Adventra was a failure? So why was the Volvo XC90 a "success"?

[Reaper]

It's funny, I just read a 2003 review of the Adventra, and they said - needs a diesel!

Shame Holden wasn't listening...

Holden were listening however it was never going to happen. The only diesels they had available at the time were not suitable and the cost to get any diesel to market (if they could find one) was just too high for such a low volume of cars. Even a diesel in their 2wd would have delivered very few extra sales with most of the volume being cannibalized from the base V6's and going to low margin fleets.

 

[routier1642]

Holden were listening however it was never going to happen. The only diesels they had available at the time were not suitable and the cost to get any diesel to market (if they could find one) was just too high for such a low volume of cars. Even a diesel in their 2wd would have delivered very few extra sales with most of the volume being cannibalized from the base V6's and going to low margin fleets.

Yes, I just found out that they *were* thinking about it, and were evaluating, but wouldn't have anything until 2007 at the earliest:

Holden 2003 Adventra - Auto-only V8 duo for Holden's Adventra | GoAuto

By then, of course, the Adventra had faded into history.

The article also mentions a planned higher-roofed Adventra with flexible seating.
That's another great what-if...

 

[Reaper]

Yes, I just found out that they *were* thinking about it, and were evaluating, but wouldn't have anything until 2007 at the earliest:

Holden 2003 Adventra - Auto-only V8 duo for Holden's Adventra | GoAuto

By then, of course, the Adventra had faded into history.

The article also mentions a planned higher-roofed Adventra with flexible seating.
That's another great what-if...

Yeah... the zeta platform (VE -> VF) was engineered with AWD in mind and was planned for a host of NA cars. Sadly GM stupidity got in the way and such gems as Alpha (less flexible smaller platform for exactly the same weight) resulted. It too was engineered LHD/RHD with Mark Reuss claiming that all GM cars would be engineered for RHD (and LHD) shortly after new GM was born. 5 years on, exactly zero LHD/RHD cars have been born in NA.

 

[XUV]

Holden were listening however it was never going to happen. The only diesels they had available at the time were not suitable and the cost to get any diesel to market (if they could find one) was just too high for such a low volume of cars. Even a diesel in their 2wd would have delivered very few extra sales with most of the volume being cannibalized from the base V6's and going to low margin fleets.

bout the gist of it,

I wrote them in 04 saying they're missing the rural market without a diesel .

OK, I might have figured out a bolt on diesel, and it's a BMW DIESEL out of the 3 Series E46 5 Series E39 and the X5 as they ran the 5l40e
BMW 5 Series (E39) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
SO a 3.0 BMW
from bimmerfest

The 320i/325i/330i have ZF 5HP19 transmissions. From 316i to 320d, it's a GM transmission (known to Powertrain as 5L-40E and to BMW as A5S360/390R).

The old GM 4-speeder for the E36 and early E46 (TMH-R1, or A4S270/310R in BMW-speak) was reasonably tough, but slow to shift. ZF's 5HP19 was also used in the E36 and it's an OK transmission but no tougher than the GM 4-speed. Neither is as bad as the ZF 4-speeder of yesteryear, which as well as being a bit fragile, had a couple of design faults.