It is expected to be passed by parliament tonight (sometime in the next few hours). See here for an update, but it would seem the ball has now been passed back onto the US gov. as it will pass with some small changes. These changes mean that the US gov. will have to find them acceptable for it to go ahead.

 

wow....nothing yet..did it go through?

 

its only 8:20pm. hold on to your undies

 

its 6:20AM here and gotta go to work. will check in when it times for you to ake up

 

The count down for the El Camino is about to begin.

I am officially putting my sub-$25,000 GTO purchase on hold.

 

Lutz is probably glued to the TV.

 

Probably more like lobbying for it heavily.

 

Good! Less competition for me on the last six speed Barbados Blue over black or silver over red '04 sub-$25K GTO.

 

Whats the word?

 

It's passed!

There's been some changes, but the Aussies passed it.

Now if our government agrees to the changes, votes and passes the deal I'll start saving up for my El Camino (along with the tax break for getting a... "truck" ).

http://au.news.yahoo.com/030304/2/iow1.html

(the article's time is Australian east coast time, not your local time. I don't want anyone's head exploding when they read that)

 

BTW: for those just joining in and wondering what the big deal is, here's a quick summary.

We here in the United States have a 25% tarriff on all imported trucks. That covers everything from big rigs to pickup trucks. SUVs aren't included because under trade definitions, they are passenger vehicles (rear seats, no bed, etc).

When Bob Lutz made his 1st review of Holden products shortly after his arrival at GM, one of the things he wanted to get rolling was some of GM's abandoned ideas of bringing over some GM-Holden models to round out our vehicle lines here. The most obvious 1st choice was the Holden Ute, which for all purposes is the modern Chevy El Camino. Since it would qualify as a truck, it fell under a different set of safety regulations. Also, it's fuel tank is mounted forward of the rear axle. Finally, since Holden already made left hand versions of the same chassis, it was a minimal investment in time and money. However, GM couldn't get around that 25% truck tarriff.

The US-Australian Trade agreement amoung a laundry list of items, ends that tarriff for "Trucks" made in Australia. This makes the Holden UTE and the Ford Falcon UTE the ONLY Aussie made trucks that we do not have available here. This also means that someone lobbied to include exporting Aussie made trucks in the agreement for a purpose.


Here's the whole agreement (in summary):

http://www.dfat.gov.au/trade/negotia..._outcomes.html

And the automotive section:

The final line means that by 2010, there will be no duties on cars exported from the US to Australia. That should make our unions happy.

How about a Pontiac Solstice based affordable Holden sports car? Better yet, a Camaro-based US made Holden Torrana?

 

Yes to a Kappa based car, No to the Torana from the US (can you say GTO but in Australia?).

BTW, the legislation has passed but now it has to be aproved by your government.

 

Did anyone ever find out why GM N/A refused to give Holden a look at the Kappa platform?

(Which is why Holden partnered with Elfin and did their own roadster).

Back on the FTA, do you think the Aus changes (to keep medicine costs down) will be passed by the US?

 

awesome news. very awesome news.
What will GM do now with the SSR?