This Is Why Australia Killed Its Own Car Industry

In 1948, Australia built its first car. A red Holden FX rolled out of Fishermans Bend, and Prime Minister Ben Chifley stood in front of it like the country had just put a man on the moon. By the 1970s, half a million cars a year were being built on Australian soil. One hundred thousand Australians worked on the assembly lines. Another fifty thousand in the supply chain. This was a country that made things. Today, Australia makes no cars. Not one. The last Holden Commodore rolled out of Elizabeth on 20 October 2017. Toyota closed Altona two weeks earlier. Ford had already gone. The brand itself was killed in 2020. This documentary traces how Australia killed its own car industry. From Whitlam's 25 percent tariff cut in 1973, through the Button Plan, through the Productivity Commission paper of December 2013 that gave Joe Hockey the cover he needed, to the day Holden Elizabeth went silent. The named decisions. The named men. The 50,000 jobs. The 21 billion dollars in lost economic output. And here is the part that hurts. In 2024, Australians bought 114,000 electric vehicles. Every single one imported. While Thailand mandates local EV production. While Vietnam builds VinFast. While Australia exports the lithium and the nickel and buys back the finished cars. ⏱️ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 - The country that built half a million cars a year 1:30 - Holden, Ford, Toyota: the golden era 3:00 - 1973: Whitlam cuts tariffs by 25 percent 4:30 - The Button Plan and the slow squeeze 6:00 - December 2013: the Productivity Commission paper 7:30 - Hockey, Abbott, and the end of the age of entitlement 9:00 - 20 October 2017: the last Holden Commodore 10:30 - 4,261 retrenched workers: the Nature study 11:45 - 2024: Thailand makes EVs, Australia imports them 📊 KEY FACTS: 1970s peak: 500,000 vehicles per year, 100,000 direct jobs, 50,000 in supply chain Whitlam cut tariffs 25 percent in 1973, advised by H.C. Coombs Button Car Plan reduced tariffs from 57.5 percent to 15 percent Ford closed Geelong September 2016, Broadmeadows October 2016 Toyota closed Altona 3 October 2017, 2,700 jobs gone Last Holden Commodore: 20 October 2017, Elizabeth, South Australia Holden brand killed February 2020, 600 more redundancies Total lifetime output: 7.6 million Holdens, 5.9 million Fords, 3.4 million Toyotas ACTU estimate: 50,000 jobs lost, 21 billion dollars in lost economic output 2024 EV sales in Australia: 114,000 units, every single one imported Northern Adelaide unemployment in some working class areas: 33 percent This continues the Old Australia series on what happened to a country that used to make things. The trades video, the mechanics video, the apprenticeship video, the manufacturing video. The car industry is the next chapter. 💬 Did you work at Holden, Ford, Toyota, or in the supply chain? Where were you when they announced the closure? The comment section is where this story lives. 🔔 Subscribe for weekly documentaries on what happened to Australia. #Holden #AustralianCarIndustry #MadeInAustralia #AustralianManufacturing #OldAustralia