Car giants bank $77m Covid cash

Only Toyota repaid the funds

GLOBAL car giants including Ford, Mazda, Mercedes and Toyota banked a combined $76.7m in JobKeeper funds, with only one paying back the cash following a bumper year for car sales.

Ford Australia took the lion’s share of JobKeeper paid to the auto manufacturers, with $38.6m flowing to the US giant. Ford posted a pre-tax profit of $59.3m in Australia last year.

It also booked a $466m tax windfall following losses in previous years, the automaker’s local accounts show.

Toyota Australia made the move to repay $18.7m of its JobKeeper payment in January of this year as the business’s full year profit grew increasingly clear.

The Japanese car company’s Australian operations doubled its results to deliver a $332m after-tax profit.

That was compared to Toyota Australia’s $129m profit in the 2020 financial year. Toyota president and chief executive Matthew Callachor said the company repaid the funds, as it was the right thing to do.

“We claimed JobKeeper payments to help support the job security of almost 1400 Toyota employees around Australia – the people who are our first priority,” he said.

“In the end, we were very fortunate to weather the storm better than most, so our management and board decided that returning JobKeeper payments was the right thing to do as a responsible corporate citizen.”

Mazda Australia enjoyed a $5.7m JobKeeper windfall that buttressed the company’s $91.5m profit after tax.

The Japanese company, one of the most popular car brands in Australia, has made no move to repay JobKeeper.

A company spokeswoman said the company would “determine its position when the pandemic is over”.

“The environment remains highly uncertain given the ongoing impacts of Covid-19,” she said.

Daimler Australia, the makers of popular car brand Mercedes-Benz, as well as Daimler trucks and buses, reaped $4.9m in JobKeeper.

A Daimler Australia spokesman said the company qualified for and was able to access JobKeeper.

“This support was used as intended, meaning we could retain our local workforce and limit the agreed period of reduced working hours for our employees, and could continue serving our customers and supporting our local dealer network,” he said.

Daimler Australia, which made $62.7m in profit, has not repaid its JobKeeper funds.