Articles by Meredith Booth

Driverless cars will take to Australian roads for the first time in November in a trial to pave the way for new laws to integrate the technology into the daily commute.

Their departure marked the first time in 29 years that the carmaker had forced workers out of their jobs, the Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union said.Union representatives are expected to be on site at the Elizabeth factory in northern Adelaide from 10am today to assist members over the next couple of days. The 90 forced redundancies are part of a wider program of 270 job losses, the majority of which are voluntary.The move comes as Holden prepares to reduce daily production from 290 vehicles to 240 from Monday.Our priority is to make sure our employees are informed first"When you build less cars you need less people and the rerate is effective from Monday," Holden spokesman Sean Poppitt said."As part of its scaling down of production, Holden will reduce employee numbers by 270 as it reduces its production rate."As we go through this difficult process, our priority is to make sure our employees are informed first."We appreciate the impact decisions like this have on employees and their families."Mr Poppitt said Holden was committed to supporting staff through the "transition process".The AMWU has previously said up to 90 workers would be forced out to make up for a shortfall of volunteers"All our people have access to career counselling, training and job-search assistance," he said.While Holden would not confirm the numbers of forced redundancies, the AMWU has previously said up to 90 workers would be forced out to make up for a shortfall of volunteers.

“If you're prepared to do something and you're prepared to stand next to the Mall's Balls and explain to anyone how and why a decision is taken, it's worth doing,” joint managing director Paul Crawford said.It's a benchmark that seems to have worked recently for the 78-year-old automotive retailer, rural and finance company, more known for its CMI Toyota dealerships in SA.The 1200-employee firm, with Paul and his brothers Michael and David on the board, is one of South Australia's largest private companies, passing a $1 billion turnover milestone last financial year.Most of that turnover comes from its South Australian base, including wine grape and nut producer CMV Farms, CMI Toyota, Lexus and Mercedes dealerships and its truck and bus retail business.But a lucrative arm has been its maintenance contracts for 2500 pieces of equipment the fleets of Woolworths, Fronterra, Aldi and other retailers. Those contracts and ambitions to expand its bus and truck dealership network interstate, are expected to drive growth for the company over the next five years.Mr Crawford was confident about the South Australian economy, despite the palpable impact BHP Billiton's decision to delay the expansion of the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine had on the local business psyche.“Yes, the final decision, you could feel it in the business community, you could feel it in confidence levels of small and medium businesses,” he said. “In one sense it was a relief to know that there was clearly a slowdown on the way.“There was also a bit of silver lining for us, the fact that I personally hold the view that there's been a lot of very overheated commentary surrounding the Olympic Dam Expansion... (the delay) has had a settling affect and brought into focus some of the really positive things happening,” he said.Rex Minerals' copper mine near Ardrossan on the Yorke Peninsula, Peculiar Knob and Prominent Hill were all driving activity and many South Australian businesses were more exposed to these projects than the “sensational” forecasts for expansions at Roxby. But the ore body remains in the ground, which meant that “when BHP push the button on it, I'm sure it will be done on a more efficient level,” he said.CMV Group's recent investments in SA include a multi-million-dollar purchase of Adelaide's only Mercedes dealership in July and a new $13 million Lexus dealership on West Tce, which began trading last month. “I often think of the SA psyche and I think it could be more positive and we could be much more proud of the things that we do,” he said.

Hermetically sealed from the grime, hustle and bustle of city streets, passengers and driver can be lulled into a peaceful ride with quality acoustics.I had to almost beg three of my dinner companions to take a ride in my luxury vehicle after a night in Gouger St.It lacked the thrill factor but my passengers soon relaxed into the plush seats and realised the pleasure and ease of conversing without competing with engine noise.This car is all grace, gentility and poise rather than noise, agility and pace.While the V6 engine gives Statesman the muscle to reach high speeds, it seems almost inappropriate to head north of a diplomatic 60km/h.To be honest, I wasn't inspired to head east into the foothills and see how well it performed on winding roads or how fast it took to reach 100km on the freeway.Instead I was content to cruise and float through city traffic using the steering-wheel controls to crank up the radio – Cruise 1323, of course (to tap in to the Statesman demographic). There's plenty of room – Holden's specs show leg room for rear-seat passengers is an extraordinary 1.1m and 1.07m up front.In terms of carbon footprints, this car has a larger shoe size than most.While Statesman falls within the luxury category, this glorified Commodore has a relatively spartan price tag. But, I wonder, outside of fleet buyers in Canberra and for North Tce, just who would buy a Statesman? Perhaps the ageing elite or basketballers with special leg-room needs? But for a young(ish) female looking to impress or be impressed by excess – it's as long a stretch as its wheelbase.And another thing – Henry Ford's famous quip "Any colour as long as it's black" may have been fine before cars contributed to global warming but black interior and paint doesn't work in an Australian summer. No matter how good the air conditioning is.