Good car

[losh1971]

As I said before if people had supported holden th zb is what would have been built now in aus.but sadly a hostile government and a population that wouldn't buy made in aus .so no more made in aus.

The issue is not local it's sales worldwide that we needed. Aust built cars have relied on exports for decades. Domestically car sales simply haven't reached the volumes needed for it to become viable and probably never could. Holden relied on exports to keep the Commodore going, we just don't have the population.

 

[John a]

The issue is not local it's sales worldwide that we needed. Aust built cars have relied on exports for decades. Domestically car sales simply haven't reached the volumes needed for it to become viable and probably never could. Holden relied on exports to keep the Commodore going, we just don't have the population.

 

[John a]

True but the buying public deserted Australian made cars in droves and we can't get away from that fact.anyway it's all history now.

 

[Calaber]

Anybody who still thinks Holden would be building cars here if sales were better is kidding themselves. Just have a look at what GM has done or is doing apart from shutting down here.

Sold off Opel, who build far more cars per year than Holden did. Also removed Vauxhall by doing so as most Vauxhall models are Opel designed and built. Again, sales much stronger than Holden. Closing 5 US plants and 1 or 2 Canadian plants. What would their combined production figures be? Expanding production in Mexico and China, and there it is. Reduce costs by shifting manufacture to low income countries and shut down costly plants at home.

Holden was always doomed.

 

[Immortality]

Anybody who still thinks Holden would be building cars here if sales were better is kidding themselves. Just have a look at what GM has done or is doing apart from shutting down here.

Sold off Opel, who build far more cars per year than Holden did. Also removed Vauxhall by doing so as most Vauxhall models are Opel designed and built. Again, sales much stronger than Holden. Closing 5 US plants and 1 or 2 Canadian plants. What would their combined production figures be? Expanding production in Mexico and China, and there it is. Reduce costs by shifting manufacture to low income countries and shut down costly plants at home.

Holden was always doomed.

Too true, the best thing GM could have done is sold Holden before they closed manufacturing here but now it's to late. These days GM are only looking inward at what suits the US market and with the Don at the helm of the US and his "America only" stance battling all his frenemies it's only going to get worse.

 

[vs-lover]

The other major thing to take into consideration is that Holden refused to act on Australian car buying trends. It's all about the SUV now and Holden just couldn't or wouldn't build one as they knew the writing was on the wall years earlier and thus weren't going to retool for such low volumes when they could set up in Shanghai with much lower production costs and eventually ship back here to Australia after their deal with PSA expires.

Honestly I wouldn't buy a ZB in principle as in 4 years you'll be left on your own and without any parts for it as there'll be no support from GM for it, but then again all companies build cars with a vision that in 5 years they will head to Auschwitz for Automobiles.

Fact of the matter cars are no longer seen as an extension of ones personality and things to own for many years. They are merely disposable items now.

 

[wetwork65]

Agree with your opinion completely, but the initial price should reflect the disposability.
Hang on - is that why components are cheaply made. E.g. the EPS in VF Commodores?

 

[Immortality]

In theory parts for the VE/VF should be available for many years to come as many came directly from the GM parts bins but I agree that modern cars with fancy electronic modules certainly do seem to have a certain life span and that's it. It'll be hard to keep a VE/VF running in 30 years where as the older Commodores will still be trucking on...

 

[Smashfist]

From every model onward starting at the VB the Commodore became more Aussie and less Opel

Not really. The Commodore has been a mish mash of parts with some cobbling since it began...

VL with a Japanese straight 6
VN to VY with an American V6
VT2 onwards with an American V8

The only "proper all Aussie" Commodores would be VE-VF V6, but only autos as the manuals get a Japanese Aisin gearbox. First to third gen platforms were based off Opel designs.

 

[Immortality]

VB to VT with Holden V8 motors as well as the Holden 6's till the VL or are you just focused on the imported parts? Holden and Fords made in aussie also shared suppliers and used some of the same parts ...

Yes the only true 100% designed and built Commodore would be the VE/VF series cars (using the GM parts bins) but still any VB to VZ is more Aussie than Opel. The ZB is badge engineered 100% and really isn't a Commodore other than name.

So yes the Commodore was based originally off an Opel platform but much modified/improved to suit our markets, no matter how you look at it, it was made our own (by our own) unlike the ZB!