Exclusive: Dumarey proud of Commodore bid

Would-be Commodore V8 saviour Guido Dumarey says he remains proud of his bid for the Elizabeth plant and to keep building the locally-developed Zeta-based Commodore.

Speaking exclusively to motoring.com.au at the Detroit motor show last week, it was the first time the Belgian entrepreneur has broken his silence since last February when the bid collapsed after a meeting in Tokyo between General Motors and his company Punch.

“I am very proud that I did it, but we could not achieve it,” Dumarey said.

Dumarey pointed to the low Aussie dollar’s assistance for exports and the victory of the monocoque Honda Ridgeline in the North American Truck of the Year – announced at the Detroit motor show – as evidence the Commodore ute, in particular, would have been a strong international seller for the restructured business.

“I think it was possible,” he said.

In a statement issued when negotiations ceased, Punch said it would pursue other opportunities in the Australian automotive sector, but Dumarey indicated that was now unlikely, citing the shutdown of many automotive suppliers once Toyota and Holden cease manufacturing later this year, joining Ford which shut down last October.

“I think for the sub-contracting in the automotive industry in Australia it becomes very difficult after October, November [because of the closures].

“Starting from scratch without — let’s say — a current cash flow is very difficult.

“Mostly with the sub-contractors, from the moment Ford is stopping and Toyota is stopping and the economies of scale are not there anymore.

“When you do not have enough money in the system it is very difficult to keep everything running.

“And then you have increase of prices and lower volumes and you price yourself out of the market.

“Australia is a very free importer of trade.”

Dumarey was at Detroit promoting his company Acecdrive, a wireless inductive charging system for cars with longitudinally-mounted engines developed over the last 30 months by his company Punch Driveline Technologies

The key to the system is the location of the charge unit in the automatic transmission oil pan. He says it is simple to install on the same production line as autos that don’t employ the technology.

Dumarey’s plan is to convince automotive supply giant ZF -- for which he manufacturers automatic transmissions at a plant in Strasbourg -- to adopt the technology. He also wants to convince Mercedes-Benz parent Daimler, Ford and GM – all substantial manufacturers of longitudinally-engined vehicles -- to take the technology.

“Yes, I am ambitious, but don’t forget it is very simple because we at that moment achieve the best economies of scale. And we talk about three different parties; the ZF part, you have the Daimler part, which was making roughly one million automatic transmissions, and then you have the eight- and 10-speeds form GM and Ford they are developing together.

“This is in fact three different models not more than that and with these three models we cover a lot of the market.

“We will see in 2017 what we can achieve, but we will work every day on it.”

Dumarey’s hopes of enlisting Daimler in his plans might be a long-shot as Mercedes-Benz has partnered with Qalcomm for wireless charging. The system launches on the facelifted S-Class in the second half of 2017.