Happy New Year to you from us all at the corporate office!  The MTA Queensland’s commercial, innovation, training, financial, advocacy and service architecture is ready to assist you in realising a successful and profitable 2018 for you and your enterprises.

The team is in place to lead the way in what I anticipate will be a busy and exciting year amidst a period of change as technologies such as electrification, connected and automated driving, and artificial intelligence make significant progress. But it must be kept in mind there’ll never be driverless businesses!

The Association will continue to develop our three-pronged approach to ensure that we provide the full 360 degree of support to the automotive value chain. This includes the leadership to represent the needs of business, the future workforce and skilling requirements to shape the future of industry through the MTA Institute. Important too, is presenting new opportunities through the innovation hub to our members and new entrants to industry in the form of start-ups.

The Carmageddon initiative will continue to inform members of emerging technologies related to the digital economy that encourage business model adaption; strategy development and implementation; and to innovate using new products to advantage their enterprises. However, there is a subtle change! Carmageddon now will be featured in the global Myriad Festival which showcases start-ups, innovation and next-generation technology. It is presented in partnership with the State Government‘s Advance Queensland. The MTA Queensland will be a key Myriad Festival sponsor and exhibitor where it will be showcased as an industry leader in the automotive, transport and mobility space through a combination of program content and activation displays.

The Myriad Festival connects start-ups, investors, brands, governments and students through an action-packed, three-day festival of interactive workshops, product demonstrations, networking events and keynote presentations. It contributes to the creation of investment opportunities for start-ups, partnerships for corporate organisations and procurements for governments. The Myriad Festival has the potential to take Carmageddon to the world stage. At the 2017 Festival, there was 3,300 total audience participation (including satellite events), 164 exhibitors, and 1,000 high school and university students participating in the Myriad High program. There were 149 speakers (33 interstate, 49 interstate, 53 local, 14 regional) and 98 sessions.

The Myriad Festival will be held from Wednesday 16 May to Friday 18 May at the RNA Showgrounds, where there is ample parking. I urge you to get involved and lock the dates in your schedule. At the 2017 Myriad Festival, 46 per cent of ticket holders were associated with the start-up sector and 56 per cent were decision makers within their businesses. There will be more information on the website, in future editions of Motor Trader and I will highlight key facts in From the desk of the CEO.

One of the exhibitors at the Myriad Festival will be the international company Local Motors. It is a technology company that designs, builds and sells vehicular products through micro-manufacturing (producing parts directly from digital files using processes such as large-scale 3D printing) and co-creation. The advantages of Advanced 3D printing include profitability at lower volumes, being customisable and upgradeable, rapid vehicle development and recyclable materials.

Recently, I met with Local Motors representatives, and after a fulsome discussion discerned that the business model of micro-manufacturing producing vehicular products had significant potential for the automotive and logistic industries. We have agreed to collaborate further, particularly as there are synergies that may advantage clients in our innovation hub.

I’m convinced that we must be motivated about the next generation of smart mobility vehicles. Compared to other first world countries, the transport technological disruption of electric vehicles in our nation has been slow. There is time for our businesses to innovate and be part of the change and not be left in limbo. For example, according to United States (U.S.) industry research, the automotive sector is ‘on the cusp of one of the fastest, deepest most consequential disruptions of transportation in history. By 2030, ninety-five percent of U.S. passenger miles travelled will be served by on-demand autonomous vehicles owned by fleets not individuals.’  Further studies have indicated alarming consequences, such as U.S. auto sales declining by some 40 to 70 per cent by 2040 and manufacturers such as GM and Ford cutting their north American production by 68 per cent and 58 per cent respectively.

Advocacy

As Deputy CEO Kellie Dewar indicates in Viewpoint, we wrote congratulatory letters to newly commissioned cabinet ministers and appointed shadow ministers with responsibilities relevant to the automotive value chain and all elected members of parliament. In the coming days we will be establishing relationships with the new ministers and shadow ministers to open dialogue on key automotive industry policies and issues. Like Kellie, I encourage members to reach out to your local members of parliament to inform on local sector and business conditions.

In previous From the desk of the CEO, I mentioned that I met with the Queensland Overseas Foundation (QOF) to discuss support for an automotive industry graduates program. Consequently, MTA Queensland committed to be a sponsor of the QOF and the program that provides vocational education and training graduates and professionals with the opportunity to broaden their vocational horizons and improve their career prospects by working overseas. The program enables young leaders to travel internationally to experience emerging technologies and bring back the knowledge to the Australian/Queensland market.

A recent QOF Board of Governors meeting offered MTA Queensland one seat on the Board. Positions have been offered also to TAFE Qld and Apprentice Employment Network – both of which have long-standing relationships with QOF. I will be attending an upcoming meeting of the Board of Governors which will be followed by a strategic review of priorities and funding guidelines. By way of background, QOF was established in 1976, is sponsored by industry and supported by the Queensland Government. The Governor of Queensland is the Patron.

And the last thing

EV North, owned by Michael Lunn, was announced at the 2017 President’s Ball as the winner of the MTA Queensland innovation award for rebuilding internal combustion engine vehicles to run as plug-in electric vehicles. It would be assumed that this innovative enterprise would be valued, assisted and encouraged by any local community. Not so! The Townsville City Council ordered it to close over a noise dispute after a Tea House and Gallery complained about ‘drilling and banging and hammering’.

Regional centres need innovative enterprises and electric vehicle conversion would be beneficial, especially for local business fleets. Mr Lunn said that commencing the start-up had been difficult and has taken a teaching position at a local school whilst considering his future. Moving to Brisbane was an option and I indicated to Mr Lunn that we would look for ways to assist either by collaborating with other MTA Queensland businesses and offering strategic advice.

My focus in the coming month – apart from preparing for the Board meeting – will be to progress the Group’s commercial interests, promote the innovation hub and the MTA Institute, collaborate with the Myriad Festival’s organisers and establish relationships with the newly commissioned cabinet ministers and appointed shadow ministers with portfolios relative to the automotive value chain.

Until March, as Henry Ford, the industrialist and the founder of the Ford motor company said, ‘execute ideas with enthusiasm . . . as it is the bottom of all progress’.