never forget that Australian government subsidies , basically paid for the good wages and conditions of the workers in the car manufacturing industry -- oh, and very restrictive work practices.
Toyota tried to make their operations more competitive - but the unions were not interested
December, 2013:
Employees of Toyota Australia, which is considering shutting its factories, are paid allowances so generous they have been phased out in most other areas of manufacturing, experts say. Toyota employees who work Sundays are paid 2½ times their normal rate, paid to donate blood, don’t have to provide medical certificates for sick days and are paid “wash up time” after shifts. Other benefits include extra pay for employees who have first-aid training, for working in confined spaces and “dirt money” for performing unusually dirty work. Toyota wants 2500 employees at its Altona factory in Melbourne to give up or accept a reduction in many of these benefits to lower costs and help save the plant from closure..., according to a Federal Court judgement that stopped Toyota employees voting on the changes on Friday.
February 2:
TOYOTA workers have launched new legal action to safeguard themselves from any further attempts by the motor giant to remove some of their entitlements... Toyota is already appealing judge Mordy Bromberg's ruling which found Toyota's bid to ''reduce employee entitlements'' and achieve cost savings had breached the no extra claims provision of the workplace agreement covering employees.
Today:
Car maker Toyota is strongly tipped to announce on Monday afternoon it will leave Australia in 2017.
- and who posts this rubbish about the auto manufacturing plants be converted to make electric cars???
for starters, some business has to take the risk, which obviously means dealing with the unions, with their high wage demands, then the high power prices (if there are no blackouts ) blah blah blah
oh - and how many electric cars were sold in Australia last year????
Meagre electric vehicle sales of about 1700 in 2015, just 0.1 per cent of new car sales, dwindled to about 1300 last year and there's no turnaround in sight.
http://www.copyright link/technolog...ia-are-stuck-in-the-slow-lane-20170802-gxo892
a company would have to be bonkers to think about making electric cars in Australia, when Australians are not buying them
