Holden market share in free fall.

[Not_An_Abba_Fan]

Funny you say we kept our Commodores too long (obviously because they are such good cars and go forever) when I used to hear so many Aussies say they wouldn't buy a commodore because they weren't reliable. Unfortunately, It's is stupid Aussies who have screwed our own American Aussie car over one way or another. Probably before it was even born by selling Holden out to the Yanks and giving them the power. Now let it burn I say, just turn the dealerships into spare parts stores. That's all I'll be going there for unless they bring the Cadillac!

Holden sold out to the Yanks long before the first Holden was ever built, 1931 GM and Holden merged, 17 years before the first Holden hit the market. Or is that what you are saying?

I don't think the demise of an Australian built car is Holden's fault, there are so many makes available now that producing our own is uneconomical. A country with such a small population and so far away from the rest of the world was lucky to keep it's car makers for so long. Should have stopped building our own 20 years ago to maximise profits and to keep the company going. People would still have cried but we would be in such a different position now.

 

[greenacc]

Exactly what I was saying, the Aussie car was never an Aussie car to start with.
Where is our national pride? Fast becoming the bankrupt stupid country.

 

[VT&VX]

Should have stopped building our own 20 years ago to maximise profits and to keep the company going.

Whose company????

Did you read your own words?

If Holden was just re-badging cars from other companies (and charging customers a premium for that) then we are better off buying the original brand. Why should that company be maximising its profits from our wallets with our approval.

 

[losh1971]

I agree with Not an Abba Fan. Australia couldn't support car manufacturing on low profit margins. Our population has for a long time not been able to sell enough vehicles locally to make manufacturing viable. Holden since the late 80s relied on exports to keep the business making money. I dare say export numbers must have fallen although I can not confirm that. I only know what we studied at uni in the early 2000's when it really became Holden was going to eventually close. The Gov's pumped millions over many years into Holden to keep them operating. IMO I think Holden was always going to struggle in a market swamped with cheap imports across the world. A mid ranged price car in todays market is going to be hard sell, especially when you can get decent European cars at not a great deal more than Holden's which lets face it were not built for longevity, since the H series ended. The cars that are big sellers down here and have been for years are small SUV's, large SUV's, dual cab utes and small - med cars that have demonstated themselves as being reliable in the long-term. Very few people would say a bad thing about Toyota's, yet 100s of people I have worked with and befriended would say Holden's are really just cheap junk. IMO it's only the die-hard fans who actually believe Holden's are a high quality product. If people disagree, then I say stiff sht, because if Holden's were built well we wouldn't be seeing 100s of threads with people having issues with VE's and VF's which are still relatively new compared to some other brands that have older cars that still have relatively few problems...
I noticed someone said it's the fault of Australian citizens Holden folded but really new car sales on lot of brands have fallen over the years because it is becoming increasingly hard to buy a brand new car because very few people can afford them. And lets face it a new car is a pretty poor investment, given the moment you drive out the show room you lose $4k.
Holden trying to reidentify themselves with a car that looks like a Mondeo or Mazda I think is a recipe for disaster. IMHO they would have been better off keeping something like the VF but build it in the States where it can be made a lot cheaper simply because of the numbers they can produce and sell locally as well as export. On another note I drove past Motors Holden yesterday on the bus and I saw a fair few brand new cars in the yard; only thing was I couldn't tell if they were the new "Commodore" as they like to call it or if they were another brand, as everything looked the same.

 

[VT&VX]

I only know what we studied at uni in the early 2000's when it really became Holden was going to eventually close. The Gov's pumped millions over many years into Holden to keep them operating. IMO I think

Only millions of dollars or tens of millions?
It is a shame that politicians are too stupid to realise that paying a large company millions of dollars to keep employing a few hundred employees is a waste of taxpayer money. They should have offered to cover the wages bill for non management employees and added a bunch of apprentices on the assembly line.
That way the taxpayer would have gotten a return for that money by keeping people in jobs and training people who would be collecting dole.

 

[zoenryan]

Just think about this - Years ago you were either Holden or Furd - Footy or Football - Meat pie or Choko roll, Then along came Toyota.
Toyota proved you could manufacture cars in Australia and make a go of it - why - Strong effective management .
Point is - in a few years time Holden will be just a distant memory whereas Toyota and others will still be going strong. But - who will proudly identify with say - Mazda - or Kia!

 

[VS 5.0]

Only millions of dollars or tens of millions?
It is a shame that politicians are too stupid to realise that paying a large company millions of dollars to keep employing a few hundred employees is a waste of taxpayer money. They should have offered to cover the wages bill for non management employees and added a bunch of apprentices on the assembly line.
That way the taxpayer would have gotten a return for that money by keeping people in jobs and training people who would be collecting dole.

Never mind the squillions that Govco spends subsidising other industires though ?

Property and energy, I am particularly looking at you.

 

[vc commodore]

Holden stopped exporting for a while, because their build standards were below par with the rest of the world....Around 93ish, Holden added in or upgraded the paint plant to help them compete on the global front....Must have worked to a point, as they did start exporting a few years later.

As for problems with VE VF Commodores.....Every new car has issues....Fords, Toyota Kia etc etc....It's more the case of do we research every make and model of car to find out what problems come about? Doubt it very much.....Geez, I can remember about 10 years ago, Toyota had a massive recall on Hiluxes to fix an idler arm issue, that extended back 10 years or more of Hiluxes. Any one know about that?

Only time will tell if Holden rebound back in this country.....Think back to when Toyota, Datsun/Nissan entered the country....They were considered the biggest POS'S around...And that's only naming a couple off the top of my head....Now look at them...One can only hope they do

 

[losh1971]

Just think about this - Years ago you were either Holden or Furd - Footy or Football - Meat pie or Choko roll, Then along came Toyota.
Toyota proved you could manufacture cars in Australia and make a go of it - why - Strong effective management .
Point is - in a few years time Holden will be just a distant memory whereas Toyota and others will still be going strong. But - who will proudly identify with say - Mazda - or Kia!

i honestly think Holdens rebadging over the years have done them no favours and possibly the worst mistake they have ever made. I mean rebadging a Daewoo and calling it a Holden was clearly a poor choice. That is where I think other car makers have done better by actually making what they sell. I think the rebadging partnerships have just added to Holdens poor rep in recent years. I mean Daewoo, GMH what were you thinking?????

 

[VS 5.0]

I mean Daewoo, GMH what were you thinking?????

Mark up !!