Thread: Holden axed in Aussie.

Not much more to be said about this, but one of the points I made is that exports of the Commodore could've made a big difference.
I was looking at one of my books the other day & came up with some interesting figures for the CV8 Monaro which was sold LHD in the States as a Pontiac GTO. In Australia there were a total of only 15910 Monaros sold, whereas there were 41813 sold LHD in the States as a GTO, nearly three times Aussie sales. It is in fact the U.S. sales that enabled CV8 to run through to VZ,....because of the Pontiac GTO program, which was championed by high profile GM "Legend" Bob Lutz, who saw the CV8 in Aus, & promoted it in the USA..
Had the VE/VF Commodore been able to receive the same sort of "promotion" by GM as the CV8, maybe things could be a bit different now. No certainty of course, but the CV8 is a good example of what could be possible with proper promotion.
Pickles

Originally Posted by Pickles2

Not much more to be said about this, but one of the points I made is that exports of the Commodore could've made a big difference.
I was looking at one of my books the other day & came up with some interesting figures for the CV8 Monaro which was sold LHD in the States as a Pontiac GTO. In Australia there were a total of only 15910 Monaros sold, whereas there were 41813 sold LHD in the States as a GTO, nearly three times Aussie sales. It is in fact the U.S. sales that enabled CV8 to run through to VZ,....because of the Pontiac GTO program, which was championed by high profile GM "Legend" Bob Lutz, who saw the CV8 in Aus, & promoted it in the USA..
Had the VE/VF Commodore been able to receive the same sort of "promotion" by GM as the CV8, maybe things could be a bit different now. No certainty of course, but the CV8 is a good example of what could be possible with proper promotion.
Pickles

The US police were also looking at CV8,and testing them.
The vehicles they used to use were all rear wheel drive.
They changed to front wheel drive,and many of the older officers could not come to grips with the way they handled,and also when hitting the rear corner of another vehicle to spin it around.

But for some reason,i don't think they(US police) bought any CV8's.

Originally Posted by Pickles2

Not much more to be said about this, but one of the points I made is that exports of the Commodore could've made a big difference.
I was looking at one of my books the other day & came up with some interesting figures for the CV8 Monaro which was sold LHD in the States as a Pontiac GTO. In Australia there were a total of only 15910 Monaros sold, whereas there were 41813 sold LHD in the States as a GTO, nearly three times Aussie sales. It is in fact the U.S. sales that enabled CV8 to run through to VZ,....because of the Pontiac GTO program, which was championed by high profile GM "Legend" Bob Lutz, who saw the CV8 in Aus, & promoted it in the USA..
Had the VE/VF Commodore been able to receive the same sort of "promotion" by GM as the CV8, maybe things could be a bit different now. No certainty of course, but the CV8 is a good example of what could be possible with proper promotion.
Pickles

Agree with what you wrote. It was never going to be though.

Part of the USG bailing out GM was that they had to return to their internal manufacturing as priority. Not import.

That was the global death knock for GMs external divisions.

Yes, exports were the key.
Another wasted opportunity was the Ford Territory, particularly the last version with AWD and the 2.7 TDV6. I was looking at a nice one at Sheffield on Saturday and thinking what an excellent package it was. It would have been perfect for the USA.
The Ford Ranger designed here is a big seller internationally and could have been a huge export winner. Car plants are highly automated now so the argument about wages being too high really doesn't stack up.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Yes, exports were the key.
Another wasted opportunity was the Ford Territory, particularly the last version with AWD and the 2.7 TDV6. I was looking at a nice one at Sheffield on Saturday and thinking what an excellent package it was. It would have been perfect for the USA.
The Ford Ranger designed here is a big seller internationally and could have been a huge export winner. Car plants are highly automated now so the argument about wages being too high really doesn't stack up.

The Territory was the only vehicle that kept the local manufacturing going for the last few years.
Without it Ford Aus would have been gone years ago.

Its not just wages that are an issue here,its red tape,legislation,compliances,unions,etc,etc.
As anyone that runs a company here would know.

Also many other countries subsidise manufacturing which has been stopped here.

Originally Posted by DiscoMick

Yes, exports were the key.
Another wasted opportunity was the Ford Territory, particularly the last version with AWD and the 2.7 TDV6. I was looking at a nice one at Sheffield on Saturday and thinking what an excellent package it was. It would have been perfect for the USA.
The Ford Ranger designed here is a big seller internationally and could have been a huge export winner. Car plants are highly automated now so the argument about wages being too high really doesn't stack up.

Ford Territory?.....Agree 1000%,...a truly unique vehicle that would've been a desirable export to many parts of the World, and it could've been, with some support from Dearborn.
Pickles.

Originally Posted by scarry

The Territory was the only vehicle that kept the local manufacturing going for the last few years.
Without it Ford Aus would have been gone years ago.

Its not just wages that are an issue here,its red tape,legislation,compliances,unions,etc,etc.
As anyone that runs a company here would know.

Also many other countries subsidise manufacturing which has been stopped here.

Yep, compliance costs are the real killer in the western world IMO, not the actual wage costs.

Compliance are to regulations that have been agreed at a UN body that operates out of Switzerland. They have been around since the fifties setting minimum standards for global use. Countries / manufacturers are then able to make specifications that meet or exceed these minimum standards. All the motor manufacturers are well represented along with governments and the NGO community.

The standards are generally followed by Europe where as the USA sees exceeding them as important hence their more advanced crash and pollution standards. In the mid sixties to the mid seventies Australia was a keen member pressing for higher crash and pollution standards.

What you see labelled as Euro emissions standards are actual those agreed here just someone was able to add Euro to the standard name for political purposes.