Nasser fears Aussie car industry doomed THE former global president of Ford, Jac Nasser, thinks Australian governments should have done more to help local car manufacturers. Holden has been criticised by the South Australian government and unions after announcing 500 job cuts this week, which came a year after it received $275 million taxpayer assistance package. Mr Nasser, who was Ford's chief executive from 1998 to 2001, said the end of local car manufacturing now looked sadly inevitable, with Holden refusing to guarantee the future of local manufacturing. Other countries such as the US have propped up their car industries with massive handouts - including nationalising companies - while Holden complained this week about being shut out of export markets because of protectionism abroad. "We haven't spent a lot when you compare the incentives that the automotive industry has received from others," Mr Nasser told reporters at a business lunch. I think it would be a very sad day for Australia but it unfortunately looks like it could be inevitable. Mr Nasser, who currently chairs BHP Billiton, said he was more disappointed that more Australians did not seem to care that the industry faced the threat of extinction. "They're not patriotic around their automotive industry," he said. In most countries around the world they are, they're emotional about their automotive industry. Here we've had it with some products but we haven't seemed as Australians to be emotionally connected to the industry. Mr Nasser said a tipping point could come if one of the three manufacturers - Ford, Holden or Toyota - exited Australia, reducing scale and creating a domino effect.