Australia s Local Car Sales Industry Struggles

by

Hayley Woodgate

The Australian automotive manufacturing industry has a long history and traditionally Australian citizens have been loyal to locally made cars, in particular the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon, however the expense of manufacturing in Australia continue to rise.

The government has attempted to keep the industry alive with massive cash incentives however it s clear that competing globally is beyond reach of local manufacturers.

The most recent stark example is that a Mercedes A Class hatchback is less expensive than the locally made flagship Holden Commodore. To make things worse, the Mercedes-Benz has more standard equipment and is more featured than the local model.

It s no wonder car sales numbers for Holden continue to drop when arguably nicer European cars are cheaper! These days imported car sales account for 90% of new cars sold in Australia, whereas a decade ago the import market represented only 75% of the market. If we look even further back, half a century ago, imported cars represented a mere 50% of new car sales.

Are Australian s gaining an ever growing taste of European vehicles and abandoning the long standing classic fuel guzzler vehicles that they ve been hungry for over the last 50 years? The answer is clearly yes when Mercedes-Benz C-Class sedan was one of the highest selling medium-sized cars sold in Australia behind the Toyota Camry and ahead of the Mazda 6 and Subaru Liberty.

Once upon a time Mercedes was lucky to have car sales in excess of a couple hundred cars a week throughout Australia, but now it s believed to be well over five hundred per week leading up to the launch of the new range of A class models.

It s just another worrying sign amongst compounding issues for local manufacturing in Australia, not only for car manufacturers trying to sell cars, but for countless other industries where companies are taking their operations off shore to regions throughout Asia such as China and Thailand.

The locally manufactured car sales industry will continue to suffer whilst the average Australian s hard earned dollars will continue to go off-shore with an ever-increased appetite for overseas manufactured vehicles.

While Australia has officially escaped a recession with the global financial crisis with thanks to its impressive mining industry, however the country as a whole faces massive challenges in the long term as mining resources will inevitably dry up.

Will the impending new government expected with an election late in 2013 breathe new life into manufacturing in Australia?

Only time will offer an answer, but I suspect the damage is already well and truly done.

Hayley Woodgate has university qualifications in Media, Marketing and Public Relations with more than ten years experience in the Australian industry.Currently working with the

car sales

and

boat sales

,

bike sales

markets.

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Australia s Local Car Sales Industry Struggles