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United Australian Automobile Industries (UAAI) was an automobile model sharing firm that operated in Australia between 1987 and 1996 as the result of an agreement between Holden (the Australian subsidiary of General Motors) and Toyota Australia. The joint venture resulted in the two companies sharing production of locally produced automobiles by selling their models under both brands. UAAI produced three rebadged vehicles: the Holden Apollo (based on the Toyota Camry), Holden Nova (based on the Toyota Corolla) and Toyota Lexcen (based on the Holden Commodore). == History == The formation of UAAI can be traced back to the May 1984 announcement of the Button car plan, the work of Senator John Button, the Minister for Industry under the then current Bob Hawke led Labor government. The plan envisaged to rationalise and make the Australian automotive industry more competitive on a global scale by means of reducing import tariffs. Under an obligation to amalgamate, Holden and Toyota formed the UAAI joint venture on 11 December 1987 that resulted in model sharing between both automakers. These cars were released to the market in August 1989.〔Bebbington (1998), p. 125. "Holden's joint venture operation with Toyota began in 1987 and produced several shared models. The first of these was released in August 1989 as the Holden JK Apollo."〕 As consistent with the government mandated plan, UAAI operated under the framework of coordinated design, engineering and product sharing whilst maintaining independent marketing operations and dealership networks.〔 For Holden, it replaced the earlier joint venture with Nissan that had resulted in model sharing from 1984.〔Earl (2002), p. 24–26.〕 Toyota commenced manufacture of the Nova for Holden in June 1989 and the Apollo in July. Both companies held back certain marketing advantages to produce a greater level of model differentiation, for example the Toyotas were positioned as slightly more upmarket and equipment levels differed.〔Earl (2002), p. 29–30.〕 Irrespective of this, many buyers could tell that the cars were merely rebadged versions of other cars available on the market, and sales figures generated by the disguised versions reinforced this. That is, the version of the car produced by the original manufacturer far surpassed the sales figures for the rebadged version. Poor sales of the rebadged cars and an unwillingness to embrace the forced relationship led to dissolution of UAAI. This occurred in March 1996.〔 Production ended later in the year, although a large enough stockpile remained for some vehicles to remain in showrooms until 1997.〔Bebbington (1998), p. 131. "Production of the JP ceased in late 1996, but the series continued to be sold until () mid-1997."〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「United Australian Automobile Industries」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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