How figures can tell a different story:
Holden yesterday cut around 600 jobs from its Adelaide car manufacturing business as sales of the new fuel-thirsty six cylinder Commodore continued to underperform the company’s expectations.
The cuts came as figures were released showing that car sales have jumped 9 per cent in the first two months of the year: but sales of locally-made Holdens are sluggish.
Hence the pressure on employment.
The company said the cuts would be made through voluntary redundancies and follow the ending of the dual manufacturing of the new and old Commodores models and the more efficient plant after half a billion dollars was spent upgrading it.
Yes, but the latest figures on car sales show the new Commodore isn’t doing well, so there’s a big hint the company is matching labour force to car production levels.
With Ford selling fewer Falcons (Ford’s performance is worse than Holden’s so far in 2007), there will now be questions over the Melbourne operations of that struggling US giant.
The Adelaide job losses follow a slide in sales of the locally built Commodore range in 2006 and the carmaker’ $144 million after tax loss for 2005.
Holden cut 1,400 jobs in August 2005 when it decided to axe its third shift at Elizabeth due to falling local and global demand for large cars: that situation hasn’t improved here or in many foreign markets.
Likewise Mitsubishi has seen some stability in the sales of locally made versions of the 380 model, but at a low level. Sales have risen slightly in the first two months of this year but nothing like the 14 per cent rise in locally made Toyotas (for the Camry and the Aurion).
So it could be more bad news for Adelaide later in the year with continuing speculation about the future of the Mitsubishi car making operations there. There was considerable speculation late last year that they could be closed in 2007.
The latest figures on car sales, released yesterday, for February are (like January’s) a bit clouded by the usual end of year clearances.
But according to figures from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCIA) Australia’s motor vehicle industry did see a sharp rise in sales in February, much sharper than a year earlier.
Sales last month of new cars and trucks up by more than eight per cent from a year before: 83,740 new vehicles were retailed last month, an 8.1 per cent improvement on the 77,446 sold in February last year.
That took the market for 2007 so far to 160,676, up 9 per cent compared to the same period in 2006.
Comparing the performance of the two periods (early 2006 and early 2007) we have seen a much stronger start so far this year. The first couple of months of 2006 saw sales slip behind 2005’s levels.
Toyota was the top-selling company last month with 18,602 vehicles, ahead of Holden on 13,083 and Ford on 9,110.
Toyota also was well ahead on a year-to-date basis with 34,840 vehicles, compared to 24,341 for Holden and 16,611 for Ford. Ford sales were down 7 per cent, Holden, around two per cent but Toyota’s were up a massive 14 per cent and Volkswagen a huge 64 per cent.
February sales (along with January) usually are boosted by vehicle clearance programs as manufacturers and dealers quit their stocks of 2006 badged vehicles.
So it can be a bit misleading as an indicator but sales of small fuel-efficient vehicles (small Toyotas and Korean made imports, along with the smaller Volkswagen models) are still growing: that makes them good indicators of where consumer trends are still headed after moving in that direction in 2006 when fuel prices topped $1.50 a litre.
So far in 2007 sales of diesel passenger cars for private use have jumped 135 per cent to well over 2400 and sales of hybrids have risen sharply, but from a low base.
Just 56 LPG powered models were sold in January and February (probably Ford Falcons) a sign that Prime Minister’s Howard’s LPG subsidy just hasn’t taken with private buyers, despite the subsidy. Mr Howard said more than $900 million would be available for the conversion.
There must be a lot of conversions happening in the after market because the number of LPG powered vehicles sold in January and February was just nine more than in the same period of 2005.
