Ending an association that began 70 years ago, General Motor“s Australian subsidiary Holden Ltd. has decided to cancel its windscreen contract with Pilkington Australia. Holden will now source windsc…
Ending an association that began 70 years ago, General Motor“s Australian subsidiary Holden Ltd. has decided to cancel its windscreen contract with Pilkington Australia. Holden will now source windscreens from Thailand after a free trade agreement signed in October 2003 made it cheaper to import them. Holden“s new generation of Commodores will be fitted with Thai-made windscreens when they are introduced in 2006, ending an association with Pilkington Glass that dates back to 1935. Pilkington was informed of the decision in December 2003. The company supplied 86,000 windscreens for Commodores last year. It is not yet known what effect this will have on workforce levels at Pilkington“s Geelong and Laverton factories in Victoria but a source said Pilkington was “currently going through the organisation top to bottom”. Pilkington spokesman Russell Howard said: “This is an extremely disappointing decision … The General Motors pricing targets could not be met. The new business price levels are significantly lower than today.” Thailand“s growing auto component industry is expected to be a major beneficiary of the free trade agreement. Australian Workers Union secretary Bill Shorten said Holden was the “East Germany of the automotive sector”. “Holden has taken massive assistance from the Victorian Government … it is unbelievably ungrateful that they“d hand a contract like this to Thailand,” he said. Pilkington also has contracts to supply the Australian plants of auto manufacturers Toyota, Mitsubishi and Ford.