Our interviews with ex-automotive workers reveal how economic change interrupts lives, casting people into new worlds of precarious work and long, indefinite journeys in search of security.
Australia can learn from the US where state governments have attracted foreign investment in manufacturing that contributes to local economies.
Some auto manufacturing workers, like those from Ford’s plant in Geelong, want to find work in manufacturing after the closure of the industry, a survey has found.
Julian Smith/AAP
Now that the final nail has been hammered in to the car industry’s coffin, what does it mean for the Australian economy? As always, the data is a good place to start. Efficient manufacturing depends largely…
Prime Minister Tony Abbott is betting the rapid demise of Australia’s automotive sector can be contained politically.
Alan Porritt/AAP
For the past 30 years, Australian automotive industry policies can be characterised as managed decline. Beginning in the 1980s with the Button Plan, the aim of policy was to consolidate the industry and…
Global shift: one-in-three vehicles produced by Toyota are manufactured in Asia.
AAP
Toyota Australia President and CEO, Max Yasuda, has described the car maker’s decision to leave Australia as one of the saddest days in its history worldwide. I do not doubt the emotion expressed by Mr…
The link between manufacturing cars and developing technology has been fundamental in Australia.
AAP
As I’ve argued before and it’s generally accepted, the car industry is a critical part of Australia’s science and technology base. The sector spends A$600 million a year on R&D and another $800 million…
How about a stronger design and development sector within the car manufacturing industry?
KimManleyOrt
Yesterday’s confirmation that Toyota will cease its car manufacturing in Australia by the end of 2017, combined with Holden and Ford’s withdrawal by 2017 and 2016, signals the end of car manufacturing…
How will both sides of politics respond to the end of car manufacturing in Australia?
AAP/Joe Castro
The Conversation asked two experts in South Australian and Victorian politics to comment on the political repercussions of Toyota’s decision to cease making cars in Australia – marking the end of car manufacturing…
Toyota has surprised with an announcement it would finish manufacturing cars here at the end of 2017.
AAP
Toyota has confirmed it will cease its vehicle and engine production in Australia by the end of 2017, signalling the end of automotive manufacturing in Australia. The announcement follows decisions by…
The Productivity Commission has recommended the car industry should receive no additional government funding.
AAP
Ford and Holden gone. SPC Ardmona in jeopardy. Toyota under threat. The Productivity Commission’s (PC) position paper on automotive industry support fires a clear shot across the bows of the manufacturing…
The right policy settings will drive Australia toward a creative economy that produces knowledge and information.
Paul Gorbould
General Motors Holden’s decision to pull the pin on its Melbourne manufacturing plant spurred renewed debate around government-subsidised industry sectors. But instead of throwing money into a flailing…
Holden’s latest ad campaign promises “We’re here to stay”, but it seems to have misread the market.
AAP/Holden
In the shadow of its worst ever annual sales figures – fewer than 28,000 Commodores sold in 2013 – Holden is persisting with an extraordinary advertising campaign to “explain” its decision to cease car…
Debt; dollar; deficit - the mantra for this year, amid a turbulent political period.
AAP
Debt. Dollar. Deficits. Three little words so close to the hearts of our contributors in a year dominated by a critical federal election, a waning mining boom and continuing international turbulence. The…
The Productivity Commission has been considering what kind of government assistance is best for Australia’s embattled car manufacturing industry, but it may be too late after Holden announced its departure.
AAP/Eric Sands
A substantial increase in vehicle manufacturing is needed if Australia is ever to have a sustainable car industry, according to preliminary findings released today by the Productivity Commission’s inquiry…
Incoming Director of the Australian Institute of Business and Economics at UQ, and Professor of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, Macquarie University