A new Australia Car Industry | Feature
preceded Toyota’s entry with the Prius. It was a pioneering exercise in new the use of new technologies. “And then there’s the legendary Aussie toughness – the history of our car industry overflows with stories of European and Japanese engineers being stunned by the strength of our cars.” Mr Feeney said Australia’s car industry had long enjoyed medium-volume manufacturing technologies unimagined by European, American and Asian manufacturers. “Global manufacturers were amazed at how their local subsidiaries could build 50,000 cars with the same quality and efficiency as overseas plants with 10 times the output,” he said. “If we move now to harness our engineering brainpower while we still have it, we can design and develop the cars of the future and we have the factories to build them. “The time is right to put money and political will behind our engineers and our manufacturers and rebuild a specialist car industry that can be the envy of the world.”
A reborn Australian car industry could repay its investment The key to the financial success of a new Australian car hinges on embracing the most suitable technologies for a low-volume, highly specialised design. “What we propose is not a 20th century mass production concept, but rather a 21st century www.saea.com.au
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high-tech manufacturing exercise that plays to our Australian strengths,” Mr Feeney said.
our thriving coach and truck manufacturing industries.
“The car factories we once had were billiondollar plants with a hugely expensive foundry and engine shop, body presses and weld lines just to produce the basic body and driveline.
“By targeting a market with very specific needs, we can own that market long term and by dramatically reducing the capital cost, we completely re-write the financial equation.”
“By contrast, our police car proposal would use the same type of efficient low-volume body production already used to perfection by Paccar to build Kenworth trucks in Melbourne.
Mr Feeney said SAE-A looked forward to generating interest from government and the private sector, with a view to a feasibility study to take the concept to the next level.
“The driveline would be electric, with proven savings in materials and manufacturing costs, backed by Australia’s wealth of lithium and emergent battery industry.
Proving a point with the concept car
“And we should never forget that all these technologies will preserve a level of expertise that will be priceless next time we face a crisis such as a pandemic.” The market for these vehicles would reward high-level expertise that could produce exactly what the various police forces required. Australian police forces buy up to 5,000 cars each year, each with tens of thousands of dollars in special equipment added. The focus on police and emergency vehicles is a key element of the SAE-A proposal. “Our approach would put the money and effort into producing a modest volume of highly specialised vehicles, while avoiding the massive capital costs of a big-volume factory,” Mr Feeney said. “We’ve seen this sort of thing before, with specialist manufacturers building postal and ambulance vehicles, not to mention
Australian automotive engineers and designers have the expertise to lead the world in specialist vehicle design, and the proof is in a concept car. Australia has retained much of its skills base despite the end of volume car manufacturing in October 2017. “We basically have the automotive spectrum covered, from styling and engineering through to testing and development, and ultimately manufacturing and assembly,” Mr Feeney said. “All we need is the will to succeed and the investment to back it, and we can design, engineer and manufacture world-class specialist vehicles for world markets. “We are already doing it, with companies like Thales, which is currently building 1,100 Hawkei light armoured vehicles in Bendigo for the Australian Defence Force. “There is also substantial engineering and manufacturing expertise in companies such as HSV, which is remanufacturing several VTE | 19
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