The end of Holden

thatsnowinnebago said:

In reply to noddaz :

Don't worry, Hummer is coming back as an EV

I am sure the dealers that lost their Hummer franchise are thrilled.  

noddaz said:

Oldsmobile, Saturn, Saab, Pontiac, Hummer and now Holden.  And all the people that worked for or supplied those companies. The GM ship with a swath of destruction in it's wake.  At least GM was able to sell off Opel instead of closing it. 

 

I'm still passed they killed off LaSalle.

Triple 8 owner Roland Dane has some interesting comments that are probably accurate 

Years of declining sales drove the American automotive giant to make the call and Red Bull Holden Racing Team boss Roland Dane said flag-waving Holden fans on the track were partially responsible for the outcome.

“Unfortunately, one of the issues is, an awful lot of the people that have been barracking for the Holden brand over the last 10 years or so haven’t actually been buying the product,” Dane said.

“For whatever reason. It’s a fact of life that people have been turning up to watch the races in other brands and one we’re all very aware of.

https://7news.com.au/sport/motorsport/fans-played-role-in-holden-demise-dane-c-704337

In other words, sales were down. Was that because the cars weren't right for the market? Is he shaming the people that were cheering for his team?

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Wow. Sure sounds like it. Seems like if you've got a crowd that enthusiastic about the brand and can't sell them cars, there are probably adjustments needed to the lineup.

Yeah, blaming the fans seems like the wrong conclusion.

Keep in mind that the commodore was in reality a rwd family sedan. And a very large amount of its life it was in reality based on Opels

Yes, and while everyone sort of acts 'grass is greener' about the Commodore, nobody mentions the one we actually got: the Catera. 

Which I think comes down to the fact that we like the Australian powertrain options more than we really care about the rest of the car. 

In reply to Vigo :

A popular mod for the '04-'06 GTO was replacing the flimsy plastic door handles with the handles from a Catera because they're the exact same, just different material.

Vigo said:

Keep in mind that the commodore was in reality a rwd family sedan. And a very large amount of its life it was in reality based on Opels

Yes, and while everyone sort of acts 'grass is greener' about the Commodore, nobody mentions the one we actually got: the Catera. 

 

Which I think comes down to the fact that we like the Australian powertrain options more than we really care about the rest of the car. 

I liked the Catera...

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Definitely line up issues, coupled with, or perhaps due to, changing tastes.

Even the most diehard fans won't buy your product when it's wide of the mark.... Doesn't matter if it's price, packing or performance, of it's not what people want it's not going to sell.

They brought out the Captiva, an attempt at the SUV/cuv market... It had tons of troubles and flopped. They rebranded rodeo as Colorado, while still providing the same Isuzu based vehicle at a price over what you could buy an Isuzu for... Not to mention most Aussies knew it wasn't actually a Colorado. The selling off of Opel meant Holden lost the astra, that left a hole in the small/med market. 

The cherry on top, the one car that the fans loved above all else, the commodore, was no longer being made here, it was no longer available in v8, the ss was dead..... That also meant the quintessential Australian Ute was no more.....

Old mate blames the fans? Old mate should be blaming gm headquarters... A lifelong Holden fan who loved torana's, Commodores and kingswoods simply wasn't ever going to feel that same excitement over an equinox or Malibu.....Holden badge or not.

daeman said:

In reply to Keith Tanner :

Definitely line up issues, coupled with, or perhaps due to, changing tastes.

Even the most diehard fans won't buy your product when it's wide of the mark.... Doesn't matter if it's price, packing or performance, of it's not what people want it's not going to sell.

They brought out the Captiva, an attempt at the SUV/cuv market... It had tons of troubles and flopped. They rebranded rodeo as Colorado, while still providing the same Isuzu based vehicle at a price over what you could buy an Isuzu for... Not to mention most Aussies knew it wasn't actually a Colorado. The selling off of Opel meant Holden lost the astra, that left a hole in the small/med market. 

The cherry on top, the one car that the fans loved above all else, the commodore, was no longer being made here, it was no longer available in v8, the ss was dead..... That also meant the quintessential Australian Ute was no more.....

Old mate blames the fans? Old mate should be blaming gm headquarters... A lifelong Holden fan who loved torana's, Commodores and kingswoods simply wasn't ever going to feel that same excitement over an equinox or Malibu.....Holden badge or not.

I have a feeling they weren't buying the true holdens either near the end and that also probably played further role in no longer making cars there.

Actually found some sales numbers these definitely show a very significant drop in sales of the true holdens aswell for whatever reason.

as did for the falcon before the car was dropped 

In reply to MotorsportsGordon :

The figures you post paint a picture of automotive trends and tastes, not so much a story of "true fans"

If you look at the details both the commodore and falcon peaked around the same time, the late 90s. That's a time where sedans and station wagons ruled the roost here, mums and dads were using them as the family car, oldies were using them to tow their (much more modest at the time) caravans..... most of that's been replaced by SUV's, cuv's and 4x4s.

What the data also shows is that the single biggest year on year decrease (by percentage) came when the commodore stoped being manufactured here and the v8 became no longer available (2017-2018). 

What I did seem to notice in day to day life was that towards the end, it was the spec-ier models seemed to be making up a larger share of sales. A quick search on care sales showed that's pretty accurate, pretty much 1 in 3 currently up for sale has a V8, a huge number of those are ss's, ssv's and other special models. That's not even accounting for other non v8 sport packages or utes. That says to me that it was mostly fans buying them towards the end, and fans alone won't keep a brand afloat. Holden stoped building, importing and selling what the country as a whole wanted, simple as that.

On an interesting note, you'll see a spike in falcon sales in the early 2000s, it coincidences with the release of the ba falcon, the Barra motor and the turbo xr6... Those Barra turbos go like stink, I'd love to shoehorn one into somewhere it should be

In reply to Vigo :in re the Catera... remember the duck Caddy used to sell it?

However going by the sales numbers it does look like in general with the exception of the Corolla Australia has largely abondoned cars for trucks and suvs. While hsv etc models were certainly purchased by fans etc though the huge sales drops from 2010 when it was the best selling vehicle to 17 does suggest a lot of these fans started buying  other things.

https://www.caradvice.com.au/827278/where-did-it-all-go-wrong-for-holden/

that being said this is an interesting article. Considering that the country seems to be big on the suv/crossover there aswell you would think the equinox and Acadia should have sold well.

However this statement really says the issue in Australia and especially right hand drive vehicles 

Here's why there is no recovery plan: it would have cost General Motors $1 billion to develop the next Colorado ute, of which 50,000 a year are sold in the Asia-Pacific region. Or General Motors can allocate that same $1 billion to the next Chevrolet Silverado and GMC pick-ups, of which more 750,000 are sold annually in the US, at substantially more profit.

Best the best selling model vehicle in Australia period is only like 50k vehicles