Aussie Motoring

If you’re heading up the east coast of Australia these holidays then be prepared to add an hour or two onto your travel time due to roadworks and increased speed restrictions.

A couple of weeks ago we drove from Hervey Bay in Queensland down to Newcastle in NSW and here is what we found.

Expect to see plenty of this for much of your trip in New South Wales:

North of Newcastle there’s over 50km of single lane highway with very limited overtaking possibilities. The speed limit is down to 80km/h.

North of Taree there were numerous interruptions to traffic due to more roadworks. You’ll start to see traffic controllers in your sleep!

Around Ballina there are even more interruptions and traffic controllers as work on the Ballina Bypass progresses and cuts the highway in a number of places. We estimate that our travel time from the Queensland border to Newcastle was increased by an hour due to all those roadworks.

The Tugun Bypass was opened earlier this year and the delays that were so common as you drove through Tweed Heads are a thing of the past. It’s a breeze now.

Coming through Brisbane you can expect some delays on the Gateway Motorway as work on a second crossing of the river continues.

There are more roadworks around Gympie and it can take a few extra minutes to get through there.

The biggest delay north of Brisbane these days is a very long stretch of the highway that has now been reduced to 90km/h. It stretches from Cooroy south of Gympie right through to Curra on the other side of Gympie.

You can be sure that there will be plenty of police on the road along with plenty of idiots too so be patient, take plenty of rest stops and you will arrive alive.

Reports are coming in that Chrysler will “idle all its plants and operations until at least January 19th”.

That’s not surprising … without someone to wave a magic wand Chrysler runs out of money at the end of December.

Subaru has announced that it will no longer compete in the World Rally Championship because of falling sales and the general financial crisis.

This ends the company’s 19 year involvement in the World Rally Championship that saw it take out three titles in the manufacturers and drivers’ categories.

China’s first mass-produced hybrid car was launched today by BYD Auto. Based on their F3 model … a modest four-door sedan - this hybrid can even be charged from a powerpoint in the owners home.

While BYD Auto are yet to include the new hybrid sedan on their website you can see some details of the car that it’s based on here.

… it’s bigger in Queensland.

You don’t have to live here in Queensland for long before you realise that the hype about everything being bigger up here is true. The steaks are bigger, the fish are bigger and the car registration fees … well they’re bloody HUGE … and they’re getting bigger.

From July 1 the cost of registering your average Commodore will rise to $403 a year (plus CTP) - in NSW it’s $269.00 and $193 in Victoria.

If you drive a small 4 cylinder car then your rego in Queensland is going to be $254 - in NSW it’s $239 and in Victoria it’s $178.

So yeah, come to Queensland where everything is bigger and better … but be sure to bring your money with you.

So the bail-out plans for the American car industry didn’t get through Congress? Well in the long-term that’s probably a good thing because it means that we could see a real change in the car industry world-wide.

In the short-term it’s probably a good thing too because it really did look as though Congress wanted to tip a whole pile of money down a bottomless pit and it would have had little effect on the ability of the Big 3 manufacturers to survive.

Ford really didn’t want the money on the terms that the Government wanted to impose. Ford is already cashed up and is working hard to actually build cars that people want to buy. The number of hybrids that are currently in production or on the drawing boards is a credit to the company and will benefit the environment and the consumer.

General Motors … well they wanted more money for themselves than what Congress was prepared to give all three manufacturers. Sure they have some great hybrids on the market and even have a full electric car coming down the line but there’s something fundamentally wrong with a company of that size that finds itself in the mess that it’s in and we’re probably better off without it.

I’ve seen reports that GM is already working with its lawyers to arrange  Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection but you have to wonder just how long they have left.

Chrysler … now here’s a company that just has to be totally clueless and shows it. They’re in a financial mess and plan to close a whole bunch of plants in the next few months … which is a good thing. They also have two hybrids about to hit the market place … but both aren’t in models that sell in big numbers and that’s probably just as well.

You see, among the plants that Chrysler plans to close are the ones that produce those two hybrids so no sooner will they go on sale than the plants will close and the hybrids will go out of production leaving Chrysler with no hybrids on showroom floors and none that are even close to production.

How could a company like Chrysler be so out of touch with reality?

I guess that all along I was wondering why anyone in their right mind would want to spend $14 billion dollars to prop up some companies that were totally out of touch with everything that’s going on around them.

I’m sure someone will pull a rabbit out of the hat and the deal will be back on but I really can’t see that as being good for anyone because it’s simply perpetuating a failed business model and the current mess will only resurface a few years down the track.

This morning I woke up with my back locked solid at L4/5 but someone else down in Sydney had a much worse start to their week.

My thanks to Twitpic and docbaty for the use of the photo

Reuters is reporting that Honda is offering it’s Formula One team for sale and if there are no buyers Honda will simply shut the team down.

That’s an interesting move because it’s Formula One presence is a big part of Honda’s current marketing here in Australia.

New car sales in Australia in November dropped by over 22% compared with the same time last year.

New vehicle sales fell in November, reflecting a further softening of economic conditions as a result of the global financial crisis.

Official VFACTS data released today by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) shows that 71,647 cars, trucks and light buses were sold in November - down 22.2 per cent (20,434 vehicles) compared to the same month last year.

Year-to-date, new vehicle sales were down 2.9 per cent compared to the same period last year with a total of 935,684 vehicles being sold.

“It is clear that people are being more cautious with their money as the magnitude of the global financial crisis deepens,” FCAI Chief Executive Andrew McKellar said.

“Certainly the most recent interest rate cut was well justified and it is hoped this will help restore some confidence and stability to the marketplace,” he said.

“On the up-side, there are going to be some very competitive opportunities for anyone considering buying a car in the near future,” Mr McKellar said.

Toyota retained the top sales position in November with a market share of 24.4 per cent followed by Holden with 13.6 per cent and Ford with 10.1 per cent.

Year-to-date Toyota sold 219,984 vehicles, followed by Holden with 119,520 and Ford with 97,216 vehicles.

I have to admit that I missed this one … with all the talk of economic gloom and doom and the collapse of the motoring world as we know it I missed the announcement that Ford in the US has a survival plan.

The plan is … well if you listen to Ford’s CEO the plan is highly involved and it’s a very reason why the US government should bail them out … but to give it to you in a nutshell the plan is to build cars that are as good or better than what other manufacturers are producing and cars that people actually want to buy.

Think about it for a moment and I’m sure that you’ll be just as puzzled as I am with this plan. Surely building cars that people actually want to buy is the basic business plan of any car maker so why has it taken this economic collapse to get Ford to actually wake up to reality?

You do have to wonder about the people in charge of Ford and General Motors at times … are they in touch with reality or are they high on their own PR spin?