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+--- Thread: GM to dump Holden (/thread-4143.html)
GM to dump Holden - ElwoodBlues1 - 02-10-2019
Looks like long suffering Holden owners/fans are to be dealt another blow with GM about to sell off Holden to Inchcape Australia who are importers of such crap boxes like Peugeot, Citroen and I think they are also the importer for Subaru.
Fair chance the Holden name will disappear and be replaced by the Opel name only and Inchcape's main interest must be to use the Holden distribution network to flog more Subaru's and save some money...cant see why anyone would want Holden on their books.
Inchcape will probably import the Opel range only or even kill off Holden for good........not that killing off Holden for good is such a bad thing, lousy cars, worst customer service along with Ford in Aus......actually Fiat/Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep is slightly worse again... My sympathies if you own any vehicles from those makers......
Re: GM to dump Holden - capcom - 02-10-2019
Bathurst will look different
Re: GM to dump Holden - cookie2 - 02-11-2019
I can see the rationale in a way. The Holden brand was built on cars, esp. family sedans and wagons, actually being made in Australia for Australian conditions. What is the value of that brand if non of its models are to be built here - why bother just putting a Holden badge on an imported model, especially when the source brand may have more cachet in specific model ranges?
Re: GM to dump Holden - ElwoodBlues1 - 02-11-2019
(02-11-2019, 10:00 AM)cookie2 link Wrote:I can see the rationale in a way. The Holden brand was built on cars, esp. family sedans and wagons, actually being made in Australia for Australian conditions. What is the value of that brand if non of its models are to be built here - why bother just putting a Holden badge on an imported model, especially when the source brand may have more cachet in specific model ranges?
Sales are terrible for Holdens, they are still trying to flog Commodores that are 18 months old in design and calling them new cars, the brand is damaged and has been since they took money off the government when they promised to keep manufacturing in Aus but in fact closed down their operation and sent that money to Detroit....
Ford will be next, a equally woeful company whose customer service and engineering is amongst the worst.....
Re: GM to dump Holden - cookie2 - 02-11-2019
(02-11-2019, 11:27 AM)ElwoodBlues1 link Wrote:Sales are terrible for Holdens, they are still trying to flog Commodores that are 18 months old in design and calling them new cars, the brand is damaged and has been since they took money off the government when they promised to keep manufacturing in Aus but in fact closed down their operation and sent that money to Detroit....
Ford will be next, a equally woeful company whose customer service and engineering is amongst the worst.....
Yes, the great Aussie public has generally moved on from the traditional Holden and Ford family vehicles leaving mainly the die-hards whose patronage does not provide enough demand to support local production. The Ford brand though, unlike Holden, is a global one, so will survive albeit on imported vehicles.
Re: GM to dump Holden - LP - 02-11-2019
(02-11-2019, 08:09 PM)cookie2 link Wrote:Yes, the great Aussie public has generally moved on from the traditional Holden and Ford family vehicles leaving mainly the die-hards whose patronage does not provide enough demand to support local production. The Ford brand though, unlike Holden, is a global one, so will survive albeit on imported vehicles.
Most moved on because both brands tried to sell cars for top dollar with B-Grade builds and materials. Ford and Holden were making local plastic versions of BMW and Taurus and trying to charge more for them even though they were full of 70s technology!
The car makers would claim nobody wanted large cars, but at the moment the trend is away from small cars back to family sized vehicles which is ironic given they closed the plants making medium and large sized sedans. The truth was they didn't want to spend on old factories to update old models with modern powertrains and technologies.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the market over the next few years, a friend I have who use to own a Ford dealership tells me the biggest growth area is in light trucks like Twin cabs. Our market is becoming very American, and you can expect to find interesting hybrid or plugin versions appearing in SUVs and traditional muscle cars over the next few years. I was sceptical until he took me for a spin in his Tesla 100D, it cost a lot to buy, stuff all to run as he has a setup at home with solar panels and Tesla batteries that basically charges it off the sun, and pins you to the seat under acceleration like a top end sports car.
Re: GM to dump Holden - JonHenry - 02-11-2019
(02-11-2019, 09:19 PM)LP link Wrote:Most moved on because both brands tried to sell cars for top dollar with B-Grade builds and materials. Ford and Holden were making local plastic versions of BMW and Taurus and trying to charge more for them even though they were full of 70s technology!
The car makers would claim nobody wanted large cars, but at the moment the trend is away from small cars back to family sized vehicles which is ironic given they closed the plants making medium and large sized sedans. The truth was they didn't want to spend on old factories to update old models with modern powertrains and technologies.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens in the market over the next few years, a friend I have who use to own a Ford dealership tells me the biggest growth area is in light trucks like Twin cabs. Our market is becoming very American, and you can expect to find interesting hybrid or plugin versions appearing in SUVs and traditional muscle cars over the next few years. I was sceptical until he took me for a spin in his Tesla 100D, it cost a lot to buy, stuff all to run as he has a setup at home with solar panels and Tesla batteries that basically charges it off the sun, and pins you to the seat under acceleration like a top end sports car.
The truth is much simpler, the local manufacturers could not compete.
Labour costs at the low production factories could not compete with the Asian manufacturers for low cost vehicles, and they couldn't compete on quality with European manufacturers for high cost vehicles.
Our cost of living combined with union forces squeezed them out.
Re: GM to dump Holden - Thryleon - 02-11-2019
(02-11-2019, 11:33 PM)JonHenry link Wrote:The truth is much simpler, the local manufacturers could not compete.
Labour costs at the low production factories could not compete with the Asian manufacturers for low cost vehicles, and they couldn't compete on quality with European manufacturers for high cost vehicles.
Our cost of living combined with union forces squeezed them out.
Its all swings and roundabouts.
Give it time, things will come back here.
Re: GM to dump Holden - JonHenry - 02-12-2019
(02-11-2019, 11:37 PM)Thryleon link Wrote:Its all swings and roundabouts.
Give it time, things will come back here.
No chance in the next 25 years, and probably 50
Re: GM to dump Holden - cookie2 - 02-12-2019
(02-12-2019, 12:06 AM)JonHenry link Wrote:No chance in the next 25 years, and probably 50
Tend to agree. Building mass produced vehicles can be easily done these days in low labour cost countries e.g. Thailand. I guess AI and robotics could eventually virtually eliminate even most of the low cost labour required?
Would Aussies be prepared to work hard for very low pay in order to compete in that environment. Certainly not at the moment although the forces of neo-liberal globalism could beat us into submission eventually?