Genuine VF HSV wheels at dealer/cost price

[Skylarking]

They way Holden treated their customers has pretty-much ZERO effect on them no longer being around.

Treating your customers well means knowing your customers. Knowing your customers means giving them the product they want rather than have them go elsewhere…

GM/Holden did these things poorly so the end result is was people went elsewhere in ever increasing numbers until internal and external politics became an issue and GM pulled the plug hwhen their bluff was called by the liberals who didn’t want to provide any subsidies any longer)…

So yes politics played a hand but had GM/Holden being manufacturing what the public actually wanted to buy, then they’d still be around today and the external politics would have sorted themselves out…

 

[Forg]

Treating your customers well means knowing your customers. Knowing your customers means giving them the product they want rather than have them go elsewhere…

GM/Holden did these things poorly so the end result is was people went elsewhere in ever increasing numbers until internal and external politics became an issue and GM pulled the plug hwhen their bluff was called by the liberals who didn’t want to provide any subsidies any longer)…

So yes politics played a hand but had GM/Holden being manufacturing what the public actually wanted to buy, then they’d still be around today and the external politics would have sorted themselves out…

Not really, you can't run a plant in the modern era only manufacturing for the Australian & New Zealand market, and Holden wasn't allowed to sell anywhere else that was going to increase numbers enough. Them's the politics. Spreading their production-line over a wide number of gerlytrux, for those who've suffered neural damage, was going to result in a similar problem - had they done it ... Terrortory was pretty much what people incorrectly thought they wanted, but that didn't keep Ford Oz from the chopping-block.

 

[RevNev]

So yes politics played a hand but had GM/Holden being manufacturing what the public actually wanted to buy, then they’d still be around today and the external politics would have sorted themselves out…

Most people I spoke with during Holden's manufacturing collapse, bought alternative makes because they were cheaper. If a Commodore was the same price as the Kia they just bought, most said they would've bought another Commodore. I think the government let in too much junk from countries allowed to pay production line staff peanuts were in Australia wages are regulated. A locally manufactured base model Commodore (Povo Pack), should've been one the cheapest cars on the market, same as a base model Falcon, $24990 drive away! A VF2 Evoke was near 40K on the road wasn't it?

 

[Skylarking]

Most people I spoke with during Holden's manufacturing collapse, bought alternative makes because they were cheaper. If a Commodore was the same price as the Kia they just bought, most said they would've bought another Commodore. I think the government let in too much junk from countries allowed to pay production line staff peanuts were in Australia wages are regulated. A locally manufactured base model Commodore (Povo Pack), should've been one the cheapest cars on the market, same as a base model Falcon, $24990 drive away! A VF2 Evoke was near 40K on the road wasn't it?

Yeah such stuff doesn’t help…

But it can’t all be blamed on politics when others I’ve spoken to (well b4 closure) said they wouldn’t buy another commodore because of the issues they had with their vehicle and the dealer service department.

Really, it ain’t price alone, ain’t politics alone… it’s a multifaceted issue though treating customers like **** never ever helps any business stay in business.

 

[Forg]

Most people I spoke with during Holden's manufacturing collapse, bought alternative makes because they were cheaper. If a Commodore was the same price as the Kia they just bought, most said they would've bought another Commodore. I think the government let in too much junk from countries allowed to pay production line staff peanuts were in Australia wages are regulated. A locally manufactured base model Commodore (Povo Pack), should've been one the cheapest cars on the market, same as a base model Falcon, $24990 drive away! A VF2 Evoke was near 40K on the road wasn't it?

An Evoke was only about $2k less than an SV6, the SV6 was in real terms the $40k-drive-away car, but the Evoke wasn’t that much cheaper.

People in South Korea ain’t slaves, but there were no equivalents of a Commodore being made in South Korea. In sooo many ways, really the only thing which compares is a Genesis, and there’s no version of any Genesis that’s any cheaper than an Evoke … cheapest (4cyl) thing based on a Genesis platform is ~$40k. Shitty FWD-hatch based gerlytrux were NO cheaper than a Commodore if they had near-similar carrying capacity or fuel economy, anything that cost less was more like driving a jacked-up Cruze,

There wasn’t actually anything wrong with Holden’s product in the real world … buyers were just conned into thinking that if they paid Commodore money for a jacked-up Corolla-sized vehicle with worse fuel-economy than the Commodore they would “save money” because they had a 4cyl engine.

 

[RevNev]

they wouldn’t buy another commodore because of the issues they had with their vehicle and the dealer service department.

Really, it ain’t price alone, ain’t politics alone… it’s a multifaceted issue though treating customers like **** never ever helps any business stay in business.

A mate of mine was a service advisor at an HSV dealer years ago in VR/VS days and told me about the spiel they had to spin to customers who complained about their HSV bumpers and side skirt colour didn't match the body. He had to try and convince them the paint did match and when he refused and agreed it didn't match they sacked him. They didn't match any better in GenF 20 years later!

 

[Forg]

HSV’s are supposed to be a little dodgy, as a used HSV buyer if the car looks perfect you’d start checking crash/write-off records & the legitimacy of the VIN etc …

 

[RevNev]

There wasn’t actually anything wrong with Holden’s product in the real world … buyers were just conned into thinking that if they paid Commodore money for a jacked-up Corolla-sized vehicle with worse fuel-economy than the Commodore they would “save money” because they had a 4cyl engine.

They didn't like the Cruze much that had a bad name in the end, but it was about buying a new car cheaper than a Commodore that'll do the job, not disliking the Commodore, just didn't want to spend 40k. A few people who had Commodore's for years I know bought Mazda 3 sedans, Hyundai Elantra's for $28,990 drive away. They're not comparable with a Commodore but cheaper.

My wife went the other way from a VE2 SS wagon to BMW X3 M40i at nearly twice the price of a VF Redline wagon. The Cheap SUV's compared with her VE were junk she thought and a took a BMW to match or better the V8 Commodore dynamics she was use to driving. Was the VF2 a good car?, I like them as do most of us here!

 

[Forg]

I guess the thing with the Mazda3 is that small cars had become so good by then. I mean plenty of people bought Corollas or Geminis or Escorts in the 70’s, but they were a loud tiring thing to spend any time in …. but by the time the Mazda3 was released, a car like that was plenty comfy to do Sydney to Melbourne.

Not as good as a Commodore in 2013, but HEAPS better than (say) a brand-spankers VN was. So good enough for the task by heaps.

Didn’t really matter though, in terms of keeping Holden alive. Even if Holden had been making Astras rather than the 20-years-older Cruze, it wouldn’t have helped, because people’s desires went in all directions … Holden had to be building 5 different vehicles and somehow selling 3x as many of each of those cars than they were building Commodores.

 

[figjam]

I mean plenty of people bought Corollas or Geminis or Escorts in the 70’s, but they were a loud tiring thing to spend any time in ….

They bought those cars because of the 'oil crisis'.
Dropped a heap of money trading Kingswoods and Falcons, so they could get 30mpg instead of 20mpg.

Blew the engine in the Kingswood, and bought a temporary daily, Fairlane 351 for $600, including 11 months rego, which was destined for the scrapyard as the dealer couldn't get rid of it. Sold it just before rego ran out for $1000.