whereas ford pretty much build AND sell in the same economy.

toyotas term here is dependant on the aussie dollar more so than the other makes

there is money to be made building vehicles in OZ if you are not exporting them.

its a totally different ball game when you are set up here pretty much to solely export like toyota is. they didnt come here to sell cars and make money out of the aussie auto market. they came here because it was effectively a cheap way to make cars that could be sold to the rest of the world

the thing id though toyota

Return on investment, its that simple, if they cant make a dollar in AU, they will build elsewhere where they can. Now take it a step further, if toyo pull out cause there is no money in building vehicles in AU, the others will follow in due course.

ford has kept to themselves a bit more and therefore are not as influenced by the price of eggs in china where as toyota and holden are (but more so toyota)
toyota has already threatened the govt that they will pull up stumps if new tax plans go ahead

if only ford learned to slap a new grill on and call it a different series/model.
if they keep updating it people will see a need to purchase again (to keep up with the jones).

for eg fords Ba series and on has always stayed ahead of holdens offering even when holden throws in little update models.
so why does holden sell more then? because they have a new model to inspire buyers more often

The only people to gain from discounting is the bulk fleet buyers. Its not fair on the privateers or really the manufacturers (but then thats their fault for discounting)

Sounds like a Toyota v Holden scrap is about to commence after reading the above. I’m off to look at the Holden website to prove a point.

Particularly, many private Commodore owners have been disheartened over the years when they purchased a late model Commo just to have it superceeded with an upgrade soon after or a discount freenzy in order to boost or maintain sales.

And i love your discount policy regarding Toyota – yeah they may be offering deals but the odds are – probably no more then say Ford, Mazda, Mitsubishi and Nissan attempting to snare thier fair share of the market aswell.

Infact – i reckon Ford will be going real lean on thier new Ranger fleet.

That said – those sales are highly motivated on merit aswell.

A winning combination that others just don’t have.

The corolla has about 60% fleet sales, the falcon 87% and the Commie about 81%(2006 stats) they are in trouble and its going to get worse.

There will most likely only be 2 manufacturers in this country in 10 years, its not that people wont buy them, its that profits are going to be to marginal to sustain operations.

This is a win to nobody, the more competition the better, like to see the 4 aussie makes financials for 2007 :(

Don’t really see an issue with them on the eyes

Outside of Holden’s upper spec Commodores – i honestly can not name another Holden that isn’t bland, dull or boring.

Once again – no Daewoo has ever done it for me !!

only if toyota made cars that looked good.

TP you will also see where i posted that the 2nd and 3rd place in sales (corolla and hilux) are quite massive fleet sellers in themselves.

if anything i think it is toyota that is massivly discounting their vehicle in order to take a sales command.

ford are prob the worst when it comes to discounting vehicles.

my uncle use to pretty much buy fords but he sort of swung the holden way purely because holden wanted to talk the deal he wanted whereas ford didnt. and since the vehicle was part of his salary arrangement he wanted to make sure he got the best monetary deal he could.

Your a real Ford nut OZ do your self a favor and go buy the latest edition of Australian Muscle Car or read the the article in the news agency like my other half does sometimes!
A truly great read!