Mike,
There's a ton of reasons why Aussie built cars never really made it to the US. Now you would know the US Ford Taurus, the FWD 6cyl car. Ford Australia built the EA Falcon & the long wheelbase NA Fairlane RWD at the same time when both Taurus & Falcon started production. Anyway the RWD Aussie built Falcon/Fairlane range was better built than the Taurus & handled better. The reason why Ford US didn't want them was that they built the Taurus & said it was a better car. The Ford Falcon ute.... would have made a great addition in the US but Ford US didn't want them cos they said it'd bite into the F series pickup sales. I don't which bright spark said that cos an F series is sold every 20 odd seconds & the Falcon ute, if imported would have complimented it. Even the crappy Aussie built Ford Capri (Mercury Capri) went to the US at the same time that the Mazda MX-5 was launched so it didn't stand a chance. Plus the American public were duped into "buying American" to keep jobs in the US. The funny thing about the Taurus is that the 3rd generation was exported to Australia. It was a crappy built overpriced heap of s*%t & it hardly sold here. It was to compete with the Falcon/Fairlane but the exchange rate killed it thank god. Had Ford US had any sense at all, it should have imported the RWD Falcon/Fairlane platform and sales for it would have went up generating a profit for Ford US & generated employment here in Australia.
Holden could have done the same thing & GM execs just didn't want to import cars from Australia even though it was the leader in RWD platforms for the GM empire (insert Calaber's quote). Holden was smart to make cars left & right hand drive during development phases of each series so we could flog cars to the Middle East & parts of Asia. When trying to sell the Commodore & it's derivatives to the US, GM said that they already make great cars, why do we want an Australian built car. The majority of the American people did not want a foreign built car as it would take American jobs away. If you read US articles about the Pontiac G8 at the time it was released in the US by US journalists, you'll find bias in the home brand not foreign built cars. Only a few journos in the US spoke out on how great the G8 was. I have friends of mine that live in the New England region that highly covet my ute. They drool over the photos I send them & photos of current models. A friend of mine in Tennessee was after a car & wanted something different than an SUV. It started as a joke between us. She didn't want new but 2nd hand & posted a couple of US sites to look for cars. I spotted a few 2004-2006 Pontiac GTO's & they were cheaper & better equipped than the Holden Monaro. There was one not far away from her sitting at a dealership 2nd hand with low miles & she loved it from her first test drive. She still has it after 8 years and she got rid of the GTO look, went for a Monaro front & sports Holden badges. She says it's the best car she's ever owned. Mind you she wants my ute too & I told her there's a company in Colorado that converts Aussie utes to left hand drive. The reason why the Pontiac GTO ceased to be exported in Buick-Pontiac-GMC General Manager John Larson words were "the inability to meet new airbag deployment standards for 2007". Our airbags on our Holdens are bigger than the majority of US built cars & that the airbags are sourced overseas that are used in other US built cars, so that statement from Larson doesn't make any sense!
The current Chevrolet Camaro has the Holden designed Zeta platform which in turn will be replaced by the GM Alpha platform currently used by Cadillac. You might think that we in Australia are peeved off that we're losing Holden & Ford here producing local cars, and you're right. We made great cars here using an amalgamation of US/UK/Aussie/German technology & only a few people outside Australia have taken notice that we can build something decent. The next lot of cars heading here are coming off the old Korean Daewoo plant which are crap & expensive German cars from Opel.
Mike, enjoy your Caprice. It'd be worth it if you bought some Holden badges & a few other Holden bits & pieces to make your car unique to your corner of the world. I'm glad to see that there is another North American enjoying something that will never be seen ever again. It's a shame & that's why I have my ute.
