Did any of you get a bargain on an end of the line Holden?
I’m just interested to know if ultimately there were some discounts to be had. When I looked at Astras shortly after the closure announcement there was very little value to be had. I did wonder if that might have changed with Covid and the dealership closure deadlines.
I’m not in the market for a car any more, just interested to know if the expectations of sales ever matched reality.
From my experience I take what car advice state with a pinch of salt. Car advice often like to make statements that are often misleading
Yes, I think those prices were always just rumours.
Car advice often like to often make statements often that are often misleading often
Fixed.
Cheers. It been a long day haha
I was given a Holden Trax as a hire car in New Zealand. It was without a doubt the worst car I have ever driven, and felt like I was driving something from the early 1980s. Nothing about it was good. It was easily the slowest car I've ever driven, and I've driven a Fiat Panda. (Which is in a different league). $13k for one of these is way too much. It's a car for fools.
I can't really comment in a real life situation. But the research that I've done online, the saving was very minimal.
e.g. 2020 Holden LS Trax would be around $23,000 before closure. Now some dealers are charging around $20k the same car. Not worth it in my opinion due to the questionable Holden after sale support and supply of spare parts. I was actually considering a Trax if it was around the $15k mark but many dealers are simply don't want to sell a car that cheap if possible.
That is much like my thinking about the holdens. I was reading the uber driver forums. They were all in Maven supplied Holdens and I must say they didn’t really rate them.
Yeah look honestly don't really blame them. While I'm not much a holden fan in general, the current lineup prior to the announcement was Horrible. For every car Holden had on sale new, their competitors would have a superior vehicle at often a cheaper price!
e.g.
Acadia -> Kluger
Astra -> Cerato
Colorado -> Ranger
Trax -> Kona
Equinox -> CX-5
Commodore -> Passat
Trailblazer -> Pajero Sport
Yeah, apart from their terrible financial state, I imagine GM’s decision to leave was also an admission that they weren’t competitive in any market segment other than the Ute and maybe some SUVs.
You may want to wait for the fire sales.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-06-10/holden-dealers-seek-c…
I thought that they’d all finished by now.
Aren't 60+ dealers still in court with the dead lion out over $500M worth of compensation? ($6.1k per car instead of 1.5)?
Regardless, where did all the inventory go? No fire sales… no 'cheap deals'. Not a squeak on OzB even.
Barely see any new Holdens on the road either. 2018/19/20 Commodores, Colorados, Acadias, all the stock seems to have disappeared without a trace… unless its all on dealer lots, or been put under wraps pending the outcome of the dispute.
Yeah, that was my thought exactly. A fairly large amount of stock on hand, but not much heavy discounting.
I thought the dealers were all settling up? I haven’t been following that too closely
@hungryaussie: Cars are getting dusty and rusty waiting for the lawyers to write some more invoices.
GM doesn't care, as they'll just cut the warranty deal down to reduce their exposure. Looks like the poor peasants will end up buying cars with 4 years warranty instead of 5, and the dealers will be using every excuse under the sun to claw back a little of their losses. :-)
Either a brilliant closing strategy, or a lost opportunity which the lawyers didn't fail to maximise a profit from
Anyone get any good deals on colorados? A lot nearby me still has some in the yard and just curious if they’re at an alright price now?
I imagine the Colorados would be the least likely to be discounted, given they’re essentially an Isuzu dmax. The other models will essentially become orphans with limited availability of parts - except for the PSA ones perhaps.
It’s a dmax but with a GM engine as of a few years ago.
Fair point. I guess that doesn't really add to the value proposition of holden colorado.
Got an Equinox LTZ-V 2020 build for under $39000. Don't know if that's the best deal ever in terms of "Holden runout" (I know the RRP is close to 50k driveaway but no idea what they were actually selling for) but its at least 8-10k cheaper to the closest competitor from either Toyota or Mazda for comparable specs and probably the beefiest engine in the category without spending almost double on euros.
I was on the waitlist for the Rav4 Cruiser before deciding to go with the Holden. 4 months later, and I'm more than convinced I made the right call.
A mate bought a loaded Astra for<$20k but that was way before GM announced the end of the business but after local production ceased. It might have been 2018.
He hit a log that had been left on the exit to a blind corner (street racers had blocked the road in Nasho - dash cam saved his insurance claim) and did a lot of underside damage. Repairs took 4 months as even back then Holden wasn't carrying a lot of spares.
Spares support will only get worse. They will keep the bare minimum in stock that they legally have to.
Absolutely. On that note, I'm mystified by the fact that Holden's biggest discounts were offered prior to the closure.
The cynic inside me wonders if they had been carefully managing their inventory before the closure announcement took place.
I think sales were so low and there were so many 2017 models in the holding yard that there were plenty of incentives being offered to dealers.
Commodore demos with delivery kilometres could be had for about $22k which was a bargain. I was going through my divorce at the time and didn't buy as it wouldn't have been a good look when I was telling my ex she was screwing me over.
GM grossly underestimated the backlash of stopping local production. They simply became another importer of fairly average cars being backed up by below average after-sales support.
I've seen lots of used ZB commodores on carsales and the like. All reviews had them as a decent car, it's probably the only one of the lot I would consider. Warranty and parts support makes me wary even though they are required to provide parts for 10 years.
Had to drive a ZB hire car recently. 2nd worst car I've driven in years, just behind the new Astra. Absolute garbage. Wouldn't drive one again if you paid me.
i'd imagine the closer they get to completely closing the doors the better the bargains will be….
We have an Equinox LT (RRP 38k that is also what is insured for) i got it last year for $25990 (ex demo) it had about 5000km on the clock but came with 5 year warranty and cap servicing i ot them to throw in roof racks as well (which Holden sell for around 700) - had a feeling holden was going south thats why i got the car so cheap but ill be honest i didnt think they would close up shop so quickly i was thinking 2023….
We dont regret the decision to buy the Equinox becuz competitor cars with comparable features were >33k however with that said ill be losing out on the re-sale value down the line. If the car gives me 10 years~ then hopefully we would of had our kids and they will be well into booster seats and will only need a stroller not a full pram then
We were having a baby so we wanted a SUV and i didnt want to go with a company like GM/Haval etc Ideally i wanted the RAV4 or Sportage but it was simply too expensive i think the mid-range Sportage they wanted ~36k and they sales women wouldnt budge on the price much as for the Rav4 the new model just came out the the base model was 38k
So far the Equinox has been fine it does what we need it to do and it looks nice for the price point. However be under no illiusions Holden have gone out of business becuz they have had some shocking products and service the Captiva is a prime example of rubbish.
I do remember some of the Holden Trax's were going for something like $13,000 drive away as per the article.
https://www.caradvice.com.au/827940/holden-discounts-2/
still, it's a Holden so debatable if it's really a bargain given warranty/servicing support would be difficult to come by