Holden closing down Factory 2016 - 2018

[Reaper]

Reaper

If I can't buy an Australian built and designed Holden, I would rather the name was attached to an Opel or Vauxhall than a Daewoo. My Captiva is a typical Daewoo product, though improved with Holden input. It's dull and unimpressive, though it does the job I bought it for. It just doesn't have the "Holden" feel about it that my previous cars had. The Cruze has been dramatically improved with Holden input, but the original was a dog. The Barina is half baked and compares poorly with other vehicles in its market sector. The Barina Spark is a joke. Who buys them and how can you treat them seriously? The Malibu is seldom seen and gets lost in the crowd. All Daewoo designs. All boring as batshit. How much local input will there be in future models if the local manufacturing capacity is removed?

The Holden name was seriously cheapened back in the 1980's when it was stuck on Suzuki Sierra's and called the Drover. There was also the Scurry, a Suzuki Carry van that nobody ever sees. Utter rubbish with Holden badges stuck on.

Unless there is a huge improvement in Daewoo design and engineering standards, it's going to suffer the same fate again.

You and the rest of the country had that opportunity for many years with the imported Opel Vectra, Astra and Barina each of which were class leaders for their time. Sadly that also came at a price premium that Australia that placed it in the low premium catagory that the likes of VW fill. The cars simply did not sell and had to be discounted to unprofitable levels to move the metal.

As for what Holden builds in Aus, once again, what would you suggest they build that is any different to now bearing in mind they already have a small car and the undisputed class leader large car, both of which hover around #5 on the monthly sellers list although the Commodore has been elevated lately with the new model. The Commodore sits at #5 for the year till 31 October and Cruze at #6.

SUV??? There is nothing in the top 10 either monthly or yearly so that's out. The only class in the top 10 that Holden don't actually make here is the BOF ute (HiLux et al) once again selling 3000 or so units per month. It'd take many years for Holden to get market penetration in that market I would think.

I did drive around in a few Cruzes lately and tbh I was pleasantly surprised. Not the sort of car I'd buy as it doesn't fit my needs what so ever however the equipment, performance and build quality was far better than I was expecting. Malibu is really only for the fleets and will be a nothing car in Aus. Haven't ever looked closely at a Barina. The problem is that boring is what sells. Name a Toyota anything save the 86 (which sells only a few hundred per month) that is anything more than white goods on wheels?

 

[Immortality]

This will kill HSV as well, how many staff is that?

Holden loose 3000 staff in 2017/2018

Ford loose 2500 staff in 2016

How many others will loose their jobs in the supply chains to these manufacturing plants ( I hear numbers of 50,000 been thrown around).

I think you are dreaming if you think that a lot of people will simply walk into other jobs. Even with re-training the majority of the 5500 staff above will struggle in the short term. I hear the mining sector is on a down turn as well. This is going to hurt the Aussie economy in the short term. I hope your politicians have some ideas to support the local economy to prevent it hurting long term.

I also think your off the mark by simply blaming the work force, would GM have delays the stay of execution had the staff taken a 15-20% pay cut? I bet not, I would suggest that unless Holden matched production costs with the Asian factories it wouldn't stand any chance of staying open (staff pay cuts of more that 50%) but then other cost factors like the high Aussie dollar was still a problem

Fact is, free trade agreements kill the local production sector. It happened here in NZ almost overnight. Once those tariffs disappeared so did all the local car manufacturing. NZ and Aussie just aren't big enough to compete globally and no way no how can we compete with the low wage Asian economies.

I also agree with Reaper, the Holden brand will stay, as mentioned you already have lots of "other" GM brands sold here under the Holden banner. After all, what is a Holden Colorado?

Working in the parts industry its amazing that retail people think because a mechanic pays X for a part and they pay Y for a part they are getting ripped.

They dont seem to fathom that 10 dollar difference or whatever it may be is part of their margin to survive

Sorry, don't believe it. Most retail customers in parts stores get ripped off. Classic example, a local Nissan car yard/service centre was charging $18 per spark plug when using genuine Nissan supplied spark plugs (from Japan), they then started getting the spark plugs from a local parts supplier @ 2.60ea (standard trade price, same as I paid) and yet they still charged their customers the same $18 per plug at the Nissan service centre. Retail price on that same spark plug was about $5 at that time (a fair few years ago now). The bit that really stings is though those same spark plugs are now made in china for a fraction of the cost but has the price of that spark plug ever come down at the retail end of the supply chain (who is ripping the customers and the supply chain off now?).

Fact is, most automotive supply stores make there money from trade customers, the retail customer that walks through the door is just the icing on the cake.

 

[AirStrike]

Wait, some some cheeky bastard running a business made a profit!

 

[PIR4TE]

Dunno why GM didn't put the VCDi Family Z diesel in the VF - 400Nm and 135kW out of a 2.4 TD i4 - ideal power plant for the car and seemingly greater appeal.

 

[Immortality]

What I don't understand is, the Aussie government paid GM a lot of money and has promised a lot of money to GM over the next few years (500 million until closure I read), I would pull out any funding promised as they are now closing down. No point pumping tax dollars into an industry that is effectively dead already.

Wait, some some cheeky bastard running a business made a profit!

I don't have a problem with somebody making a profit. The problem these days is that the supply chain is huge and every man and his dog wants to "clip the ticket" and make a profit (this includes the tax man) so much so that when the product reaches the actual end user and you add up all the margins that everybody has added on the product is in reality hugely expensive for what it is.

 

[corhijasna]

to the posters saying about the price for parts they are charged my mechanics etc,why not do what I do and supply them with the parts they need,most decent mechanics will do this and if they won't find another mechanic who will,this way you avoid paying the mark-up,i have done this for years and never had a problem,also when you go into a spare parts shop be nice to the guy/gal behind the counter and you may get a cheaper discount without even asking-this happens more than you think

 

[Grennan]

Sorry, don't believe it. Most retail customers in parts stores get ripped off. Classic example, a local Nissan car yard/service centre was charging $18 per spark plug when using genuine Nissan supplied spark plugs (from Japan), they then started getting the spark plugs from a local parts supplier @ 2.60ea (standard trade price, same as I paid) and yet they still charged their customers the same $18 per plug at the Nissan service centre. Retail price on that same spark plug was about $5 at that time (a fair few years ago now). The bit that really stings is though those same spark plugs are now made in china for a fraction of the cost but has the price of that spark plug ever come down at the retail end of the supply chain (who is ripping the customers and the supply chain off now?).

Fact is, most automotive supply stores make there money from trade customers, the retail customer that walks through the door is just the icing on the cake.

Im referring to other resellers down the supply chain. IE Burson, Repco.

Ill tell you right now, basic copper plugs range from 4.90 - 9.50 for double electrode. We sell those to the trade for about 2 bucks less. If your mechanic wants to charge you the price of a platinum plug ie 18 bucks, thats not the resellers fault, thats a workshop treating you like a muppet.

 

[Immortality]

Im referring to other resellers down the supply chain. IE Burson, Repco.

Ill tell you right now, basic copper plugs range from 4.90 - 9.50 for double electrode. We sell those to the trade for about 2 bucks less. If your mechanic wants to charge you the price of a platinum plug ie 18 bucks, thats not the resellers fault, thats a workshop treating you like a muppet.

I never paid $18 per plug, this info came from the parts supply store manager (so I know what they paid per plug and what they charged the end customer), we also owned a Nissan but I never ever paid them to service things like plugs/oil/filter because I can do that myself at trade prices.

I paid trade for my parts so I know what the difference is. MY missus is a senior manager in the building industry working for one of NZ's largest manufacturers/suppliers/retailers so I have a fair idea what cost, trade and retail is in that sector also and it's much the same problem.

The problem with the likes of Burnsco and Repco and Supercheap is they try to be a bit of everything. Plus you have all the idiots who work behind the counter that have no trade/parts knowledge. Back in the day, when I was in the store every other day picking up parts, the guys behind the counter were car guys, mechanics etc with industry experience. These days you have pimply nosed idiots that might know something about a stereo system but when you ask for a car part they get a blank look on there face. The only way they can find a part is by using the car license plate. When I wanted a water pump to suit a Holden 304 V8 I actually had to go behind the counter, look at the screen and say "that one" (my normal supplier didn't have any stock) It's the reason I never ever use Repco. I use trade outlets where the people know something about what they sell.

BTW, I have family that work for Repco, once you see the difference between retail and the trade/staff discount you know that retail is a rip-off.

 

[Jecs]

If your mechanic wants to charge you the price of a platinum plug ie 18 bucks, thats not the resellers fault, thats a workshop treating you like a muppet.

which hes prob charging you because you acted like a muppet.

 

[SavVYute]

One comment typifies response from our mates in the US... Originally Posted by panzer leader:

cp, terrible news..... "dr napthine said it was an irreversible decision made in detroit and he was only told this afternoon." see my earlier post, the u.s. Government sold off its gm stock at a $10 billion dollar loss..... Why? Especially if gm is now making a profit.... Of course my friend, the news comes from detroit. A city that has declared bankruptcy. I am sick of this type of bs. I would like to see the holden employees, and the people of australia buy holden back from gm.... Build them there and ship them (at least some here.) you folks don't need gm... You guys are aussies, now go kick their ass.

Holden would be a great pick up for one of the Chinese car companies that can't yet make a decent car.
The expertise, design and development knowledge would lift then game of say Cherry or Great Wall.
Bit like when Tata (India) bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford.