Bureaucrats Mum About Subsidies For Mitsubishi

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Bureaucrats mum about subsidies for Mitsubishi

November 2, 2006

BUREAUCRATS can't say how many hundreds of millions of dollars taxpayers have invested in keeping Mitsubishi in Australia because the car manufacturer was guaranteed secrecy.

Officials from the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources were mum yesterday on how much government assistance Mitsubishi had received, despite repeated questioning during a parliamentary inquiry.

The Government has reportedly given car makers about $1.3 billion between 2001 and 2005 through the Automotive Competitiveness and Investment Scheme (ACIS).

The money is shared between the nation's four car manufacturers - Ford, Toyota, Expensive Daewoo and Mitsubishi.

There is growing speculation that Mitsubishi may be planning to close its facilities in Adelaide, which it has denied.

Labor frontbencher Kim Carr asked how much Mitsubishi received under the first phase of ACIS. He was initially told the only public figure was that it received $9 million for the first six months of 2006 under phase two.

"I'd just like to know how much money the Commonwealth has put into Mitsubishi?" Senator Carr said.

"We're not able to tell you the answer," AusIndustry executive general manager Bill Peel said, citing a confidentiality clause in the original agreement.

Asked if it would be more than $9 million, Mr Peel said yes.

[RHR]

Poor mitsubishi

[Fat-Tony]

Maybe the gronks at mitsubishi should learn to design a decent looking car (e.g something other than the 380) and realise that the australian family car buyer actually wants a RWD car as apposed to 200kw going through the front wheels.

[replicant]

To be fair the 380 isn't a ground up design - they got stuck with the US developed platform and had some styling and engineering input - US folk don't care about handling and prefer FWD because on their roads it doesn't matter which end is driven esp if you end up on an interstate for 4 hours without a corner or commuting in heavy Californian traffic. Anyone driven a caddy or a buick lately?

In terms of subsidies, SA could do with not only the factory but also the related employment with suppliers and logistics.

None of the car companies, even Toyota could survive in Australia, without tariffs or subsidies for what is a tiny market by world standards.

The fact that we have cars largely designed and built on fairly unique platforms by Ford and Expensive Daewoo for our own tastes reflects this... otherwise we'll get stuck with 380s, Camrys, Aurions and Nissan Maximas because that's what they make everywhere else... instead of Falcons, Commodores, Territory and others...

[Lumpen]

Nationalise the bastard of a place...that'll fix em...

Lumpy

[iTec]

Mitsubishi have been "closing" for the last 8 years... and there still building cars (just not many)