Holden has been put out of its misery

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So, just to be clear, my post is about the death of Holden's manufacturing and not the brand overall, hence I also mention Ford and Toyota who are obviously still going.

In terms of Holden continuing as a rebadged Australian arm of Opel, I like the theory but at best they'd be able to continue as a small market player only. The Insignia is a nice enough car but it's segment is in long term regression. The Astra by all reports is a good car too (the previous model was a better looker though) but has proven to struggle for sales. The Corsa would have to come badged as a Barina and could possibly have moved in some okay numbers, like the last model Barina. SUVs have never been a strong suit for Holden and I don't see that the Crossland would change that, nor have Holden really been in the commercial game save for their utes. At best the vans would sell in the hundreds. There is just nothing that Opel have in their range that is outstanding to lure people away from the incumbents in significant numbers. And I think we overstate the value of name Holden in the community. The reality from sales is that there really were very few Holden fans, they were really Commodore fans. Similar is true of Ford fans vs Falcon specific fans.
It was t that long ago that they tried to bring Opel in as a stand alone brand.
It didn’t work then, can’t see it working now.
 
Aug 11, 2011
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It was t that long ago that they tried to bring Opel in as a stand alone brand.
It didn’t work then, can’t see it working now.
Opel wasn't given the time to establish themselves. This is the story of the end of Opel in Australia which appeared on CarAdvice.

"We all went there with a great air of anticipation," one metropolitan Opel dealer principal, who asked to remain anonymous, told CarAdvice.

“We had believed that we were going to a meeting to outline new model plans, new marketing direction, new strategy, because certainly in the pipeline to launch was the new Zafira and the Mokka, and the invitations were issued on that basis, so we were all very excited at the meeting at the prospect.”

The reality could not have been more different.

“The meeting started at 1pm,” said the dealer. “It was scheduled to finish at 4pm. We were on the streets at 1:45pm.

“It was made very clear. [Opel Australia managing director] Bill Mott stood up there and immediately said the reason for the meeting is that we’re announcing that we’re closing down, which was a surprise to us all.

“Clearly dealers were losing money and it was a big financial strain for Opel, but to pull the pin after a year is very surprising. Normally you’d give it a couple of years.”

The dealers weren’t the only ones surprised by the announcement. Opel Australia marketing and public relations boss Michelle Lang said she was made aware of the decision to close down the German company’s local operations last Tuesday night.
“I was working away on my presentation thinking we were talking about a Mokka launch,” Lang said.
“We had presentations prepared to that effect, that was the purpose of the meeting, but obviously that purpose was superseded by the more pressing message once it was made and communicated to us. [The dealers’] expectations were in line with a lot of our expectations.

“We could have either rung them before without any answers or worked our tails off and try to have answers for them on Friday, which is what we did.
“It’s unfortunate how quickly it all happened.”

In an official statement on Friday, Opel said that in order to be competitive it would need to cut the price of its core models significantly, resulting in a business case that was not financially viable for either the company or its 20 Australian dealers.

The closing of Opel in Australia was a suprise to the dealers. They never got the time to work their way into the Australian Motor Market.
 
Aug 11, 2011
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However, Opel may return to Australia, as revealed by Carsales.

Opel says it could return to the Australian market in the future, but not as a direct response to General Motors axing Holden this week.
Days after GM, which sold Opel to the PSA Group in 2017, announced it would cease almost all its operations in Australia this year, an Opel spokesman told carsales.com.au the company was proceeding with plans to move into 20 new global markets by 2022.

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Japan was the latest of those this week, and will join other new markets including Russia, Columbia and Ecuador in 2021.
Under GM, Opel famously dabbled in the Australian new car market for 12 months before succumbing to pricing pressure and rampant competition in August 2013.

“We were waiting for this question as soon as GM announced it would leave the Australian market,” Opel spokesman Harald Schmidt said.
“I can’t tell you anything on the matter; Australia has not been analysed properly. This is very recent news and to enter a new market it needs some time finalising.
“For the time being we are not talking about Australia.”

Up until December last year, Opel was contracted to supply Holden’s Australian showrooms with the German-built Astra and Insignia (the latter replated as the Commodore) under a deal struck between PSA and GM.

A key component of the contract was a non-compete clause preventing PSA from selling the same cars in the local market badged as Opels.

However, following Holden’s exit by the end of 2020, PSA could slot Opel back into the Australian market, where it could roll out the same “electrification offensive” that is has promised in Japan.

This includes EV versions of the new Corsa hatch and plug-in hybrid versions of the Crossland X small SUV and Grandland X large SUV.

Opel could also reintroduce the Astra and Insignia here, and it also has at its disposal the Mokka X small SUV, Zafira people-mover and the Combo, Vivaro and Movano commercial vans.

Imagine Opel reopening in Australia. It could have worked well becoming Holden Australia. General Motors doesn't want the name any more, and Opel would be selling their vehicles to Australians, and not coming to them via GM. Holden would survive as a brand in Australia. Opel would survive better in Australia under the Holden name. They would have many of the dealers that see Holden's today selling for them. They would have the motorsport teams available to continue on. The support that Holden fans would give the brand would continue.

It wouldn't be the perfect situation, but what have we got now, memories of the once dominate brand in Australia. At least we would have a brand to get behind. The Australian Supercars will suffer because of the loss of Holden, all those people on the hill at Mt. Panorama will be gone. Holden fans because Holden is gone and Ford fans because they lost the opposition. They will have to do something special to keep the interest in the supercars going, they have to keep the fans interested.
 

hey shorty

Cancelled
30k Posts 10k Posts TheBrownDog
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Astras arent bad cars, ugly as hell but nicely equipped
 
Dec 22, 2009
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And if the company no longer exists in Australia?
Can they chase GM in the US?

They've signed up to financial guarantees in order to supply vehicles to the Australian market. The only way spare parts / warranty / servicing are not going to be provided by GM is if the company folds and that ain't gonna happen.

This also happened in UK, Chevrolet backed out of there and left behind a network of 55 servicing agents. Buying a brand new Holden today is not a drama, you've got 10 years minimum in terms of support. If you can find an absolute bargain and need a car my advice to anyone is take it. There won't be many opportunities like this again.
 
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Chael Sonnen: Moral Champion
AlbertM has this as his tag on every post on V8 Central
”Ford fans be proud. History of Australian motor racing shows Ford has been and will always be superior. They have to slow them down when they get serious about racing. The Phase 4 scared the **** out of people, they banned it. Sierra gets called on a technicality, Falcon EF "...had its wings clipped to make Holden part of the show", AU not allowed to show it's potential, Falcon BF gets clipped. Mustang Is so good Supercars made up a rule and gets a bag of cement in the roof, and it still wins.
_Mford”

Explains perfectly why plenty of Ford fans gave Supercars the flick many years ago. I even dropped off from about 2014 until 2018.

Lol the Phase 3 was being beaten by 202 Torana, but Albert can keep working on that chip.
 
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Nothing beats the venerable Gibson motorsport R32 GTR at Bathurst. Those things were beastly. Took 20 years for the dinosaur commodores to beat the GTR race record. 20 years in automotive time is sn eternity, I doubt theres a race record thats lasted that long anywhere in motorsport worldwide.
 
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Nothing beats the venerable Gibson motorsport R32 GTR at Bathurst. Those things were beastly. Took 20 years for the dinosaur commodores to beat the GTR race record. 20 years in automotive time is sn eternity, I doubt theres a race record thats lasted that long anywhere in motorsport worldwide.

Not a correct or fair comparison.

The GTR was a purpose built race car as was the Sierra.

The commodores etc were not.


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Klyntonius

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Also, endurance race records aren't a great indicator. They're very reliant on conditions and in particular competitors not stuffing it in the wall and bringing out the safety car every half an hour.

Also, I will note that Larry Perkins and Russell Ingall were within a minute and a half of the race record in a VR Dunnydore only four years later and again only two and a half minutes behind in a VS a further three years after that. Hell, Perkins and Hansford 10 minutes off the record only two years later in a VP is hardly an astronomical distance as far as that goes.
 
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