The cap-backwards crew will always squeal but our big cars are arguably the best in the world as confirmed by the head of Toyota Australia (John Conomos)when he stated that Facons and Commodores represented ‘remarkable quality and value for money’

It was only a few years ago when Ford Oz were making record profits with the BA and if you look at the top selling cars for the past ten years, its Commodore and Falcon.

I agree that they could be doing more – especially with LPG and diesel but what’s so brilliant about the imports. Why did Nissan go broke and is now owned by Renault? Why is Mitsubishi still teetering? Why has Toyota dropped below Ford and GM in the quality ratings?

And why are people rushing headlong into small cars. COME ON – the human being is a natural tight-arse. Even though petrol is cheaper than bread milk and food in general, Aussies have been brought up to whinge about petrol prices – and they will sacrifice comfort, safety, versatility, jobs for their kids and pride in local product if they can save 5 bucks at the petrol pump. Always have done.

Why should Australia be the nation to lower its tarrifs so excessively?*

What of the other manufacturing nations? Is it easy, say, to import a car to Japan from anywhere else? As far as I know, they keep their subsidised walls high, impenetrable so their domestic industry can thrive. Germans? Subsidised.

Tried to compete against the Americans on agricultrural produce, or the EU for that matter? Let’s destroy our Single Desk, that’ll help ‘em further!

If we are to destroy our manufacturing capacity in auto manufacturing, textiles, consumer goods, hell, even food, how shall we actually earn currency from other countries? Mining won’t last at these prices forever, it is extremely cyclical. What will be left afterward?

Where will your standard of living come from if you cannot, as a country, earn it in the world? If you destroy auto manufacturing, it will be much harder to reestablish it if needed in the future.

When my parents emigrated, pre-Button plan, there were eight local auto manufacturing companies. Local produce was lambasted for quality (still is, so what really changed Mr Button?). And both before and after this our cars were exported. Now there are four companies.

Arguably they are making the wrong product (but not for most of the populated Australian landmass, which is not urban). However, perhaps the shrinking in size of consumer car choice can be best correlated to the overall shrinking in average taxpayer earnings – inflation adjusted – taking place since the 1970’s. If you can’t afford it…….

And the posters above are only too keen to see the number of Aussie manufacturers slip.

Which brings me back to my first question, marked with an * : we were over 95% foreign owned, as a country, at the turn of the millennia. Of course our foreign owners want Australians to buy their goods, and as they own a great majority of the country, they can enable this through an open market (nearly unique in the industrialised world).

We will come to a crossroads when it will become patently obvious that our ‘imported’ standard of living cannot be supported by what we earn; and how we will wish for a viable local alternative.

I also agree that perhaps if local manufacturers are going to rely on tax payer money to keep afloat, perhaps its better to spend that tax payer money creating a new industry as you said, it would be great to build planes here!

However, it seems like there is absolutely no question in terms of the aid provided, its not a matter of “why are the tax payers paying money to car companies” but a question of “how much should tax payers be paying”. I don’t understand how the car companies can take our money, build unpopular cars, and then complain that we are buying other types of cars!

I think it had a lot more to do with national pride than common sense. I’m sure there are much more worth while causes that could benefit the country and create jobs. Afterall if we are going to allocate taxpeyer dollars for pride then lets sink billions into the Aussie alternative to Boeing and Airbus or what about entering the space race..that could be fun.

Recently I went shopping for a car for my daughter here in Hervey Bay. This is an affluent town where people are not afraid to spend money. One of the salesman I spoke to told me that they could hardly keep up with the demand for small cars.

More and more people were trading in their big sixes and buying smaller 4 cylinder cars. The Kia dealer couldn’t show me a new Rio or Cerato because they were sold before they arrived.

The Holden dealer had no Barina’s or Astras on the showroom floor because they couldn’t keep up with the demand either.

The Toyota dealer had one Yaris and one Corolla and the Mazda dealer had one Mazda 3.

But there were plenty of Falcons and a few Commodores in the dealer’s yards.