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Automobile manufacturing researcher Evelyn Anderson says the industry is facing unprecedented challenges with the global credit crunch and climate change pressures.
Evelyn, who lectures in the School of Arts and Sciences at the Brisbane Campus (McAuley at Banyo) and is fluent in Cantonese and Japanese, is completing a PhD in economics which explores the Japanese car industry.
“Toyota is a victim of its own success,” she said. “As the world’s number one, it is suffering its first operating loss in 70 years. Demand has changed overnight.”
The industry, which includes parts suppliers, employs up to 20 per cent of the working population in many countries and is responsible for some 10 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.
This is why governments have such a big dilemma.” If they do not step in to prop up the local industry, unemployment is likely to rise. At the same time, governments are under pressure to push for rapid innovation in the sector, to reduce carbon gas emissions.
“There are a lot of challenges in this field at the moment.”
