Holden to make major announcement to staff today

[Alan D Segal]

Originally Posted by KIWI-1

If Joe Public was earning $55k per annum and leased a G6E Turbo using the Novated Statutory Method, his annual net salary would be $15.411.17 ; that's $300 a week to live on after he paid for the car.

I don't know this bloke you're talking about but if he's earning $55k/year in Australia he probably should look at a cheaper vehicle. Especially if he has rent or a mortgage to pay. Unless he wants to live in the car and eat what he can find in the bin at KFC.

[prydey]

Originally Posted by Alan D Segal

I don't know this bloke you're talking about but if he's earning $55k/year in Australia he probably should look at a cheaper vehicle. Especially if he has rent or a mortgage to pay. Unless he wants to live in the car and eat what he can find in the bin at KFC.

exactly. living within your means is a notion that is almost extinct. its easier to indulge yourself with all the latest and greatest and then blame others for your lack of finances and struggles to make ends meet.

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by KIWI-1

If Joe Public was earning $55k per annum and leased a G6E Turbo using the Novated Statutory Method, his annual net salary would be $15.411.17 ; that's $300 a week to live on after he paid for the car.

Joe public on 55K pays such a low tax rate they would never use a novated lease so it is a bad example. It is cheaper to buy the car from another financing option. It only makes sense tax wise from $90k salary and up.

But anyway I agree with the others, crazy to spend the equivalent of your yearly gross earnings on a car unless you use lazy cash in the bank.

[Iggle Piggle]

I don't think we should use what Joe Public would pay for a similar perk when talking of the cost per car manufacturing employee - it is the cost to the manufacturer to provide that perk that is relevant, not what the perk would be worth to those not employed by the manufacturer.

Originally Posted by Alan D Segal

I don't know this bloke you're talking about but if he's earning $55k/year in Australia he probably should look at a cheaper vehicle. Especially if he has rent or a mortgage to pay. Unless he wants to live in the car and eat what he can find in the bin at KFC.

MMMMMMMMMM, KFC bin food

[KIWI-1]

Originally Posted by Alan D Segal

I don't know this bloke you're talking about but if he's earning $55k/year in Australia he probably should look at a cheaper vehicle.

Precisely my point... $55k is the figure being quoted in this thread (and elsewhere). Many drive badge cars, so if they are not getting subsidised cars, they would not be able to live.

[BENT_8]

I believe the General gives 20-25% off an import and up to 25-30% off an Elizabeth built car.

But that could be all heresay...

[KIWI-1]

At the time our daughter married my wife was working in the public hospital system. After doing the sums, my wife put her entire salary -tax free - into her 'meal and entertainment' credit card to pay for the wedding.
Every day she worked - wasn't paid a cracker. Would have better off working in a sweatshop in Bangladesh - at least she would have been paid a couple of dollars a day.

[stevz]

Some good news for a change.

http://www.news.com.au/business/comp...-1226667754889

[prydey]

very unlike holden to build up a big bank of cars watch for the heavily discounted ones 6 months from now as they try to clear out unsold stock.

old habits die hard.

[burnz]

Originally Posted by prydey

very unlike holden to build up a big bank of cars watch for the heavily discounted ones 6 months from now as they try to clear out unsold stock.

old habits die hard.

you have to fill a ship, it cost more money to send it half full.

[prydey]

they aren't exporting yet.

[Bossxr8]

I'm sure the dealer demos are absolutely pilling up so Holden can scream "the VF is really successful, rush in and buy one, we've registered heaps already". Then watch the lull a couple of months later.

[gtxb67]

Originally Posted by burnz

you have to fill a ship, it cost more money to send it half full.

i may be cynical but i still believe that they are only exporting, because they are not selling enough locally of what they build

[bobthebilda]

Originally Posted by stevz

Some good news for a change.

http://www.news.com.au/business/comp...-1226667754889

Doesn't make sense. In the same week they tell their employees they want to reduce their wages, they then get them into work on a Saturday to pay them 50 to 100% more per hour to do the same work as they would do on a Monday to Friday. Doesn't matter if they make and sell more cars, it just means the cars made on a Saturday lose more money for holden than the cars made Monday to Friday.

Marketing just released the car before they had built up sufficient stock.

[KIWI-1]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

I'm sure the dealer demos are absolutely pilling up so Holden can scream "the VF is really successful, rush in and buy one, we've registered heaps already". Then watch the lull a couple of months later.

Originally Posted by prydey

very unlike holden to build up a big bank of cars watch for the heavily discounted ones 6 months from now as they try to clear out unsold stock.

old habits die hard.

Manipulate the sales figures; then run another "You're own of us - employee pricing" sales campaign??

[KIWI-1]

Holden chief executive Mike Devereux says ''everything is on the table'' when it comes to stripping back costs at the company's ailing manufacturing plants.
But he refused to go into any detail on what the car maker was planning.
Holden announced this week it would try to slash wages at its car factories, warning that its future in the country was not guaranteed.
It has been in negotiations with union representatives on how to shed further costs from the loss-making plants.
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''We will be looking at every single part of the equation,'' Mr Devereux said after a Q&A session at the American Chamber of Commerce.
''The application of labour is one of those things. Everything is on the table.''
Mr Devereux said labour cost cuttings could include ''work practices, shift patterns, how much money per hour people make. Everything''.
But he dismissed calls for his own wage cut, saying he had already had one in 2009.
''We benchmark every single job in the company,'' he said. ''Mine is significantly below average.''
Holden has stepped up pressure on the federal Coalition to commit to more funding for the car industry after Ford's announcement last month that it would close its car manufacturing plants entirely by 2016.
The Gillard government has committed to an assistance package worth $1.5 billion between 2011 and 2015, and $1 billion over the next five years.
The Coalition says it will cut the first round of funding to $1 billion, but it has also pledged to leave the second round of funding in place.
Mr Devereux would not say what amount of assistance the car maker needed to guarantee production of Holden cars remained in Australia, but said assistance remained low compared with other countries.
The struggling manufacturing sector is still the biggest beneficiary of assistance in Australia, with more than $7 billion spent on helping it in the past financial year.
Car makers are among the biggest receivers of this funding, with the sector getting more than $1 billion last year, including tax concessions and direct funding.
Mr Devereux said the company's future in Australia also depended on the existence of at least one competitor, otherwise its material and production costs would be too high.
''If Toyota wasn't here, I couldn't be,'' he said. ''We're at the point now where we can't go much beyond this.''
Holden manufactures much of its cars in Thailand and imports them into Australia. Mr Devereux would not say whether it would move its manufacturing out of Australia into that country.
He said the company's new Adelaide plant, which was going to help manufacture new-model Cruze and Commodore vehicles, was running at a loss.
''I have to be able to turn that around and get it to break even,'' he said. ''Labour is part of it but also the application of electricity, logistics.''
Coalition industry spokeswoman Sophie Mirabella, who has been in discussions with Mr Devereux, said on Wednesday that if Tony Abbott won the federal election, she was confident the car industry would survive.
''We think there can be a viable auto sector, but there needs to be a change in funding guidelines to look at long-term viability of the industry.''
''No car company has said to me they are going to leave the country because we have reduced the fund by $500 million,'' she said.


Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/business/ho...#ixzz2Ws8Wjv6V

[burnz]

Originally Posted by prydey

they aren't exporting yet.

they have order to fill for the Americas.

[burnz]

Originally Posted by bobthebilda

Doesn't make sense. In the same week they tell their employees they want to reduce their wages, they then get them into work on a Saturday to pay them 50 to 100% more per hour to do the same work as they would do on a Monday to Friday. Doesn't matter if they make and sell more cars, it just means the cars made on a Saturday lose more money for holden than the cars made Monday to Friday.

Marketing just released the car before they had built up sufficient stock.

you said the answer,, if you drop $5.00p/h for a week day, you save $10ph for a week end

[Brazen]

It is very difficult to get a VF test drive at the moment, there are hardly any demos on the ground. I spoke to a Holden dealer finance guy and it has been the best new car release he has seen in terms of sales, their biggest volume has been with SS range. The Cruze 1.6 turbo range is also in short supply with some customers having waited 3 months and still dont have a delivery date. So there might be more overtime ahead.

[Nikked]

Huge difference between the way Ford and Holden have handled this...

Ford kept their mouth shut for the most part, and just got on with the job. Holden have aired all their dirty laundry in public. One has to wonder if such actions will impact on sales, there is just no confidence emitting from the brand.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

I'm sure the dealer demos are absolutely pilling up so Holden can scream "the VF is really successful, rush in and buy one, we've registered heaps already". Then watch the lull a couple of months later.

I have noticed a tone of resentment seeping into your posts, don't crucify Holden employees because Ford have signed off.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Nikked

Huge difference between the way Ford and Holden have handled this...

Ford kept their mouth shut for the most part, and just got on with the job. Holden have aired all their dirty laundry in public. One has to wonder if such actions will impact on sales, there is just no confidence emitting from the brand.

Your kidding aren't you, Holden are doing what they can to stay afloat and if applying pressure to the public to make them reconsider their buying habits for the sake of Australian jobs I would see that as being pro active.

The local Holden dealer, Peter Page, located 1km from the front door of Holden, has announced plans for a multi million dollar facelift of the dealership, not something a dealer who predominantly sells Commodore and Cruise would undertake if things were not going to plan.
And if anyone has any inside info, it would be that particular establishment.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by Nikked

Huge difference between the way Ford and Holden have handled this...

Ford kept their mouth shut for the most part, and just got on with the job. Holden have aired all their dirty laundry in public. One has to wonder if such actions will impact on sales, there is just no confidence emitting from the brand.

it may take a reputational hit for a couple of months, but the news cycle moves and it sets structurally the costs to Holden for years to come

[Pepscobra]

Holden have always been very good at using the Media to their advantage.
I feel there may be a changing sentiment towards locally made cars following the Ford announcement (and other industry news) and Holden will be trying to make the most of it. I'm sure they are counting on a bit of patriotism returning for the VF launch which might help to kick-start decent sales.

I hope so.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by Pepscobra

Holden have always been very good at using the Media to their advantage.
I feel there may be a changing sentiment towards locally made cars following the Ford announcement (and other industry news) and Holden will be trying to make the most of it. I'm sure they are counting on a bit of patriotism returning for the VF launch which might help to kick-start decent sales.

I hope so.

Exactly, and the new Commodore ad, which points to changing buying habits has enforced this approach

'The car which always turned heads is now changing minds' or something like that

[KIWI-1]

This morning 'The Age' are suggesting that Australians are queuing up to buy the Commodore because they have gotten the guilt's over Ford closing.

[BENT_8]

Originally Posted by KIWI-1

This morning 'The Age' are suggesting that Australians are queuing up to buy the Commodore because they have gotten the guilt's over Ford closing.

Good!

I don't see this as a blue v's red war anymore, its about Aussie jobs, and if Holden can sell 100k of them, good luck to them, at least they are trying to get their product out there.

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by KIWI-1

This morning 'The Age' are suggesting that Australians are queuing up to buy the Commodore because they have gotten the guilt's over Ford closing.

How would they even know that? Sounds like something they just came up with. It wouldn't last very long even if it was the case.

[stevz]

Toyota investigating ceasing manufacturing in Australia. ...

http://news.com.au/business/companie...-1226667706075

[I6DOHC]

The local car industry is a house of cards, and sadly a critical supporting card has left the building......

(albeit it is a Dowling article...again).