What do you think of rumours about Commodore being axed

[Pincottk]

The rumours have been flying around today -- no doubt you've seen them. Carsguide's Peter Barnwell is suss on the timing of the 48.215 news yesterday (but he's deeply cynical about everything).

What do you think? Is it a taste test to see if Australia will cop the axe?

Peter Barnwell blogs on the Holden Commodore axing rumours.

Don't you love the way Holden's PR machine handles bad news - namely the possible end of a locally designed Commodore - by preceding it with good news the day before.

In this case it was a feel good yarn about the restoration of the first 48-215 Holden, built in 1948 and owned by legendary BHP boss Essington Lewis. Clever, but we saw straight through it.

Cynics might suggest Holden is simply kite flying to see how much heat a possible end of local large car production might bring. And there's been plenty already from all quarters, including government and unions.

Good news, bad news | carsguide.com.au

[scouser king]

Just a rumour nothing more.

[aaronevolution]

Third thread today

[Aussie Revhead]

soon australia will have nothing aussie made :/

[bloomers]

A sign of the times. Corporations trying to save money so that the proffits are bigger. Just like Quantas. Big proffits but still want to move jobs offshore to save money.

The government has always helped the car industry. Hopefully this will continue.

[Full Spectrum]

Wouldn't surprise me if Holden and the union set this up to notify GM smaller fwd Holden family cars wont be accepted. Maybe a hatch back?.

Someone had % of Commodores sold V6/V8. it was somewhere about 40-60% V8s which you couldn't imagine fleet would touch.

[koins76]

Seeing as those it still came in as the second most purchased car for the year, I doubt it will be scrapped any time soon.

[Tsunamix]

the only people talking about axeing the commodore are Union Scaremongers.

How to lose your job in one easy lesson: Scare away the customers.

Idiots. QANTAS part 2.

[Full Spectrum]

LOL. It's not so doom and gloom union driving holden to death. Their trying to get people on the back of the Government GM and Holden (the latter i think have a finger in this) to pressure making the decision to keep rwd cars here beyond 2020 easier.

[Mick1988]

Commodore is consistently the top selling car in Australia. They would be idiots to get rid of it. And I'm willing to bet that those Commodore sales don't include Berlina, Calais and Statesman sales as those are all technically separate models.

[Reaper]

Commodore is consistently the top selling car in Australia. They would be idiots to get rid of it. And I'm willing to bet that those Commodore sales don't include Berlina, Calais and Statesman sales as those are all technically separate models.

I'm willing to bet that you are wrong on 2 of those 3. LWB Caprices (Statesman are no longer built) are counted separately as are the utes. As a car the Commodore may cling onto the number one spot in Australia this year but is very unlikely to stay there next year. I think Holden are hoping the most popular car mantle will be filled with the Cruze which is gaining ground fast. The hatches will hit show rooms shortly which will add another 800 or so units per month.

As a large car there is a big gap to 2nd place behind the Commodore in that segment however it's been in decline for 8 or so years and not showing any signs of bottoming out.

Reaper

[Rufys]

there is a big gap to 2nd place behind the Commodore

That assumes you're basing that comment on volume alone. Because other than volume, ALL commodore models including HSVs certainly aren't at number 1.

[Reaper]

That assumes you're basing that comment on volume alone. Because other than volume, ALL commodore models including HSVs certainly aren't at number 1.

Of course it's volume. That is what the poster I quoted was talking about. Surely it's clearly implied and not that hard to work out

Reaper

[Hadalpelagic Cogitator]

Unions have crippled the manufacturing industry, so the possibility poses no surprise.

[exec24]

Holdens are Currently developing the VF's, In Melbourne

[m1lky]

It will be a sad day.

from my understanding Holden manufacture about 1000 cars per day (nothing), which are exported to nz and a few other small markets. As well as in very low volumes (badged differently) to the uk and us.

In those sort of volumes the price of your parts are high and your tooling ( injection moulding tools, stamping tools etc) take longer to pay for themselves. This is why we generally see multiple models on the same platform with minor changes.

BMW, Mercedes and vw (who own most euro models now). All have manufacturing facilities in western Europe, mostly Germany, where the price of labour is very high.

I found these specs on Wikipedia for you: Compare 250k Holden's with 1.5mil bmws.
Country Make 2006 2008 Models
Germany BMW 905,057 901,898 Others
Mexico BMW 1,500 100,000[19] BMW X3, X5, 3, 5, 7-series
Russia BMW 1,500 2,000 BMW X5, X6, 5-series
United Kingdom Mini 187,454 235,019 All Minis
Rolls-Royce 67 1,417 All Rolls-Royce
Austria BMW 114,306 82,863 BMW X3
USA BMW 105,172 170,741 BMW X3, X5, X6
South Africa BMW 54,782 47,980 BMW 3-Series
Total 1,366,838 1,439,918

[warpman65]

I can't believe that Holden is still cap-in-hand ...this is disgusting. I love the GM product as much as the next guy on this forum but enough is enough, if we need to prop up this industry any longer then it is better that it goes offshore. How many years has the motor industry been receiving government assistance and it still cannot sustain itself?

This is a big joke that I am quite willing to see off

[m1lky]

The Australian government needs ford and holden.

In much of Asia, big businesses pay reduced tax rates, or in some cases
nothing. This makes the business more profitable and therefore it stays and employs a very large amount of people (Both directly and indirectly) who do pay tax.

What Holden needs is to break into the us market in a big way, even if they sell at a loss initially. Sales go up, part proces come down so they start making money, roi goes up. Gm don't axe Holden.

[Full Spectrum]

Holdens are Currently developing the VF's, In Melbourne

I think it's done and it's just testing fine tuning it under VEII right now. The next model after that VF will need to start very soon because the VF wont go 2020. And Holden will need to be 3-4 years on the go with their next car, so GM better snap out of it fast and let Holden do what they do best. Build large RWD cars for Australia and other country's that want them.

[aaronevolution]

I think it's done and it's just testing fine tuning it under VEII right now. The next model after that VF will need to start very soon because the VF wont go 2020. And Holden will need to be 3-4 years on the go with their next car, so GM better snap out of it fast and let Holden do what they do best. Build large RWD cars for Australia and other country's that want them.

If they haven't already started the design for post-VF, then it's not a good sign. The VE started in 1999, so the 'new' one should have started 3 or 4 years ago.

[VZ Thunder SS]

It won't happen. End of story.

[N81]

Nothing more than speculation, inuendo & bullshit.
It was Australia's highest selling car for 15 consecutive years & it was 2nd in 2011 to the Mazda. Considering the last 6 or so years, small cars have dominated the media & the Commodore (a large family car), was still killing them all in sales speaks volumes of its importance, not only to Holden, but to Australia itself.