Ok you spend a lot of time on AHB and most of your personal friends aren't particularly interested in hearing your rant so why not get it off your chest right here, whatever it is.
One of my favourite rants.
So car making is to end in Australia, but did the companies get it right for our market during the years they were here anyway? Bloody Ford .. They replaced the ageing but dead reliable XD-XF Falcon Range with the dreadful EA Falcon in the late 80s. I worked for Rothmans and out of a fleet of 18 in Brisbane only my EA didn't blow its engine up in the first month. Mine burned down to the axles on Morayfield Road. Then when Hyundai took over Kia, thus the Festiva was no longer available, Ford walked away from the small car market for years till eventually they caved in and started importing the excellent Fiesta that had been available since the 1970s. Likewise after the Laser was discontinued they sat on the Focus for nearly a decade and when eventually they brought it in, it was already a runout model in Europe. All too little too late. Meanwhile Hyundai, Toyota etc had shat all over them in the small to mid sector. Then they brought in, then took out, then brought back the Mondeo but meanwhile Toyota had the market sewed up with the Camry.
Fools
As for Holden, following the demise of the Gemini they discontinued small cars and at one stage were a feeble two model lineup with only the Commodore and the dreadful awful Camira. In Europe the Camira (Vauxhall Cavalier) was a brilliant reliable car and often outsold Ford's Sierra (predecessor to Mondeo). However the Australian version was a heap of badly assembled crap, most common fault being to dump all the sump oil onto your driveway in one hit.
edit: and when they did reenter the small car market with the Barina they used first Suzuki then GM Opel Corsa and that was a terrific little car. So, based on the solid sales and performance of that (Spanish made) variant they discontinued it and sourced the Barina from wonderful upmarket Daewoo. Smart Move *********.
Morons.
If they had been true four-model companies they could have built massive consumer loyalty and trust that would have possibly ensured continuing strong sales for Falcon and Commodore plus a sales volume that could have warranted local assembly of most of the small car segment.
Their closure really left Toyota with no good local parts base for their models so they left as well.
end rant.
My rant against Vegans will appear here at a later date.
One of my favourite rants.
So car making is to end in Australia, but did the companies get it right for our market during the years they were here anyway? Bloody Ford .. They replaced the ageing but dead reliable XD-XF Falcon Range with the dreadful EA Falcon in the late 80s. I worked for Rothmans and out of a fleet of 18 in Brisbane only my EA didn't blow its engine up in the first month. Mine burned down to the axles on Morayfield Road. Then when Hyundai took over Kia, thus the Festiva was no longer available, Ford walked away from the small car market for years till eventually they caved in and started importing the excellent Fiesta that had been available since the 1970s. Likewise after the Laser was discontinued they sat on the Focus for nearly a decade and when eventually they brought it in, it was already a runout model in Europe. All too little too late. Meanwhile Hyundai, Toyota etc had shat all over them in the small to mid sector. Then they brought in, then took out, then brought back the Mondeo but meanwhile Toyota had the market sewed up with the Camry.
Fools
As for Holden, following the demise of the Gemini they discontinued small cars and at one stage were a feeble two model lineup with only the Commodore and the dreadful awful Camira. In Europe the Camira (Vauxhall Cavalier) was a brilliant reliable car and often outsold Ford's Sierra (predecessor to Mondeo). However the Australian version was a heap of badly assembled crap, most common fault being to dump all the sump oil onto your driveway in one hit.
edit: and when they did reenter the small car market with the Barina they used first Suzuki then GM Opel Corsa and that was a terrific little car. So, based on the solid sales and performance of that (Spanish made) variant they discontinued it and sourced the Barina from wonderful upmarket Daewoo. Smart Move *********.
Morons.
If they had been true four-model companies they could have built massive consumer loyalty and trust that would have possibly ensured continuing strong sales for Falcon and Commodore plus a sales volume that could have warranted local assembly of most of the small car segment.
Their closure really left Toyota with no good local parts base for their models so they left as well.
end rant.
My rant against Vegans will appear here at a later date.
