In the last few days General Motors invited the media to review some of the amazing vehicles and technology they will be putting in their 2014, 2015 cars and trucks.

I met an AUSSI who stated GM is pulling out of Australia like Ford did. He also stated look for Toyota to leave soon too.

He stated their is no middle class in Australia so sales of vehicles is going down. He also stated if you look at motor sports in Australia the lack of jobs and money has almost eliminated the sport. And now we see n papers throughout the world that my friend was right on.

GM is doing so well in North America but decisions were made to move out perhaps during the GM bankruptcy.  But, the financial world looks at this as good business decision.

Big news big coming as General Motors has now announced it will discontinue vehicle and engine manufacturing and significantly reduce its engineering operations in Australia by the end of 2017.

Australian and New Zealand operations will be transitioned to a national sales company.

“We are completely dedicated to strengthening our global operations while meeting the needs of our customers,” said GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson. “The decision to end manufacturing in Australia reflects the perfect storm of negative influences the automotive industry faces in the country, including the sustained strength of the Australian dollar, high cost of production, small domestic market and arguably the most competitive and fragmented auto market in the world.”

As a result, approximately 2,900 positions will be impacted over the next four years. This will comprise 1,600 from the Elizabeth vehicle manufacturing plant and approximately 1,300 from Holden’s Victorian workforce.

Since 2001, the Australian dollar has risen from US$0.50 to as high as US$1.10 and it is just too expensive for an american company to manufacture in Australia.

A similar decision was made by Ford earlier this year.

BRUCE HUBBARD

BRADLEY HUBBARD