Bobby. wrote on Jul 24^th, 2012 at 11:54pm:


True. Yet cars kill them under braking and in corners. Hence why even the top racing bikes in the world set similar lap times to a V8 supercar, and why street bikes get smashed by a decent sports car. Even with all that acceleration they set slower laps time because they are so slow everywhere else.

See how when Longweekend loses he doesn't reply?

longweekend58 wrote on Jul 22^nd, 2012 at 4:50pm:


nobody wants those big cars anymore that's why Holden Commodore has slipped to 8th place and the Ford Falcon is not even on the top 10 list.

What I predicted about large cars and the rising cost of fuel has come true. Now you owe me an apology for all of the bullshit you hurled at me over the years on this topic.

Just another one of your failed predictions as usual !!

Sir lastnail wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 8:48pm:


if you shut down the auto plants, who's going to build you're military vechiles? ... you'll find if we ever go to war Ford and holden will stop making commodores and falcons and use the plants to make troop movers and armoured personnel carriers etc ........  everything we need is there, it's just some of the processes that will have to change.

John Smith wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 8:54pm:


So why did they let Mitsubishi close down ?

Honestly you're living in the past. Australia can't make military equipment that's why they import most of it. What makes yoiu think they are going to make anything of military use in a domestic car factory ?

Bobby. wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 8:57pm:


The reason why is beacuse they are not here to make anything useful. Making obsolete old junk is just a front to milk the givernment which they have done for the last 30 years

John Smith wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 9:06pm:



Rubbish - if we put money into R&D we could make the best electric car in the world.
Ford & Holden could be a part of it.

Bobby. wrote on Jul 26^th, 2012 at 9:15pm:


Ford and Holden Australia are small time (side point, but why does everyone seem to forget Toyota Australia?). There is no way they can make the best electric car in the world.

The way the system works is that the global companies spend billions (that's illions with a B, not M) in R&D. The Australian companies use the technology developed by the parent companies and incorporate it into their cars. They do very little development of their own.

The cost of designing a fresh sheet car these days is anywhere from about 5 to 10 billions dollars. Toyota, Ford, Holden (and Mitsubishi before they went broke) do not design fresh sheet cars in Australia. Engines, platforms, transmission, are sourced from other models by the parent company. Hence why new cars in Australia only cost about 500-1000 million to design. That's because most of the expensive work has already been done by the parent company.

It is insane to think Ford Australia with their tiny budget could come up with an electric car design better than what the parent company can do. The only realistic option is to wait for the parent company to spend billions coming up with the technology and then incorporating it into their next car. Likewise, the money the Australian government gives to Ford and Holden is nothing compared to the R&D budgets of the parent companies. So even putting all that money into electric car research will still leave them years behind.