Holden closing down in OZ is the canary in the coal mine for conventional car manufacturers as it highlights their diabolical dilemma of having sunk massive amounts of capital into what soon will become stranded assets. Only a decade ago, GM might not have thought too much about how much capital to apply to its Australian operations, but today, we live in a vastly different outlook for the car industry.
I believe ICE car manufacturers are about to suffer a world of pain if they can not read the market and switch to EVs. The problem is, they do not have the capital, technical know-how, nor the supply chains to quickly acquire meaningful scale in EVs.
Oh and if anyone can think ahead past the next election cycle, there might be a warning in this for Australia with respect to all this talk about new coal mines and coal-fired power stations.
This is what eventually happens to stranded assets... i.e. where too much capital has been applied to obsolete technology and people have not planned for an orderly transition towards sustainable transportation... or electricity supply.
