Thread: Holden to close 30 outlets at the end of this year!

Originally Posted by johntins

I agree, but I'm surprised that Holden is going out of it's way to make it so.

Surprised why It`s GM that is calling the shots holden is just a name that they killed.
How long before we have GM dealers instead ! More yanky **** with lots of Chinese affluent

Originally Posted by rangieman

Surprised why It`s GM that is calling the shots holden is just a name that they killed.
How long before we have GM dealers instead ! More yanky **** with lots of Chinese affluent

But that's the point, Chris. The Holden name is staying. The Commodore replacement is still going to be called a Commodore, and yet Holden has gone out of their way do disenfranchise potential customers.

Car manufacturing was always going to die, ever since John Button got involved. But Ford and Toyota are still working to build their brands.

For Holden, substitute GMH. Or , GM. When you are eating your contaminated blueberries, or cladding your building with flammable Chinese cladding, don't forget to give thanks for our free trade agreement , and say a prayer for our remaining manufacturing industry.

Maybe LR could look at taking a couple of the dealerships over.

Yer i know,that would be the day......

They don't seem to realise that not having any dealerships in regional areas knocks their sales around.

But then these days all they seem to be making are around town soccer mums chariots

Originally Posted by rangieman

More yanky **** with lots of Chinese affluent

Rich Chinese money?

Or Chinese effluent?

Holden could still be manufacturing in Australia if they made what the public wanted.
Way back they stopped supporting the Overlander conversions of the HQ and HZ.
They tried some dual cab...Ute versions of the commodore wagons with slight lift, but it was not robust enough......And too soft roader..........Cannot remember the name.(adventura?)(crewman X8?)
Ford went soft roader with the Territory and sold a few.
Imagine the current model Commodore station wagon with all the fruit, sub frame proper Dana transfer case and diffs.
Double cell air bag suspension for extra height range adjustment and diagonal cross linking on the air bags for flex.
The comfort of a normal Commodore with real tuff off road ability.
The farmers,miners and 4wd enthusiast wouldn't be able to get enough and the price could be high as the only competition would be 200 series Landcruiser or other expensive options.
Opetunity missed.

Holden lost all it's credibility when it focused on profits over quality.Holden had a strong loyal following but that loyalty was lost the moment Holden started rebadging Daewoo's,a brand that already had flopped here. Pat

Originally Posted by 101 Ron

Holden could still be manufacturing in Australia if they made what the public wanted.
Way back they stopped supporting the Overlander conversions of the HQ and HZ.
They tried some dual cab...Ute versions of the commodore discussion with slight lift, but it was not robust enough......And too soft roader..........Cannot remember the name.(adventura?)
Ford went soft roader with the Territory and sold a few.
Imagine the current model Commodore station with all the fruit, sub frame proper Dana transfer case and diffs.
Double cell air bag suspension for extra height range adjustment and diagonal cross linking on the air bags for flex.
The comfort of a normal Commodore with real tuff off road ability.
The farmers,miners and 4wd enthusiast wouldn't be able to get enough and the price could be high as the only competition would be 200 series Landcruiser or other expensive options.
Opetunity missed.

It's a nice dream, but in reality there is no way to justify building unique, stand alone cars in a market of this size. The R&D costs alone are prohibitive (you need to understand how much all this safety and "environmental" stuff really costs. It is $BILLIONS, plural. Hard to get that sort of return in a market that just manages to sell 1,000,000 cars of ALL types.). This is why Holden tried to get cars into the Middle East and US markets, to get to a level of volume that would justify the expense of the R&D. If Holden could have convinced GM that their rear wheel drive platform was the best in the GM world ( it is ), it may have worked. But GM baulked at that, and have no real interest in RWD anyway, as it costs more to manufacture. Remember, GM world wide ( not Holden ) were within a cat's whisker of folding not so very long ago. Their medical plan for employees and former employees (that is where most healthcare comes from in the US; employers ) was costing them far more than they were earning; never mind all the other outgoings. Chrysler were in the same boat, bailed out first by Mercedes and now by Fiat. Ford were nearly as bad.
The Falcon could have survived if Dearborn had taken it's RWD platform for the Mustang, the Taurus and whatever they replace the Crown Vic with, but no, not to be.
Toyota don't give a stuff where their cars are made, as long as the labour is cheap, so that also rules us out in Oz.
Toyota doesn't matter in this debate, though. Holden, and to an even greater extent, Ford, have been a part of all of our histories, and I, for one, am sorry to see them go.



At least the Everest, the Pacific version of the Focus, and the Ranger are designed here, so there is still some activity at Broadmeadows. I 'believe' that Holden may keep some design functions here.

[The Aventura was a poor response to the Territory, but was surprisingly capable as a country car, just at a time when people were turning off that sort of thing. The Crewman was a definite miss, as it was too long, and yet had very poor rear leg room for a crew cab work ute, in a segment absolutely dominated by HiLux in those days. Holden kept trying to resurrect their "Australia's Own" myth with things like the 3rd Gen VT Monaro. Imagine what that cost to design and get into production. And yet apparently they built less than 50,000 of them, in all variants, including export. Hardly good business, and that, lets face it, is what car companies are. Excluding Morgan, of course.]

Sorry for the rant.