Last month marked the end of Australian car manufacturing with the final Holden Commodore rolling off the production line. This followed the announcement, seven days earlier, of the new ZB Commodore VXR, to be manufactured by Opel in Rüsselsheim, Germany.

Holden may have been the last manufacturer to close, but it had company, Toyota shifted production from Australia only weeks before, and Ford closed its doors only 12 months earlier. The loss of Australian car manufacturing is estimated to total a loss of over 50,000 jobs locally from manufacturing, part supplies and auxiliary services.

So why did such a thriving industry have to move away from Australia? Unsurprisingly it comes down to costs. Australia has higher wages and coupled with low to zero import tariffs, manufacturing abroad makes [...]