Bobby. wrote on Jul 27
th, 2012 at 11:07pm:
Quantum wrote on Jul 27
th, 2012 at 12:54am:
Bobby. wrote on Jul 26
th, 2012 at 9:15pm:
John Smith wrote on Jul 26
th, 2012 at 9:06pm:
Bobby. wrote on Jul 26
th, 2012 at 8:57pm:
John - have you read this thread?
Why can't Ford make & export the best all electric car in the world?
Ford can't make the best anything in the world .... Holden on the other hand,
I would agree ... make cars that people want and their numbers will turn .... but regardless, we cannot afford to let the auto industry die in Australia ... I think its an essential service ....
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.
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.
Ohh come on - 5 to 10 billions dollars is a number you have pulled out of your backside.Some people have made all electric cars in their home garages.
The $200 million that JuLiar gave away would have gone a long way
if Ford had matched it & added their R&D that they've already done.
Always excuses from people here.
We need a can do mentality.
Read up on the auto industry before you accuse people of making stuff up. It cost a fortune to develop a new car from scratch. The current Holden commodore cost 1 billion to develop, and that is with a very large percentage of the car being sourced from other models in the GM empire. It is far from a clean sheet. The last model Camry even cost $350 million just to modify it for Australian conditions. This is a car that was fully designed and just needed to be adapted.
There is a massive difference between making one off prototypes and designing a car that can be produced and sold. Making a new car takes thousands of people years designing and sourcing every part, testing them, redesigning, retesting, redesigning etc. Then the actual factories have to be retooled to make the new car with more designing, contracting, etc taking place. All this has to be done to ever demanding laws. This is why it cost billions, whether you believe it or not.
Does anyone really think that Holden or Ford could make an awesome electric car that is;
Better than anything that runs on petrol;
Can do it all for a few hundred million dollars;
Sell millions of them around the world and make billions of dollars doing so;
But, they don't because they are too dumb and like to run at a loss?
What this forum needs is not a "can do mentality", but a reality Mentality. Too many people have all the answers and no knowledge of the auto industry. This is why they think that everyone explaining the truth of the situation is making excuses.