Comments on: Australian new car market falls 18.5 per cent in January

By: BK

BK — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 01:33:14 +0000

Top 3 are foreign made and controled while the rest are all aussie made and controlled. We all know that we dont care about the aussie brand here any more.

By: Frontman

Frontman — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:52:49 +0000

BJ Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Sorry didn’t come back to this thread till now, but NO I wasn’t aware that I agreed with someone else. However, as I don’t read the SMH (have very little time for journalists in general), then I wouldn’t know what anyone else has written.
What I stated was simply the facts as they stand at present. Perhaps that is why they are repeated elsewhere, (although I have posted the above on another thread). Now wether you believe me or not I don’t really give a toss, however if soemthing is factual then it will seem like everyone is plagerising someone else when they express it.
As to the comment you made, if you meant it in a sarcastic way to XR5 then I mis read it. Thank you for setting me straight.

By: The Realist

The Realist — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:05:18 +0000

Another patriot comes out of the woodwork… a patriot who drives a fully imported car…

XR5 Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
“It just shows that nobody is willing to help the country out. They would rather buy an imported heap of crap like a Barina and then complain about losing their job…….wake up Australia.”

Perhaps you need to state what you do, what you earn, how much in taxes you pay, how you contribute to the community?

“Dick Smith warned us years ago about the effects of not buying local products and here we are suffering from it now, and I dont only mean the car industry.”

You listen to Dick Smith, a man who made his fortune selling imported electronic products!?!?

So are you saying your TV and mobile phone are Australian made?

“And dont you idiots tell me that an FG Falcon isnt a world class car and a fantastic car to own and drive because it is.”

It has a great engine and transmission – and that’s it. Features and quality wise you can purchase better cars at cheaper prices.

“I own 2 and I would reccomend them to anyone.”

I’m sure you do. White Australians only, or those who look a little different?

“I am sick of people complaining about job losses in this country when they wont do anything to help, in fact they just make it worse. Are our jobs worth losing for an extra couple of dollars a week in petrol? I dont think so. Dont people understand that the more locally produced products we buy the better and cheaper they will get?”

Actually, the only reason the local car makers sharpened up their act is due to competition. Otherwise we’d still be driving cars as cheap and nasty as VN Commies and EA Falcons.

And you’re a deluded fool if you think any Australian producer or manufacturer is in business for patriotic reasons. They will all forget any notion of patriotism if challenged fiscally.

“I guess though with multiculturalism stuffing the country up that less people have a patriotic feeling towards australia than there used to be, this is a huge problem for all local producers.”

You’ve shown your true colours now.

Perhaps you need to look around and see how many Australians, or should I say, “white Australians”, are driving brands like Mazda, Honda, Subaru, Hyundai, BMW, Mercedes Benz, Alfa, Mitsubishi, Audi etc…

I think you’ve also not seen the benefits of multiculturalism – though I wouldn’t be surprised if you hadn’t as your words indicate you come from a place like Macquarie Fields.

By: Dan

Dan — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:25:10 +0000

XR5, my local Ford dealer is a you know what. The FG Falcon could be a great car, Ford Australia might well have learn’t their lesson about building better quality cars and the price could be halved….but I still wouldn’t buy one.

Now if Ford sacked my local franshise holder and put in someone who had a clue about customer service…..maybe.

A good car sold by a lousy dealer is still a bad buy.

In many, many Ford dealerships around Australia, thats all you need to know.

By: LancerNew

LancerNew — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 12:22:14 +0000

I am one of the buyers of the 1600 or so lancers bought in january, although it hasnt been delivered yet (2 weeks and counting). Got a 2009 for the 2008 price (08 is 500 cheaper), driveaway no more to pay, plus a free set of alloys from the vrx. black. didnt pay for metallic paint neither, so NOW is the time to buy.

Personally, i love the shape of the mazda3, but the only reason i choose not 2 get it was because the new will be out in the next 3 or 4 months. While the safety features were much better than the corolla & etc.

By: Screamer

Screamer — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 10:51:41 +0000

XR5. One of the reasons people don’t buy local is because our government is dropping tariffs and not protecting local industries. We want to be part of the ‘world trade’, our huge island with some 20M people with very average incomes. We need EU style approach. Have you seen many Toyotas or Hondas in Europe?, have you seen duties on Japanese cars in EU?..I can ell you, our government is weak and we opened the flood gates of imports on all fronts. Our manufacturing industry is long dead, without government intervention at least on that front, Toyota and Ford plants would have been long gone from AU landscape.

By: Joober

Joober — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:54:35 +0000

No Doubt, the boom is relatively liner with boom in debt.

By: Andrew M

Andrew M — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:37:11 +0000

I agree with frontman.
that theory of everything just coming back to earth not only applies to the auto sales industry, but also to plasma sales, realestate, the construction industry and many more

the bigger the “boom time” you build up, the harder it will fall when it comes back down

By: Joober

Joober — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 08:13:59 +0000

Agree with ROflmatic, simply just stopping imports and buying only australian will be the answer, the export commitments and money from it is more worth than if we marketed it domestically.

Multiculturism may have its negatives e.g. identity and patriotism, but in light of relations with other countries (better trade or alliances) it helps heavily.

By: BJ

BJ — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 07:51:50 +0000

Frontman: the post was a response to XR5′s earlier rant about the FG.

I notice that your first post in this string is a direct lift of the views expressed by Rick Damelian in an article published by SMH on 10 January 2009. You didn’t acknowledge that fact in presenting it as your own ‘insight’.