Gates are a supplier to GMH and have an office in Melbourne. Easily contacted for product information or any issues. GMB have been supplying for a long time and their product is acceptable. Not a help making your decision but pricing could be the decider.

If you check the Gates web site you can see they do a lot of other product besides belts & hoses. Either brand is reputable and as mentioned it comes down to personal choice. There are many other brands sold in the market that may not have the credibility of these two. Even Precision from Wagga has been bought out by USA interests but still do a good product.

To my knowledge neither Gates or GMB make water pumps in Australia. The outer package itself should show the country of origin if they don't. A lot of multinational companies do not list where they make product and if they use companies that they own or have shares in. The only way to find out is to ask them direct yourself and see what response you get. Another thing to consider is getting the parts from numerous sources such as castings from India, bearings from Japan, gaskets from Thailand and then assembled in Australia and if that makes it Australian made.

20 years ago GMB used to have "Japan" on their boxes (for Holden 6 & V8 pumps). 10 years ago that vanished.
It didn't specifically say "made in Japan" though.

I had a browse of the GMB site, and they still have plant in Japan, but other plants all over Asia, the USA and even one in Romania:
http://www.gmb.jp/en/cor...ate/about_gmb/corp_net/
I'm not suggesting for a minute that they are made in Japan - perhaps the bearings & mech seals once were....


Gates' website notes manufacturing locations in the USA, Canada & Mexico:
http://www.gates.com/about-gates/locations

Gates seem to have only recently added water pumps to their range - mainly as part of kits, like the successful timing belt kits they do, where they buy in all the other components, and offer a complete kit). It seems the way they went with kits was a great plan that has kept their business ticking over well after the closure of their local plants. Their core business however, has always been industrial rubber based items, like hydraulic hoses, drive belts etc. I know this from industry experience, and from what some of reps at work have told me who spent some time there in the past (also in fluid power).

The reason I posed the question, is that from Gates' other lines (timing kits) can you say a Gates pump is a Gates manufactured pump, or is it simply bought in from another supplier, and on-sold as part of a cooling system kit with the hoses & other components?