Goodbye... Holden :(

[Calaber]

Um, this is tin foil hat territory here, the above was not the discussion in GM's boardroom. GM is a business, and if the cost of bringing a product to a particular market and the projected sales from that product are not assessed to be worth the while, why would they bring it in? It's not a niche player, it's not playing in the "one car sale a month" ultra-luxury marque business.

Have a look at the supposed "goodies" you are referring to, there's an RHD Camaro on C@rs@les at the moment that is priced at $178G. That is just absurd. No American would pay that for a Camaro, and if an Australian does, I would say there would not be plenty of them. Operating costs AND project sales for GM in Australia as they currently stand are just not economically feasible. GM does not have aspirations to be Mercedes Benz or BMW, it's not playing or manufacturing in that space (even though luxury marque sales are up 25%, which is a completely separate discussion).


GM sells cars. What is wrong with partnering with someone they think will achieve this?

I don't disagree with your points but have one of my own.
The general perception is that the standard of GM vehicles now is poor. Those which have sold here over recent years have never compared well in comparison tests with their competitors. We, as a group of proud Australians, believe that the VF was probably one of the best engineered and built GM cars anywhere in the world at that time. They receive rave reviews on the States from enthusiasts. Are we misguided in that thinking? Did GM deliberately kill off one of its best cars in 2017?

 

[vs-lover]

Well, at least you have spare parts supply for one of your cars

Now that's not very nice.................

 

[Skylarking]

... Did GM deliberately kill off one of its best cars in 2017?

Yes, since it made them look bad

Seriously, nothing would surprise me from the bunch of arse hats that left their workers and other pension funds stuck with the toxic GM liabilities during the restructure while the “new GM” managers got bonuses for a job well done....

My thoughts are good riddance. I hope those managers choke on the $250M? tax payer dollars they exported/extorted while not fulfilling their promise to keep the Holden wheels turning. Somehow I doubt those morally bankrupt execs would ever choke on anything. So the quicker GM dies and the quicker the Aussie pollies who allowed the $250M theft to go unanswered get tossed out, the better in my view

May be an odd view considering I like my VF

 

[Skylarking]

Now that's not very nice.................

was tongue in cheek

 

[tml678]

As a side issue, everyone needs to make sure they have sufficient insurance. This announcement will undoubtedly peak the interest of those who would seek to deprive us of our prides and joy for the soon-to-boom spare parts market..particularly if the whole 'ten year guarantee of parts' falls through, which in my opinion, is entirely possible..

Protect and insure to the hilt people..

 

[JMP]

Not a sad day really as we all knew it was coming, more of a relief the announcement has finally come. The sad day was when Holden died and that was when the VF last rolled off the production lines. The demise squarely sits with GM on this and no-one else full stop, can't blame the public for not buying something they don't want or refusing to embrace something that GM brings in from overseas when all they have given us in the past was pretty average to say the least. It's very easy to damage a reputation but extremely hard to build or rebuild one and there lies the problem, arrogance from GM that thought they could treat the Australian public like rubbish and not listen to them has bitten them. As for the ZB being the best commodore, is it a commodore in the first place? The Commodore name stood for an Aussie built family car not an import so it never was and never will be a Commodore, it should have been renamed but GMs arrogance once again showed through. You can argue this if you want but if you look at when manufacturers in the past swapped cars with each other and put their make on it then it's pretty much the same thing, remember Toyota branding the VN as a Toyota Lexen? It was still a Holden Commodore as was the Apollo a Toyota Camry, badge it what you want but in reality the badge stands for nothing

 

[hingo1983]

What models are they going to supply parts for? I have a VF Calais V and a JH Cruze SRIV. I can’t really see parts being an issue for either of those for a while.

 

[vc commodore]

Be interesting what happens to the dealers...I know of 1 dealership that is actually building a new dealership just down the road from it's current site and branded as Holden.

 

[Skylarking]

Be interesting what happens to the dealers...I know of 1 dealership that is actually building a new dealership just down the road from it's current site and branded as Holden.

A fire sale soon near you
Great, I’d like a hoist

 

[Sabbath']

The last Holden dealership will likely close its doors in 2027, if they continue to offer 7 year warranties on their products.

Smaller operations will likely disappear and the larger ones may scale back to one or two hoists in the corner of a workshop that covers another product.
When we (stupidly) lost our Hyundai affiliation in 2009 we went from a 9 car workshop to one hoist in our Holden/HSV workshop and they kept on one skilled technician to look after the servicing.