Tuesday, June 25, 2013

450 automotive businesses are closing








25/06/2013 - More than 450 automotive businesses are closing across the nation on average each year, the Australian Motor Industry Federation warns. David Barbeler

With the federal government focused on the closure of sites by companies like Ford, federation chief Richard Dudley says the remaining 75 per cent of the industry also needs help.

Dudley has called on the next government to develop a green paper on the future of the entire automotive industry within 100 days of winning office — and a white paper within 12 months.

Some 2700 people left the domestic car or car component manufacturing sector in 2011/12, but that figure is dwarfed by the 13,000 people who left the maintenance and body repair industries.

Dudley said independent mechanics are finding it difficult to keep up-to-date with the onboard technology of the hundreds of different car models available.

"There is an SUV on the Australian market today, retailing for under $30,000, that has more computing power than was used to get astronauts to the moon," Dudley told the National Press Club in Canberra on Tuesday.

"It's becoming increasingly difficult to have all the necessary tools, equipment, diagnostic computer capability and skills.

"Successive governments at a state and federal level have focussed on automotive manufacturing, to the detriment of the rest of the automotive industry."

Dudley said repairers were also finding it hard to keep up.

"Others have adapted by specializing in one or only a few brands," he said.

The industry is also facing a crisis in attracting young trainees, with the downstream car sectors that employ 32,0000 people suffering a shortage of 19,000 mechanics.

One problem was the perception that motor mechanic work was a "grease monkey, dirty type job", Dudley said.

"A motor mechanic is now part diagnostic technician, part computer engineer, part mathematician."


Source: AAP