Who will replace Holden in V8SC?

[bluesport]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

They do produce good racing, especially in the BTCC - 280hp doesn't sound much, but a full quarter of a tonne less weight, reasonably sticky tyres and a bit more grip produces something rather exciting, at the cost of outright lap times. They also sound rather good, oddly enough.

Maybe the regs could allow them to be turbocharged even though the production model isn't, similar to the World Rally Championship Ford Focus. That should give them a bit more go.

[duke_toaster]

Turbo on the road car or not, S2000 rules don't allow turbocharging. However, the WRC might go for a "S2000+" set of regulations with 4WD (not that fun) and a turbo for more torque and power - could that go to touring cars, bearing in mind there has been some rumbling in the WTCC regarding going to 1.6 turbos and one set of engine regs would be better for everyone.

[bluesport]

According to the evening news GM appears to be close to folding. How long can holden last?

[rocks harder]

it will be a sad day in australian manufacturing history if holden falls over because of poor management from GM. if holden does fall you can say good bye to v8 supercars.

[fomoco]

Perhaps Skoda could buy into Holden,Skoda Commodore wins Bathurst!!!!!

[SSbaby]

Originally Posted by fomoco

Perhaps Skoda could buy into Holden,Skoda Commodore wins Bathurst!!!!!

Great, Formula Ford Version 2... to last only until the end of the year only... allegedly before the cash runs out.

[xrystl]

Originally Posted by fomoco

Perhaps Skoda could buy into Holden,Skoda Commodore wins Bathurst!!!!!

Skoda is 100% owned by VW , so a better owner would be hard to find - a lot of technical nous behind VW - they own heaps of car company's , and they all run at a profit, they didn't become the worlds third largest Automaker by being stupid .
GM at the moment don't generate enough income to pay their interest bills , and no products that will generate a lot of traffic through there showrooms are anywhere near production ready -- if GM do survive it will probably be twenty years before they are profitable and start showing some black ink on their books.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by xrystl

.
GM at the moment don't generate enough income to pay their interest bills , and no products that will generate a lot of traffic through there showrooms are anywhere near production ready -- if GM do survive it will probably be twenty years before they are profitable and start showing some black ink on their books.

Parts of GM are quite profitable such as GM South America and GM China.

GM north america is like a company from the 1950's. It is ill prepared for the 2010's. It has huge union problems and a massive dealer body(about 6000 dealers compared to Toyotas 1500 or so) and many of the cars are crap.

Everyone fears the bankruptcy, which I think is now inevitable, but it depends under US law what bankruptcy ruling they file under. It is unlikely they will seek liquidation. Instead they will file under reorganization. This is not an uncommon thing. Many US airlines went bankrupt after 2001 and under protection got themselves sorted out.

What will happen is the reorganization will allow GM to get out of dealing with the corrupt union auto workers and will allow protection from creditors and GM will be able to reorganize itself. Likely it's foreign subsidiaries will be unaffected to a great extent. The GM that emerges will be a leaner, meaner company better suited for the modern era. Lots of people will lose their jobs, but that is inevitable anyways.

The automotive industry was actually growing in the USA until the recent crisis. VW has a new plant opening soon in Tennessee. Hyundai recently opened a huge plant in Alabama.

[fomoco]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Parts of GM are quite profitable such as GM South America and GM China.

GM north america is like a company from the 1950's. It is ill prepared for the 2010's. It has huge union problems and a massive dealer body(about 6000 dealers compared to Toyotas 1500 or so) and many of the cars are crap.

Everyone fears the bankruptcy, which I think is now inevitable, but it depends under US law what bankruptcy ruling they file under. It is unlikely they will seek liquidation. Instead they will file under reorganization. This is not an uncommon thing. Many US airlines went bankrupt after 2001 and under protection got themselves sorted out.

What will happen is the reorganization will allow GM to get out of dealing with the corrupt union auto workers and will allow protection from creditors and GM will be able to reorganize itself. Likely it's foreign subsidiaries will be unaffected to a great extent. The GM that emerges will be a leaner, meaner company better suited for the modern era. Lots of people will lose their jobs, but that is inevitable anyways.

The automotive industry was actually growing in the USA until the recent crisis. VW has a new plant opening soon in Tennessee. Hyundai recently opened a huge plant in Alabama.

Good Call there, but you forgot one major point. Overpaid, Over Rated Excutives who actually, ran the company. Every bodys a President or VPresident of Money wasting positions in each division, whose solem goal is to do .........................................

[Downoz]

The CEO of GM has taken a pay cut and is only going to receive $1 this year instead of his usual 2 mil. Might be too late though. Although Ford sales in the US fell 48% in February so not a lot of joy there either.

I was a bit wrong there he received 5.4 mil last year and about 14 in 2007.

[xrystl]

[QUOTE=mountainstar;2410479]Parts of GM are quite profitable such as GM South America and GM China.

QUOTE]Unfortunately the small amount of GM companies that do show a profit don't help the GM bottom line as the percentage is too small = Holden is profitable but they have to keep cutting jobs and having lay days to be so , to me that points to borderline profitability and only takes a few bad months of sales to turn it around - Ford in Australia is in the same boat , they just don't sell enough cars ! = I'm old enough to remember the fifties and 50% of new cars sold were Holden's = 50% of new car buyers didn't buy Holden's - fast forward to 09 where 90% of new car buyers didn't buy Holden's .
So many choices now and growing all the time , it's the same in the USA
I remember the RSL president in the sixties vowing that there
will never be a Japanese car parked in an RSL car park , the Yanks had a similar statement - check it out today , 90% or more of the cars are foreign made.

The worst of it all is the loss of jobs in the current economic climate , the new unemployed are likely to be so for some years as the global mess is going to take some years to unravel and industry can see a light at the end of the tunnel and starts to grow again.

[petebendon]

Originally Posted by xrystl

Unfortunately the small amount of GM companies that do show a profit don't help the GM bottom line as the percentage is too small = Holden is profitable but they have to keep cutting jobs and having lay days to be so , to me that points to borderline profitability and only takes a few bad months of sales to turn it around - Ford in Australia is in the same boat , they just don't sell enough cars !

from what i see holden cutting jobs come BEFORE the crisis when they said to cut the 4 cylinder engine plant because it was passed it's use by date. lay days come with slow sales that everyone's got not only holden -- thats smart, people keep jobs but reduced.

[xrystl]

Originally Posted by petebendon

from what i see holden cutting jobs come BEFORE the crisis when they said to cut the 4 cylinder engine plant because it was passed it's use by date. lay days come with slow sales that everyone's got not only holden -- thats smart, people keep jobs but reduced.

Thats pretty well what I was saying "borderline profitability" , just a minor hickup and it's red ink not black.

[fomoco]

Nothing new here, in 1997 they couldn't sell the Kingswood and wanted to shut down for two weeks. We supposed to use our annual leave, the Union said , no go, so we continued building cars that couldn't be sold.

Fastforward to 2009 , not much different. If it does mean to drop to Four day week, will banks drop the mortgage to suit, will telstra drop the phone, will Woolies drop the grocery bill.

I don't think so, so a shorter week to save jobs, reduced pay, not selling enough cars, just means tougher times. But on the upside, Family Part A and B will increase due to changes in forecast income.

Reduce the amount of sangers made for from 5 days to four, thats a saving,
save on Bus/train fares, 1/4 tank of fuel . **** it could go on.
Except the Banks want there money so , back to Baked bean sangers for Lunch and Tea, meanwhile Excecs are still pulling the same $$.

Aust Business management , as old mate from Telstra said, Bosses aren't B******'*

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by R4z3rw33n

Holden are also rumoured to be building a new small car platform from 2010 onwards, aren't they?

They're planning on building it, but the cars already been developed by GMDAT.

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

So if Holden becomes a subsidiary of Tata or someone similar, where will Holden get the next generation of V-series chassis from?

Given that the VB/C/H/K/L/S/T/X/Y/Z/E came with some significant grounding in an Opel model, suitably adapted for local engines, suspension and market conditions, and that Opel looks in worse shape that even GM USA....

The V car died in 2006. VE is ground up Holden, although built to US specification in places.

[GTRMagic]

WOW!

The last person out, please turn off the lights!

[Bimmerhead]

Wonder if TC and his mates are studying Asian languages right about now....

[Pro Racer]

and instead of meat pies they are having Dim Sims and fried rice.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

WOW!

The last person out, please turn off the lights!

That's old news from last week and no surprise. Everyone keeps fearing this bankruptcy but it will be the best thing for it. It can't continue as is.

FIAT based on comments I heard seems pretty keen on it's deal with Chrysler.

[Gaz170]

Worried over upcoming job losses
http://www.news.com.au/business/stor...96-462,00.html

This is not good news.

[BeeJ]

Originally Posted by xrystl

- Terex is for sale , the mining industry is in bust mode and Terex has an oversupply of stock from cancelled orders (this from a friend who works at Terex) and their workforce has been cut by 40% over the past 2 years.

I work for Terex and they have not had anything to do with GM for quite a while. They are not for sale but like most manufacturing companies are facing difficulties

[racer69]

No one needs to replace Holden, Tony Cochrane has said himself in the past that V8SC can get by with the backing of one manufacturer..... its more about the teams these days remember, not the manufacturers

[GTRMagic]

So we can race "Pigs"

YAY

[Pro Racer]

lets hope they let sheep, horses and every other animal on a farm race.

[L34]

I heard a rumour that someone was going to lend the money to Mark Skaife and he would own Holden.

Maybe Kevin07 will broker the deal which will put Marky at the head of the castle.