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Former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks and retired Toyota chief John Conomos, who drove the Japanese brand to the top of the Australian car business, were named as special envoys with the task of winning new business for all sectors of the industry.
Bracks will be focussed on the USA and Conomos will tackle Asia under a plan which Industry Minister Kim Carr said is intended to take the luck and guesswork out of Australia's automotive future.
"You have to create your own luck. That's what we're doing. We can't just wait for the world to come to us, and why should they?," Carr told the Herald Sun yesterday.
"Australia has a reputation for quality and we want to enhance that internationally. We wanted to add a bit of firepower to what we do.
"These men are the experts. They have a high reputation in the industry and they should know all the players. But, more importantly, the players know them."
Bracks said he believes the motor industry is ideally positioned to surf a global upturn over the next few years, although he was not specific about any export targets.
"I think there is a significant opportunity. We have survived significant difficulties through the collapse of GM and moving into bankruptcy. We are one of the few subsidiaries that have survived," Bracks said.
"We are in a strong position to advocate as demand increases, and advocate strongly." Bracks was responsible for the far-reaching industry review that led to the Federal government's New Car Plan for a Greener Future, a success which helped land him the envoy's job.
"I thought I might have bene in a psoiton of doing the review and moving out. But I'm committed to the industry and this position," he said. He believes there are challenges and opportunities as the motor industry begins to recover from the global financial crisis.
"The single biggest threat is that there is further concentration of the auto indsutry in only several countries. The opportunity is to be part of that. And to be investment partners, components suppliers, and also raw material suppliers," Bracks said.
"The biggest strength is that we have an auto indsutry. That helps us enormously as we move into the upturn in the next couple of years."
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