Holden Axed in Australia

spackbace on 17/02/2020 - 13:06

https://www.caradvice.com.au/827459/holden-axed-in-australia…

The Holden brand will be retired at the end of this year, selected showrooms may stock a limited range of Chevrolet vehicles under new General Motors Specialty Vehicles badge.

Well, writing has been on the wall for a while but it'll be sad to see it go. I'm sure majority of people have had a Commodore in the family at some point.

Wonder what will happen with the V8 Supercars now? GM likely won't bother spending money on it, as it won't generate into business in the showrooms.

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Comments

  • Skramit on 17/02/2020 - 13:11
    +26

    Geeeeeeeee never saw this coming rolleye

    I'm sure a marketing textbook book is about to be written: "How to kill a car brand in 5 years"

    Wonder what will happen with the V8 Supercars now?

    Will hopefully just become a 'touring car' championship or something along those lines.

    • Bid Sniper on 17/02/2020 - 13:22
      +17

      GT production class, I'm stick of seeing cars that are facsimiles of real cars. Cars we buy dont have stickers for headlights.

      • Skramit on 17/02/2020 - 13:24
        +2

        Agreed, a production class would be good.

      • smartazz104 on 18/02/2020 - 07:29
        +6

        Most people who buy cars don't care about motor racing.

        • Euphemistic on 18/02/2020 - 08:01
          +2

          And Holden didn’t get that.

        • 91rs on 18/02/2020 - 09:30
          +14

          Most people who buy cars don't care about cars really.
          Its nothing more than transport for the bulk of people, the cheaper the better.

          • thomalfa on 19/02/2020 - 15:37

            @91rs: Well… if that's the concept of picking a new car… then we should all just buy Chinese manufacturer cars… guarantee cheap all the way like HAVAL lol… as long as the tyres will kept intact while driving… and the car stabilizer control will keep you safe while cornering… lol

    • RADICALIST on 17/02/2020 - 16:55
      +27

      I am amazed you can roll just one eye

      • Plug on 21/02/2020 - 11:50

        Maybe he only has one eye.

    • spackbace on 17/02/2020 - 13:23
      +1

      How?

      HSV have sold stuff all Silverados and Camaros.

      You'll see maybe 1 dealership in each state. The dealership owners will look to rebrand by the end of the year, maybe just change to used car sales, or look to other brands.

      • Skramit on 17/02/2020 - 13:28

        HSV have sold stuff all Silverados

        Only because it's a crap vehicle and overall concept. People don't want a pointlessly riced up SUV. Another dumb decision by Holden/GM. Out of touch morons running the show.

        How?

        I assume he's referring to the success of the Mustang.

        • spackbace on 17/02/2020 - 13:36

          I assume he's referring to the success of the Mustang.

          Which has fizzled out tbh, everyone has had the initial excitement and now you see them at every dealer.

          I don't have national figures, but according to VFACTS, 18 were delivered in January in WA, compared to 32 in January 2019.

          • Skramit on 17/02/2020 - 13:37
            +4

            @spackbace: Fair enough.

            Although I see about 5 every morning on my commute. They are fricken everywhere driven by middle aged men in suits. Perhaps its the same 5? :P

            • spackbace on 17/02/2020 - 13:46
              +5

              @Skramit: Probably the ones who paid large when it first came out ;)

              Can buy 2015/2016 models for sub-$40,000 now

              Though personally, there's only 1 year Mustang

              • Skramit on 17/02/2020 - 13:52
                +2

                @spackbace: Those early ones are still a 2 star safety rating tho. NOTHX

                • [Deactivated] on 17/02/2020 - 14:11
                  -4

                  @Skramit: I wouldn't read too much into that. The NHTSA gave them a 5 star rating, so structurally they are good, the failures on NCAP came down largely to a lack of electronic safety nannies.

                  • pegaxs on 17/02/2020 - 14:31
                    -6

                    @[Deactivated]: "iT wAs OnLy bEcAuSe nO AeB aNd wAs poSt NeW tEsTiNg CriTeRiA!!!11!!1!!"

                    No it wasn't. The Mustang failed and performed poorly in crash tests. Even when the extra safety features were added, they only gained one star, because the "actual" crash test results were still woeful.

              • johnno07 on 17/02/2020 - 18:23
                +2

                @spackbace: Swoon at the '67.

            • Hybroid on 17/02/2020 - 14:00
              +2

              @Skramit:

              They are fricken everywhere driven by middle aged men in suits.

              Not surprised. They're available on corporate leases for $2,000 a month all inclusive of everything. Servicing, insurance & even fuel.

          • Hackney on 18/02/2020 - 06:13
            +3

            @spackbace: Sports cars traditionally “flatten out” after the initial rush.Mustang is no different.It is around the 300 units a month,which I think Ford would be fairly happy with.They never envisioned the car doing so well from the get go.The appetite was always there for this type of car,after RWD finished in this country.

        • Euphemistic on 17/02/2020 - 13:59

          People don't want a pointlessly riced up SUV.

          It’s not an SUV, but an overgrown ute.

          A few people want a big pickup for towing increasing weight caravans, but there are a few to choose from other than the Silverado but the Ram and F150 seem to be much more popular.

    • smartazz104 on 18/02/2020 - 09:56

      All they build is trucks now, no one wants those.

      • Hybroid on 18/02/2020 - 11:55

        Aren't pickup trucks the staple of many Australians? Why wouldn't an F150 do well here?

        • smartazz104 on 18/02/2020 - 12:21
          +2

          Yeah that's what we need, oblivious drivers in oversized pickup trucks.

        • Euphemistic on 18/02/2020 - 16:53
          +1

          They might if they didn’t cost $150k. American pickups are popular with caravanners and people who tow large trailers, but they are too big for day to day usage like shopping centre carparks.

  • Bid Sniper on 17/02/2020 - 13:21
    +18

    They could of survived if the suits in Holden were so galactically stupid. Ford managed a comeback without pissing off their customers.

    But hey this is GM, they're globally stupid.

    Now need to remove LCT

    • spackbace on 17/02/2020 - 13:25
      +11

      Now need to remove LCT

      The issue with that is a) it's another money grab for governments, and b) the luxury car brands cracking the shits. See Porsche's whinge as an example.

      Personally, I think the threshold should be $100k

      • Bid Sniper on 17/02/2020 - 13:28
        +1

        agreed, price of cars has crept up due to inflation but legislation remains at 60k

        Even Elon said their cars seem expensive here, big part LCT
        https://www.gizmodo.com.au/2020/02/elon-musk-agrees-tesla-mo…

        • spackbace on 17/02/2020 - 13:32
          +8

          FYI, LCT changes every year with indexation

          • konazz on 17/02/2020 - 19:00

            @spackbace: But the depreciation threshold doesn't. So it doesn't make sense to buy anything over the depreciation threshold of $57581 https://www.ato.gov.au/business/depreciation-and-capital-exp…

            Those who own cars in businesses or novated leases have to calculate FBT on the higher value and then are limited by the deduction because of this artificial limit. But buy a top spec ute (like the X-class, Ranger or Amarok) and you get around LCT (doesn't apply to utes), can claim full depreciation and with some creativity limit FBT

      • atrolgehapis on 17/02/2020 - 16:52
        +12

        Why do you think there should be a LCT at all? Its original purpose was to protect local industry, which doesn't exist.

        • abuch47 on 19/02/2020 - 13:08

          tax on rich

      • ThadtheChad on 20/02/2020 - 17:49
        +1

        Wow Porche's whinge article was an interesting read. Thanks for that.

        • spackbace on 20/02/2020 - 19:03
          +1

          I mean, it makes sense if resale plummeted overnight (hello Holden), but also needs to be abolished, so how does that work in the real world lol

          • ThadtheChad on 21/02/2020 - 21:50

            @spackbace: Yeah I guess, they need to cop it in the chin. Not sure if we need to pander to them though.

    • His_Holiness on 17/02/2020 - 13:57
      +7

      When Holden spent their last few months in Australia giving the locally produced Commodore a fanfare exit, Ford let the Falcon gracefully exit without a whimper while planning for life beyond. The Ford Ranger is now the 2nd best selling car in Australia. That could have been the Colorado.

      • spackbace on 17/02/2020 - 14:01
        +1

        Ranger has/had a lot to do with the design. Even when people knew it was a BT-50 underneath, it came down to the design of the car.

        People really only bought Holden on price. When Colorado started at $38,990 for a dual-cab automatic, they sold. Was about $47k for the top of the range. Then the new model came out and it was more in line with Hilux/Ranger pricing, and people didn't see the value.

        The only car to sell based on quality/price was the Commodore imo. Everything else had to be sold so cheaply as to avoid any serious competition.

        • huit on 18/02/2020 - 08:57
          +7

          Actually with the Ranger it's the opposite - most of the R&D was actually done by Ford Australia , Mazda badge engineered the car as the BT50.

          • nickcorr on 18/02/2020 - 10:41
            +6

            @huit: Sort of, the entire project, not just R&D, was done by a Global Ford Team, based in Melbourne, as it was a world project for all markets except North America. Staff were brought in from all over the world to work on it and make sure that the Ranger was suitable as a global vehicle, not just building something for one market, and hoping that it would work in the rest of the world, cough cough Commodore.. And yes Mazda were allowed to put their badges on it as they both rolled out of the same factory in Thailand.

          • Aido-3927 on 18/02/2020 - 10:49
            +2

            @huit: You're both right; the first gen was a Mazda that Ford used, then the 2nd gen ones are a Ford that Mazda use.

      • Bid Sniper on 17/02/2020 - 14:18
        +28

        Ford didnt piss off their base by rebadging cars, taking handouts, playing victim blaming customers and selling cheap garbage to their loyal fans for years.

        Nope Ford said, no more Falcon but here is the Mustang, Focus RS, Ranger, Fiesta, Mondeo. They made their decision and gave their customers good options to go with. This is why Ford was the only one of two manufactures not to go bankrupt during GFC, suits at Ford know what they are doing.

          • smartazz104 on 18/02/2020 - 07:31
            +1

            @askme69: What's wrong with it?

          • thrillhouse on 18/02/2020 - 07:35
            +3

            @askme69: Still has an 18+ year old car. Sounds awful.

            • smartazz104 on 18/02/2020 - 08:18
              +1

              @thrillhouse: Yeah imagine all the neighbours looking down their noses at you, how awful.

          • Bid Sniper on 18/02/2020 - 08:20
            +6

            @askme69: At least your old man's Ford is a Ford and not a Daewoo sold as Ford or wherever God forsaken trash car thats been badges swapped. He paid for a Ford and got a Ford.

            That Ghia might be a cheap POS but its still running to this day, have to respect that.

          • BartholemewH on 18/02/2020 - 17:59
            +3

            @askme69: The AU is the greatest piece of automotive engineering ever created. Obviously you are not worthy to inherit the beautiful Ghia from your father, who has excellent taste.

    • polarq on 17/02/2020 - 22:28
      +5

      Could have*

  • [Deactivated] on 17/02/2020 - 13:38
    +35

    No big loss. I have a relative who was quite senior at Holden, gets a lifetime huge discount of about 40% on Holden and still they bought a Mazda.

    • Cluster on 17/02/2020 - 23:06
      +2

      That lifetime discount isn't worth much now! :-)

      Oh, it was for the lifetime of the company. Just a few years after they pulled out. No one saw that coming. No one….

      • serpserpserp on 18/02/2020 - 20:46
        +2

        When I pull out no one sees it coming either… No one…

    • boomramada on 18/02/2020 - 22:12
      -2

      Quite senior at Holden? And bought a Mazda, must be crappy pay.

  • holdenmg on 17/02/2020 - 13:45
    +3

    Lions aren't a protected species in Australia anymore.

  • ESEMCE on 17/02/2020 - 13:50
    +3

    Wow, no surprises except that it's happened so early in the year!

  • Euphemistic on 17/02/2020 - 13:53
    +13

    It sad to see an icon disappear, but they haven’t had a good run for a long time. Missed the opportunity with SUVs by importing Captivas. Screwed up the Cruze. Stuck with the V8 Commodire when they should probably have tried to give it a hybrid or turbo 4/6 for economy or switched the production line to dual cabs or something that the punters other than supercar fans wanted.

    There’s no point having a home grown nameplate that only imports vehicles off the GM catalog.

  • Levathian on 17/02/2020 - 13:54
    +2

    Is it really a big loss? Noone buys Holden cars now surely? The brand died years ago.

  • MoshPitShaq on 17/02/2020 - 14:00
    +6

    All those government handouts appear to have done the trick…

    • pegaxs on 17/02/2020 - 14:08
      +26

      They shipped those hand outs back to GM in the US to pay the execs their bonus payouts from the GFC at the time. None of it was invested into Australia.

      • MoshPitShaq on 17/02/2020 - 14:22
        +8

        Exactly.

        But we'll be fine. The luxury car tax isn't going anywhere, which was designed to ensure the longevity and prosperity of Aus automotive manufacturing. We can't lose.

        • UFO on 17/02/2020 - 20:12

          If that was the case to encourage local car makers, then surely the tax will be lifted?!? I'll start holding my breath….nnnnnnnooooow.

    • Randolph Duke on 17/02/2020 - 16:01
      +3

      Every car manufacturing nation protects its auto industry with tarrif's, subsidies etc.

      • MoshPitShaq on 17/02/2020 - 16:41
        +10

        I can agree with that. But now that we don't manufacture any car, why are the taxes still in place? There's nothing to protect anymore.

        • Randolph Duke on 17/02/2020 - 23:44
          +2

          Yep, no reason at all now.

  • Brightland on 17/02/2020 - 14:01
    +12

    We drove past a new dealership that's being built in Adelaide on Friday, I even said to my partner at that time that I didn't know why they were bothering as any idiot could see the brand wasn't going to last past the next 5 years. Turns out I was being overly optimistic with 5 years!

    • spackbace on 17/02/2020 - 14:02
      +8

      A new Holden dealership? Wtf lol they've been closing up here over the last few years

      • Brightland on 17/02/2020 - 14:05

        Well, an existing dealership building a new premises in a different location…

        • spackbace on 17/02/2020 - 14:10

          Yeesh :/

          • ESEMCE on 17/02/2020 - 14:29

            @spackbace: Looks pretty flash too and they've already got the Red Cladding Up!
            Come to think of it, there were no workers there this morning when I drove past!

          • Monad on 18/02/2020 - 02:00

            @spackbace: Was that a reference to John Cadogan? If so could you tell me what do you think of this POV on the car industry etc? Cheers.

            • spackbace on 18/02/2020 - 02:54
              +2

              @Monad: Yes

              And I've never watched more than 30s of his drivel

              He's a sham with bias, so his views mean as much as anyone off the street

              • crazyj on 18/02/2020 - 10:14
                +1

                @spackbace: how do you figure he has any bias (towards a particular brand?)?

    • derrida derider on 18/02/2020 - 11:25
      +1

      It's worse than that. We're all focusing on GM's local mistakes but while these exist they really have little to do with the closure. GM has for years openly had a strategy of getting out of RHD markets to simplify design of new platforms - UK Sth Africa India Japan are all already gone, Thailand - including those factories - just announced.

      That dealership really was not paying attention; it seems like that boofhead John Cadogan was the only one who was. Whatever Holden did their closure was just a matter of time.

  • Hithere on 17/02/2020 - 14:03
    +3

    Used to be a one eyed Holden person, sad to see them go but they lost the plot a few years back and never recovered.

    Almost feel sorry for the dealer principal that I know who spent millions only a few years back building a huge new car yard and showrooms.

    Wonder if he ever came out ahead or not.

    Vale Holden.

    • Bid Sniper on 17/02/2020 - 14:21
      +2

      Id be interesting to see if franchisee get compensated or get shafted, considering its GM the later.

      Switch to selling KIAs, much better cars than the trash Holden sell.

    • TEER3X on 18/02/2020 - 10:16

      How hard can it be to convert that showroom to Kia or whatever?

      • Euphemistic on 18/02/2020 - 11:15
        +1

        Not hard. But it isn’t uncommon for there to be a bunch of dealers in the same area. It’s likely they already have Kia across the road.

        • Hithere on 18/02/2020 - 11:28
          +1

          Nearest KIA franchise is about 70km away from their current dealership but I have no idea what he intends to do.

          I daresay he's already got a plan B in place.

      • Bid Sniper on 18/02/2020 - 11:29
        +2

        Swap logo, keep McDonald's style colour choices.

  • pegaxs on 17/02/2020 - 14:07
    +1

    LOLOOLOLOLLLOLOL :D Called it!

    Just heard this on the news while driving home in the car. Not even getting a re-badge. It's just "close the door" on all right hand drive cars.

    Just wait for the front page to be full of fire-sale vehicles. No warranty (well, there will be, but try and find a Holden dealer after the end of this year.)

    • [Deactivated] on 17/02/2020 - 14:10

      Didn't Chevrolet pay big bucks sponsoring Man U?

      • BOGOF on 17/02/2020 - 17:06

        They did. But Chevrolet branded cars in the UK were mainly the Daewoo crap. They stopped selling Chevrolet branded cars in 2015, but still had to honour the sponsorship deal.

      • Cluster on 17/02/2020 - 23:07

        Have a look at the ads played on the LED boards during most EPL matches. About 30% of them are for gambling sites, all in Chinese.

    • Bid Sniper on 17/02/2020 - 14:22
      +1

      Holden customers yet again get screwed by GM, if anyone was stupid enough to buy one last 10 years.

    • Slippery Fish on 17/02/2020 - 22:02

      Lol I'd take a Trac for 15-20k new. Gota be better than a haval

  • big1964 on 17/02/2020 - 14:29
    +9

    What no one blaming unions for the loss of the car industry here in Australia or is it just the Murdoch press doing it

    • Skramit on 17/02/2020 - 14:40
      +7

      Union demands when manufacturing was still here certainly contributed to the shutting down of the plants. But personally GM's demise in Australia was mostly due to poor products.

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