Button car plan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Button Car Plan (also known as the Button Plan) was the informal name given to the Motor Industry Development Plan, initiatives to rationalise the motor vehicle industry made by the Australian Federal Government in the 1980s. The plan took its name from Senator John Button, the federal Minister for Commerce, Trade and Industry.
At the time of its inception, Australia's motor industry was heavily protected by import tariffs, harbouring the assembly of thirteen different models by various manufacturers. The Button car plan aimed to reduce this number to eight models, with the aim of forcing some amount of industry consolidation. The over-arching aim of the scheme was to make the motor vehicle industry in Australia more efficient (by consolidation of resources), allowing the import tariffs to be gradually unwound. This in turn would theoretically expose the local industry to increased competition from imported products, fostering improvement in local vehicles and creating the basis for a competitive export industry.
Industry consultation had begun in 1984 with a proposed start date of 1985. The most obvious effect of the plan for the Australian car buyer was the appearance of badge engineered vehicles, where the same basic vehicle was sold by several different companies under different names. These models included:
| Original name | Badge-engineered derivative |
|---|---|
| Ford Falcon | Nissan Ute |
| Holden Commodore | Toyota Lexcen |
| Nissan Patrol | Ford Maverick |
| Nissan Pintara | Ford Corsair |
| Nissan Pulsar | Holden Astra |
| Toyota Corolla | Holden Nova |
| Toyota Camry | Holden Apollo |
Other approaches included the Ford Courier and Mazda B-series utilities utilizing Mitsubishi's 2.6 L Astron 4-cylinder, and a proposal (which did not eventuate) of Mitsubishi replacing the locally built Colt (which was a generation behind its Japanese equivalent) with a rebadged Toyota Corolla.
This sharing of models proved unpopular with buyers, and original models outsold their badge-engineered counterparts [1]. Many models were bought up and retrofitted with more familiar badges; hence Toyota Lexcens were retrofitted with Holden Commodore badging. [2]
The last such model, the Holden Apollo (Toyota Camry) was dropped in 1997. Rather than share locally-assembled models with other manufacturers, Holden, Ford, and Toyota decided to import fully built-up models from subsidiaries elsewhere in the world, such as Europe or Japan. Mitsubishi Motors had never shared models with other manufacturers, while Nissan ended car manufacturing in Australia completely.
