Holden already in the crap... and local production hasn't even ended yet.

[zero_tolerance]

http://www.theage.com.au/business/h...manufacturing-winds-down-20170504-gvymrw.html

https://www.wheelsmag.com.au/news/1...most-overtakes-rival-april-sales-figures-show

These are very worrying signs indeed.
Once the lights go out at Elizabeth that's roughly another 2000 sales per month they will lose. Sadly, the only way is down, way down.
I blame the decision to rebadge Daewoos as Holdens for this spectacular fall from grace. This would have to be the worst business decision ever made in the company's history, and those responsible for it should be hung by the scrotum.
These rebadged Daewoos have done immeasurable damage to Holden's brand image and reputation. You only have to take a look on a forum like Whirlpool - every time somebody asks for an opinion on buying a Captiva, Barina, Cruze, Trax etc you get a barrage of posts telling them to avoid like the plague and run as far away as they can. And Holden scratches their head and wonders where all their customers have gone...
So what does the future hold? I hate to say it but it looks rather grim to me. Colorado is the only vehicle that will sell in decent numbers. NG will struggle, and it's future is up in the air even before it has been released. Astra is a good car but sales haven't exactly set the world on fire and its future too is uncertain.
Holden desperately needs some quality product to rebuild its image, otherwise they are finished. What was once an automotive powerhouse in this country will become a niche brand.

 

[greenacc]

If GM keeps giving them crap cars to sell it won't get any better.

 

[harrop.senator]

Yeah because camiras barinas and astras in the eighties and nineties were absolute engineering marvels lol.they've been rebadging cheap crap for years nothing new.

 

[harrop.senator]

Unsure what new astras are like but with all the horror stories and ones ive worked on from the mid 2000s and older i would disagree with being a good car.

 

[Zeke Topanaga]

I think it has to do with the GM company does not have true car enthusiast up in the ranks of the top. it's just a job to them.

Most people are just buying crap nowadays and truly think it's good and it is good compared to cars of old but that's good enough for most.
Holden's Daewoos have got better over time as so with Kia and Hyundai, they are all in the same class of car. cheap rubbish but good enough to pass for value for money, even the great wall is up their, good crap until it gets older and the problems start popping up with quality.

 

[c2105026]

Pre-2000s Oil crisis, Holden was on fire. People wanted big cars, Holden Barina won wheels COTY and the Astra was an excellent new car product, very popular.

In late 2001 the 9th Gen Corolla came out, and it was a Quantum leap over the 8th Gen, and offered a lot that the Astra didn't. The Focus arrived in 2002, and also rained on the Astra's parade. The 2005 Astra lost the sharp driving appeal and looks of the TS model, and price rises made it less competitive. Soon after GMH started selling rebadged Daewoos, including the Barina from 2005-2006 onwards.

In 2003 the price of crude oil and as such petrol moved north, and Commodore sales began to tail off from their 2002 high. The VE was signed off when oil was $20 a barrel, and released when it was about $70 a barrel. It should have been a winner but in those 4 years buyer preferences had shifted as quality, roomy small cars with good performance, reliability and quality flooded the market - Mazda3 released in 2003, and was soon one of the most popular car to buy for private buyers.

By 2008 Oil was $140 a barrel, killing off demand for bigger cars; people were also becoming more environmentally conscious and some thought the Commodore was a wasteful gas guzzler. Then came the GFC and people bought smaller, cheaper cars. By the time the GFC finished in 2010, consumers had all but forgotten about the Commodore. Fleets no longer bought them - this in itself is a key factor. In fact after 2008 or so, the sales of Omegas tailed off. It was all S/SS and luxury models.

In hindsight, the VE Commodore should have been reconfigured as a small car or small SUV - then at least Holden would have been in with a shot. But....Holden as a brand really should just end. Let it go with dignity. Don't let it become like Triumph in the 1980s, or Rover in the 90s.

 

[JMP]

The commodore has been one of the best selling vehicles for ages, why would changing the configuration have helped? It was never going to compete with SUVs and smaller cars because that's the way the market is going but for large passenger cars it was holding it's own so I think changing the commodore name plate to something else would have closed Holden faster. What Holden never did well was bring vehicles in that Australians would accept and market them correctly. Let's face it for years Holden has been badging other brands poor builds as Holdens and gaining a bad reputation for anything other than Commodore, in hindsight they are now paying for years of poor decisions.

 

[c2105026]

Yes absolutely - in 2002 noone would have really guessed that large cars would become so on the nose in such a short space of time. But if somehow local manufacture switched over to a small car/small SUV, story may have been different....but we will never know. Holden did assemble a small car here (Cruze) but it was ****, didn't sell, and is proving to be a warranty headache. Ultimately you pay a factory worker here $25-30 an hour (min) to do something they can do in Thailand for $5 an hour. Thank you lopsided freetrade agreements, globalisation and unrealistic unions.

 

[Sabbath']

It's not an image problem it's a product problem. Holden dont have the products for sale that the market want to buy at the right time. And when they do have it, they're fighting against manufacturers and name plates with years more experience and brand loyalty/build up that puts them at a disadvantage straight off the bat.

 

[c2105026]

It's not an image problem it's a product problem. Holden dont have the products for sale that the market want to buy at the right time. And when they do have it, they're fighting against manufacturers and name plates with years more experience and brand loyalty/build up that puts them at a disadvantage straight off the bat.

Good point. As soon as the Nissan Pulsar was replaced with the Tiida, sales halved. In 2007, the 10th Generation Corolla was launched in Australia - now, overseas the Corolla nameplate only belongs to the sedan, the hatch is an Auris. For the Aussie market, Toyota have stuck with the Corolla badge for both bodystyles, and its paying dividends, Corolla always in the top 3-4 vehicles being sold. OTOH if the replacement is awesome, it doesn't matter. In 2002/2003 the KN Laser/BJ 323 was replaced with the Ford Focus and Mazda3 respectively, arguably far better looking, packaged engineered etc.

If you rock up with a Viva, Cruze or Malibu, people just get confused. Take Mazda nowadays. All Mazda products share a cohesive design language and underlying engineering philosophy. Same with Hyundai and Toyota. OTOH with GM its just whatever factory surplus that's lying about imported in from overseas.