Horse 1580 - Rollo's $1 Offer to Holden

http://media.gm.com/content/media/us/en/gm/news.detail.html/content/Pages/news/us/en/2013/Dec/1210-holden.html

DETROIT – As part of its ongoing actions to decisively address the performance of its global operations, General Motors today announced it would transition to a national sales company in Australia and New Zealand. The company also said it would discontinue vehicle and engine manufacturing and significantly reduce its engineering operations in Australia by the end of 2017.

- GM News Release, 11th Dec 2013

Now it's official. Ford has declared that it will end production in Australia and this afternoon, General Motors has also confirmed that it will end production in Australia.

Okay Australia. Stand up. Who of you out there is going to do something about it?

Me.

I don't believe that Holden should be necessarily unprofitable; not do I believe that should be necessarily unprofitable. I do believe that Detroit has decided to throw Australia under the bus (if anyone could build it) and in the light of this, I also challenge General Motors to sell ME the entire Australian manufacturing operation for $1.

So why do I think that I can do better than a multi-billion dollar multi-national corporation? Actually I don't. I think that if General Motors bothered to actually care about the people who make proucts rather than the relentless pursuit of profits, that there would have been a better outcome. 

If Detroit had allowed Australia to build cars that people actually wanted, instead of something which would have been appropriate for 1994, then would Holden have survived? I think so.

Enter...

The Tiger Motor Company

I propose that I buy either Ford or Holden's manufacturing operations. The car to be produced would be roughly 4300mm long, with a wheelbase of 2700mm. The engines would be about 1.4L to 1.6L and would produce 90-150bhp.

I still think that it's possible to build motor cars in Australia. Actually I still think that it's possible to build all sorts of things in Australia. General Motors has made its cased based on a business model from 10,000 miles away and I accept that. The difference between General Motors and why I think that I could be a better job is that I'd be making decisions in Australia for Australians. Perhaps I could get Mr Palmer in it or something. The plant and equipment already exists; so it's not like it'd be all that difficult to tool up for something new.

I still maintain that I could have Australia's biggest car company in five years for the simple reason that Australian workers building cars for Australian conditions do a better job than anyone else, and I think that the general public appreciates this.

So. I'm laying my offer on the table to Holden...

$1. There it is.