MORE than 120 jobs will be lost with the closure of another Victorian car parts manufacturer amid claims predatory pricing by car giant Toyota caused its downfall.
Administrator Greg Keith confirmed the closure today, saying a three-week hunt for a buyer to bail out the troubled car parts maker had failed.
The closure is another blow for Australia's embattled manufacturing industry, with union calls for the federal government to step in.
The National Union of Workers (NUW) today said Toyota had forced down the unit price of a Teson product - wheel covers - from $12 to $9.03, which the manufacturer could not afford.
"How could this local family business plan and run its operations in the face of rising costs, a fluctuating Australian dollar and predatory pricing by its key customers?" said NUW Victorian secretary Antony Thow.
Mr Keith said 14 parties had shown interest in Teson but not enough to clinch a sale.
He said 92 of the 126 job losses would be at the company's Euroa plant, with staff at Mitcham, in Melbourne's east, also out of work.
"There's no doubt there will be some flow-on effects, it's a significant employer in town," Mr Keith told ABC Radio.
"The staff here are a very loyal group, they've been here for a long period of time. It's quite heart breaking for many of them that I've had to speak to this morning.
"In some cases we've got whole families that are employed here so, from a social and a personal level, this is very disappointing."
Mr Keith said the employees would receive all their entitlements but it would take some time because there were insufficient funds to pay them out.
He said Teson, which makes soft components, including door inserts, kick panels and spare wheel covers, was $2.5 million in debt and suffered a $1 million hit when another company went bust two years ago.
AAP
