Dont think its as basic as that. Loyalty goes a long way in australia, everyone loves their Holdens. When the BA Falcon came out, it was rated a generation ahead of the Commodore and still the commodore sold more. Commodore had the crap ecotec, crap 4 speed and crap suspension and they still sold more than every other car!Bennoz wrote:For years now, the Japs have been trying to break into the Aussie big car market - and until they get it through their thick skulls that big Aussies family sedans must be available in V8 and RWD, then they will never sell much. Mitsubishi 380, Toyota Avalon, Nissan Maxima, all prime failed examples. Bogans dont like technology like turbo, keep it simple & uneconomic.
So if Ford had a platform which was the benchmark, bigger brand loyalty, and spanking the competitiors in reviews why wasnt it the highest selling car?
Our market is tiny compared to the rest of the world. Most Jap cars built here are exported anyway so you cant look at australias sales figures alone.
Give you an example how small our market is. If say Holden exported 30000 cars to the US in a year you would think thats a great number right? There are over 10000 GM dealerships in the USA alone. That would mean every dealership will have a allocation of 3 per year. Its stuff all isnt it?
Mitsubishi is not alone. Holdens new engine plant building the 3.6L is sacked heaps of people due to low productions. Ford is going to be building the Focus because large car sales have been so low.
