of minerals, asbestos was widely used in a variety of products up until the late 1990s and early 2000s in many industrialized nations. After it was discovered that asbestos is a carcinogen akin to cigarette smoke, most countries banned the material.

Exposure to asbestos is the leading cause of a rare form of cancer called mesothelioma. Affecting the delicate protective lining of the lungs, heart or abdominal cavity, mesothelioma can take upwards of several decades to present symptoms. Once in play, mesothelioma is a fast moving disease without a cure.

Ford Stand-Down of 1800 Draws Nearer

A temporary stand-down of 1800 Victorian workers at Ford is increasingly likely as state and federal governments join in a bid to resolve the crisis involving a financially troubled car parts maker.

Ford says the stand-down for an estimated one or two days from Thursday would be the worst-case scenario if the dispute involving supplier CMI Industrial drags on.

About 80 workers at CMI's Campbellfield factory have been locked out since last Friday after the landlord changed the locks in a dispute over rent payment, believed to be around $150,000.

Federal Workplace Minister Bill Shorten said he's been in talks with the Victorian government over the appointment of an administrator to CMI.

"We're looking to have confirmation of a particular company who's been appointed as voluntary administrator and I'll be in touch with them," Mr Shorten said.

Ford spokeswoman Sinead Phipps said the company hoped the situation would be resolved as soon as possible.

"If it's not, we would temporarily stand down at the end of Thursday," Ms Phipps said.

She said Ford would work with the union to bring forward scheduled days off to ensure employees at its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants were paid in the event of a stand-down.

Its other suppliers would also be affected if the stand-down went ahead, but it was difficult to quantify the impact.
Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu said the government was willing to help to restructure CMI.
"Obviously that has to take place. It's one of the key suppliers to Ford and other automotive manufacturers," he told reporters.

Manufacturing minister Richard Dalla-Riva said the government had been in talks with CMI Industrial and other key parties about the company's financial difficulties.

A spokeswoman for the minister said she could not comment on details of the talks.
CMI Industrial workers met outside their factory at 7am (AEST) on Tuesday, anxious to learn of the future of their jobs. The landlord did not attend and the factory remained locked, and union officials could tell workers little as talks between CMI and Ford continued.

AMWU Victorian Secretary Steve Dargavel said he hoped the state government would resolve the situation.
"If they fix it that's great, if they don't, Ford gets stood down and their supply chain potentially gets affected too, so that would be terrible," Mr Dargavel said.

He said many more workers who supply Ford will be affected if Ford stands down workers.
"There's a lot at stake here to get it sorted quickly."

Federal opposition industry spokeswoman Sophie Mirabella said the turmoil surrounding CMI Industries and Ford was the latest in a turbulent time for the automotive industry, which would only worsen once the government's carbon tax took effect.

"At a time when the car industry is already facing serious challenges, our industries can ill afford yet another blow," she said in a statement.

Toyota Hires Extra Security As Axe Falls On 350 Jobs

Car maker Toyota has hired extra security staff for its factory in Melbourne's south west as the company prepares to sack 350 workers.

Toyota blames the job losses at its Altona assembly plant on the downturn in production levels and the strength of the Australian dollar.

Alison Caldwell reports.

ALISON CALDWELL: Toyota foreshadowed the job cuts in January, blaming the high Australian dollar for falling export sales.

Since then it's assessed more than 3,000 employees at its Altona assembly plant, testing them on workplace behaviour and skills.

The people with the lowest ratings will be forced to leave today and tomorrow - that's around 10 per cent of the workforce or 350 employees.

Paul Defelice is the assistant state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union.

PAUL DEFELICE: They'd be very anxious because there is a number of people that will be told today that they are surplus to requirement. So until the morning passes, there's going to be a lot of anxious people.

ALISON CALDWELL: This was announced by Toyota back in January. What's been going on in the discussions with the union since then?

PAUL DEFELICE: There's been a whole host of meetings, I suppose on a weekly basis, to actually look at an appropriate and fair and transparent selection criteria, and out placement services and also the quantum of the final package for people to exit on.

ALISON CALDWELL: Now they've got security guards out there today to help people leave the plant. Is that an unusual situation?

PAUL DEFELICE: It is an unusual situation because I don't think in my history this has transpired. It's always been purely voluntary so it's been a pretty sort of amicable departure between the parties. So I don't know how people are going to take it when they get told that they're no longer required so I presume that's why the security guards are there.

ALISON CALDWELL: Do you know how they're working out who's going and who's not?

PAUL DEFELICE: Look it'll be based on skills, obviously, it'll be based on a whole host of other things - probably absenteeism will be one of them. So they are the main criteria, I suppose.

ALISON CALDWELL: Absenteeism meaning people who haven't been turning up for work?

PAUL DEFELICE: Excess to their entitled quota.

ALISON CALDWELL: Is that is for the time being at least? I mean, this number was expected but…

PAUL DEFELICE: It's not anticipated for the foreseeable future there's going to be any more because there's actually been a small increase in volume, I think approximately 3,900 - three thousand nine hundred - over the next three or four months. So should be right for three or four months.

ALISON CALDWELL: A spokeswoman for Toyota says the union requested the extra security to quote "make sure everything goes smoothly".

She says Toyota believes the redundancy packages, negotiated with Fair Work Australia, are generous.

Included in the 350 job losses are 84 voluntary redundancies.

Australia Auto Exports at 13-Year Low as GM, Toyota Cut Jobs

The value of Australia’s automobile exports plunged to the lowest level since 1998 last year as the strength of the local currency reduced overseas demand, leading to job cuts at the local units of General Motors Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.

Passenger vehicle shipments fell 26 percent from a year earlier to A$1.35 billion ($1.45 billion), the Australian Bureau of Statistics said today in its December trade report. Car exports have slumped 63.7 percent since their peak of A$3.6 billion in 2008, when they were the largest export by the country’s manufacturing industry.

The decline highlights the so-called two-speed nature of Australia’s economy as industries outside the booming mining sector suffer from a more than 60 percent rise of the local currency against the U.S. dollar in the past three years. Toyota said last month it’s cutting more than a 10th of its assembly plant workforce in Australia, while GM Holden said today its reducing the number of contractors it employs.

“Our capacity to sustain large levels of export sales has largely evaporated,” said Ian Chalmers, chief executive officer of the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, a car industry lobbying group. “We’re competing in an internationally difficult space while dealing with a very high Australian dollar at the same time.”

Toyota Cuts

Australian manufacturing, accounting for about 10 percent of gross domestic product, has contracted even as booming demand for the nation’s commodities helped the economy avoid a recession after the 2008-09 global financial crisis.

Toyota Australia, the country’s largest car exporter, cited the strong dollar when it said Jan. 23 that 350 people face compulsory redundancy at its main plant in Altona, a suburb of the country’s second-largest city Melbourne.

The division’s production has fallen 36 percent since 2007, it said in an e-mailed statement last month. The unit shipped 83,000 cars worth A$1.5 billion in 2010, the majority to the Middle East, the largest importer of Australian-made cars, according to Toyota’s website.

Holden, Australia’s largest producer of cars for the domestic market, blamed the high Australian dollar for the job cuts at its assembly plant in the South Australian city of Adelaide.

Growth Under Threat

“At the current exchange rate we won’t be able to realize further growth in our export programs,” GM Holden Chairman Mike Devereux said in a statement. About 100 jobs will go and the company “will not be able to do business” in Australia without government support, Devereux said in an interview today with Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard said today the government is determined to “keep car manufacturing here” and acknowledged the problems posed by the high Australian dollar. The so-called Aussie is likely to stay “relatively high for years to come,” Gillard said yesterday and urged businesses to adapt to it.

Driven by demand for the country’s mining and petroleum exports and top-rated government debt, the Australian dollar has been the best-performing group of 10 currency against the U.S. dollar during the past two years, rising 22.1 percent over the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

While that strength helps contain inflation by making imports cheaper, it hurts exporters by making their products more expensive relative to overseas competitors. BlueScope Steel Ltd., the country’s largest steel producer, in August shuttered its export division, and Australian wine exports fell to a 10- year low in 2011.

The Australian Industry Group’s performance of manufacturing index has shown a contraction in 13 months over the past two years. A comparable survey in the U.K. has seen contractions in five months during the period, while U.S. manufacturing has grown in every month since July 2009.

The Holden EFIJY 2005

EFIJY is all about fun, emotion and imagination. It shows what a bunch of clever and talented design people can do when they are let loose to create something really wild.

A wild 21st Century hot rod reincarnating Australia's most famous car, the FJ Holden, was unveiled at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney.

EFIJY is a radical pillarless custom coupe boasting V8 Supercar power under the bonnet, Chevrolet Corvette underbody and state-of-the-art automotive technology throughout.

The "Soprano Purple" paintwork highlights its curvaceous 5.2-metre body, reinterpreting the classic design cues of the iconic 1953 FJ Holden. It delivers retro, mumbo and gizmos in one glorious package.

Obviously not intended for production, EFIJY has been a passionate side project for some Holden Design team members otherwise dedicated to creating the all-new 2006 Commodore.

A long-term dream for Chief Designer Richard Ferlazzo, EFIJY brought together almost 20 suppliers to highlight the latest in mechanical, electronic and material products and ideas.

Automotive excess pounds through a 480-kilowatt, supercharged six-litre V8 engine and airadjustable shock absorbers through to a touch control LCD screen and fan-cooled LED headlamps.

GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director, Denny Mooney, today said the EFIJY project was a bold statement on the creative talent available within Holden's design ranks.

Mr Mooney said the project was developed as a collaboration with suppliers which reduced impact on the company's heavy work schedule and ensured the highest possible quality result for the showcar.

"EFIJY is all about fun, emotion and imagination. It shows what a bunch of clever and talented design people can do when they are let loose to create something really wild," Mr Mooney said.

"This year was a fantastic opportunity for us to create something which highlights our designers' ability and versatility."

"EFIJY is sure to evoke different memories for everyone who sees it. People might focus on the FJ links, the glorious custom coupes of the 1930s or the great design flair of the 1950s.

Design philosophies

Holden Chief Designer and EFIJY project leader Richard Ferlazzo, who sketched the first EFIJY designs in 1989 and is a long-time custom car fanatic, said the car existed purely for automotive entertainment.

"Invariably, people smile when they see it for the first time. EFIJY is our accolade to the talented designers who cut loose with some fantastically flamboyant styling in the post-war 1940s and 1950s," Ferlazzo said.

"Ask the question, what would these people have created using all the skill sets and technology we have now, and EFIJY might be the all-Australian answer to that question."

"EFIJY is also aimed at the legions of custom car and hot rod enthusiasts out there whose appetites aren't generally met in the concept car arena."

"Most importantly, it sends the message that the same people who have sensible day jobs designing entirely practical cars have the passion and inspiration to create something as outrageous as EFIJY."

"We're all car nuts together and the fact that EFIJY stands on our Sydney motorshow stand goes some way to legitimising this form of automotive design in the mainstream."