Editing Button car plan

{{Short description|1980s Australian government initiative in the motor industry}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}
{{refimprove|date=June 2020}}
{| class = wikitable table align = "right" style = "margin-left: 1em"
|-
! Original vehicle
! Badge-engineered derivative
|-
| [[Ford Falcon (XF)|Ford Falcon]]
| [[Nissan Ute]]
|-
| [[Holden Commodore]]
| [[Toyota Lexcen]]
|-
| [[Nissan Pintara]]
| [[Ford Corsair#Australia|Ford Corsair]]
|-
| [[Nissan Pulsar]]
| [[Holden Astra]]
|-
| [[Toyota Camry]]
| [[Holden Apollo]]
|-
| [[Toyota Corolla]]
| [[Holden Nova]]
|-
| [[Nissan_Patrol#Fourth generation (Y60; 1987)|Nissan Patrol]]
| [[Ford Maverick]]
|}

The '''Button car plan''', also known as the '''Button plan''',<ref name="WHA">{{Cite web|url=https://www.whichcar.com.au/features/69-years-of-australian-manufacturing/1983-87-the-beginning-of-the-end|title = 1983-87: The beginning of the end| date=25 September 2017 }}</ref> was the informal name given to the '''Motor Industry Development Plan''',<ref name="WHA"/> a [[Hawke government]] initiative intended to rationalise the Australian motor vehicle industry and transition it to lower levels of protection. It took its name from [[Australian Senate|Senator]] [[John Button (Australian politician)|John Button]], the then federal Minister for Commerce, Trade and Industry.<ref name="WHA"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.manmonthly.com.au/news/australian-manufacturing-boomed-then-busted-in-the-1980s/|title = Australian manufacturing boomed, then busted in the 1980s|date = 6 April 2011}}</ref>

==Initial planning==
Industry consultation began in mid-1983 and the scheme was announced in mid-1984. It came into effect in 1985, after Senator Button visited Japan to inform the car companies there of the content of the plan. At the time of the plan's inception, Australia's motor industry was heavily protected by import [[tariffs]], and quotas or quantitative restrictions on imports. These measures were used to support local assembly of thirteen models by a range of manufacturers. 

The Button car plan aimed to slash the number of locally manufactured models to six, by forcing industry consolidation——there were to be three groups each producing two models each by 1992.<ref>{{cite web | last = Bowerman | first = Robin | date = 27 August 1989 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hrMyAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SZEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3101%2C5753540 | title = What's in a badge? New car buyers may ask | work = [[The Age]] | accessdate = 10 February 2016}}</ref> The overarching aim of the scheme was to make the motor vehicle industry in Australia more efficient through consolidation of resources, and so allowing the import tariffs to be gradually reduced. 

==Tariff rates==

At the beginning of the 1980s, tariff rates on motor vehicles were around 60 per cent.  Under the plan, tariff rates were reduced by 2.5 percentage points a year from 1988, falling to 15 per cent by 2000, well below the rates in many comparable countries.

Tariffs were reduced further in 2005 and 2010, and most remaining assistance was removed after 2015, leading to the end of automotive mass production in Australia.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hutchens |first=Gareth |date=2014-02-12 |title=Australia's car tariffs among world's lowest |url=https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/australias-car-tariffs-among-worlds-lowest-20140212-32iem.html |access-date=2025-01-08 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en}} "Since then, the big car makers all announced plans to pull out of Australia."</ref>

==Badge engineering==
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 companies under different names. Other approaches included the [[Ford Courier]] and [[Mazda B-Series (International)|Mazda B-Series]] utilities utilising [[Mitsubishi Motors|Mitsubishi]]'s 2.6-litre [[Mitsubishi Astron engine|Astron]] four-cylinder engine, and a proposal to replace Mitsubishi's locally built [[Mitsubishi Colt|Colt]] with a rebadged [[Toyota Corolla]]. This proposal, however, never eventuated.

[[Holden]] initially teamed up with [[Nissan]] in 1984, where the [[Nissan Pulsar]] was sold as the [[Holden Astra]]. Later Pulsar and Astra models in Australia used Holden-sourced [[powertrain]]s. This arrangement dissolved in 1989, and [[Holden|General Motors–Holden]] and [[Toyota]] formed [[United Australian Automobile Industries]] (UAAI). The vehicles produced as a result of this joint venture, the [[Holden Apollo]] ([[Toyota Camry]]), [[Holden Nova]] ([[Toyota Corolla]]) and [[Holden Commodore|Toyota Lexcen]] ([[Holden Commodore]]) lasted until 1996 for the Holden-badged derivatives models, and 1997 for Lexcen.

From 1988 to 1994, [[Ford Motor Company|Ford Australia]] rebadged the [[Nissan_Patrol#Fourth generation (Y60; 1987)|Y60]] Patrol as the [[Ford Maverick]].<Ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.motoring.com.au/focus-based-ute-could-be-called-ford-maverick-124058/|title=Ford Focus-based ute could be called Maverick|date=3 May 2020}}</ref> The car was mechanically similar, although the Nissan version had rear disc brakes depending on vehicle grade, while the Ford mostly had drum brakes and featured different paint colours and trim levels.

==Outcomes==
This sharing of models proved unpopular with buyers, and also with manufacturers, each of which kept the best models in the relevant ranges for itself.<ref>{{cite web | last = Lake | first = Barry | date = 26 May 2000 | url = http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=8550&vf=1 | title = Union ... and demarcation | accessdate = 10 March 2008 | archive-date = 28 May 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080528150827/http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=8550&vf=1 | url-status = dead }}</ref> Consequently, the original models outsold their badge-engineered counterparts; for example, the Toyota Corolla and Camry outsold the Holden Nova and Apollo seven to one.<ref>{{cite book | last = Earl | first = Peter | year = 2002 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RUi7FJ4pRsEC | title = Information, Opportunism and Economic Coordination | location = [[Cheltenham]], United Kingdom | publisher = [[Edward Elgar Publishing]] | page = 32 | isbn = 1-84064-738-8}}</ref> The last of such models, the Toyota Lexcen (Holden Commodore), was dropped in 1997. 

Rather than share locally assembled models with other manufacturers, Holden, [[Ford Motor Company of Australia|Ford]] and [[Toyota]] decided to import fully built-up models from subsidiaries elsewhere in the world, mainly Europe and Japan. 

[[Nissan]] ended car manufacturing in Australia completely in 1994. [[Mitsubishi Motors]], which did not share any models with other manufacturers during the period of the plan, ended Australian manufacturing in 2008. Ford ceased Australian production in 2016, whereas Holden and Toyota did so in 2017, leaving no large scale, mass market Australian production of cars.  
 
<gallery>
File:1987-1989 Holden Astra (LD) SLE hatchback (8709881592).jpg|[[Nissan Pulsar#N13 (1986–1990)|Holden Astra]]<br>(Nissan Pulsar) from 1987
File:1988-1994 Ford Maverick wagon 02.jpg|[[Nissan Patrol#Fourth generation (Y60; 1987)|Ford Maverick]]<br>(Nissan Patrol) from 1988.
File:Nissanute (cropped).jpg|Nissan Ute<br>([[Ford XF Falcon]]) from 1989.
File:1989-1992 Ford Corsair (UA) GL sedan 02.jpg|[[Ford Corsair#Ford Corsair UA - Australia|Ford Corsair]]<br>(Nissan Pintara) from 1989.
File:1989 Holden Apollo (JK) SLE sedan (2015-07-06) 01.jpg|[[Holden Apollo]]<br>(Toyota Camry) from 1989.
File:1995 Holden Nova (LG) GS hatchback (20684982061).jpg|[[Holden Nova]]<br>(Toyota Corolla) from 1989.
File:1995 Toyota Lexcen (T4) CSi sedan (22644600913).jpg|Toyota Lexcen ([[Holden VS Commodore]]) from 1995.
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Automotive industry in Australia]]
* [[Economic history of Australia]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:1980s in Australia]]
[[Category:Political history of Australia]]
[[Category:Economic history of Australia]]
[[Category:Automotive industry in Australia]]