Australia is seeing some very interesting times for its auto industry at present. Following the news of General Motors, Ford and Toyota all pulling manufacturing operations out of the country, a silver of hope rose.
Guido Dumarey, a Belgian entrepreneur and owner of Punch Powerglide, officially came forth at the beginning of this year with a proposal to purchase Holden’s South Adelaide factory and save the Zeta, rear-wheel drive architecture on which the current Holden Commodore is based upon.
Dumarey has seemed nothing but confident he will succeed, and now, he’s gaining quite a bit of political support. AAPÂ reports South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and federal cabinet minister Christopher Pyne have both offered up their support for Dumarey and his bid to save the assembly.
Holden officially responded saying it has not yet received a formal offer, but it will be open to the idea.
“The future of our Adelaide plant remains a work in progress,” a Holden spokesman said.
“If a party is interested in the ongoing use of one our sites, Holden and GM will assess any detailed plans should they be submitted.”
Weatherill said Durmarey was one of many parties interested in the site, but particularly was keen to the idea of automotive manufacturing.
“He’s talking about a rear-wheel drive platform, which is what this particular factory does, and that can lend itself to doing many different types of vehicles,” the premier said.
“If this stacks up and it’s the best use of the property from our perspective, we’ll certainly get in behind it.”
Dumarey’s plan still has quite a way to go, however. His proposal will require significant federal backing, something the Belgian business tycoon has been busy working on. However, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union has already thrown its support in favor of Dumarey.
“We have the workforce in regards to building the car from A to Z,” SA branch general secretary John Camillo said.
“With the Australian dollar being less than 70 cents now, there is quite a margin there to make profits in selling to the international market.”
Independent South Australian Senator Nick Xenophon has also been of noteworthy support for Dumarey’s proposal, too, calling on the country to pause its decision on allowing foreign automaker’s to bid on its future fleet of federal and police vehicles.
“I spoke to Mr Dumarey last night. This is a strong, credible proposal that deserves a fair go and that’s all he is asking.”
Comments
*Jubilation ensues*
I really don’t see GM giving him the use of Zeta, even if they aren’t making it anymore. Where was all this support for GM when it was already running the factory? If they are that interested in this guy keeping the plant open, maybe they should try to work with the people who already run the place….GM.
There could be a Saab-esque licensing deal arranged. GM didn’t fight Obama Task Force agents that demanded GM sell off/liquidate the Kappa platform to third-parties.
Frankly I’m surprised more didn’t happen with that platform, it was basically a C6 chassis and tech for pennies on the dollar. Tesla could have brought back the Roadster, for example.
How is he going to evolve Zeta and potentially replace it with another RWD platform in future? It is a great platform, I love mine. The problem was it was designed in a time when the weight of the average motor vehicle was peaking.
Weight is the enemy of performance and fuel economy/emissions. The latter of which is going to become increasingly important in the next 5-10 years, more so than what it is already.
There is going to be a crunch time when something needs to be done and he will need to spend lots of money.
For some reason it is bringing back memories of when Soloman Lew and Lindsey Fox tried to buy the now defunct Ansett Australia airlines from its creditors, to turn it around.
Deep down I really hope Dumarey can succeed and resurrect something from the ashes. Maybe even one day if he does succeed, GM may stuff up their efforts to refresh the Holden brand and sell it to him. I’ve conceded now that this is just wishful thinking.
Yes Michael, my question is what’s next? The ZETA platform is obsolete. It’s all very well giving hope to all the Adelaide factory employees, but the Engineering arm in Port Melbourne is all but gone. Plants cleaned out, equipment sold or scrapped, Land sold off. (John Camillo might want to have a chat to the Victorian branch about A to Z’s of that and he should have said “Had” not “Have”) Developing an entire vehicle is a different proposition to developing a transmission alone. Good luck to him, but I’d be interested to hear the rest of his plan.