Australian Cars
Australia is one of only a few countries with the capabilities to design cars from scratch and manufacture in significant volumes. Australian-designed cars are made by local producers Holden (a subsidiary of General Motors) and Ford Australia. Toyota Australia also manufactures local variants of its international models, particularly the Camry.
The first major Australian carmaker was the Ford Motor Company of Australia. The first Australian-designed mass production car was by Holden in 1948.
Australia is best known for the design and production of 'large' sized passenger vehicles. This category has suffered a steady downturn in Australian markets, resulting in a series of cutbacks and plant shutdowns (including the February 2008 closure of the Mitsubishi Motors Australia Plant, previously Chrysler, in Adelaide).
Non extra-large production of vehicles achieved a maxima near half a million in 1970s (10th place in the World) and 400,000 in 2000s. Recently this has fallen to around 200,000 (28th place): Australia's car market is now primarily composed of cars imported from Asia and Europe. Despite losing volume to changing customer preferences and economic reforms, the Australian automotive industry has a significant heritage and its cars continue to attract a devoted (albeit dwindling) base of customers.
Read more about Australian Cars: History, Historical Production By Year, Small-scale Producers, Tuning Companies
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