Small car, pick-up and SUV range must be executed well before Holden V8 return
20 June 2017
By DANIEL DeGASPERI
HOLDEN executive director of marketing Mark Harland has revealed that he believes the brand must execute its small car, SUV and pick-up product strategy successfully to make V8 sportscar discussions with General Motors (GM) easier.
Speaking with GoAuto at the national media launch of the Astra sedan in northern New South Wales last week, Mr Harland – who has notched up six months in the role – insisted that the unnamed V8 sportscar was still in planning, but Holden must achieve other targets first.
That included, he listed, making successes from Astra small hatchback and sedan, Equinox medium SUV and Colorado pick-up ranges. “Certainly from a product point of view, you know the product line-up, where the growth is in Australia is obviously in the SUVs, the small- to medium-sized SUVs,” Mr Harland said.
“If we can execute on the upcoming product launches, I think that gives us a lot of credibility with the senior leadership back in Detroit so that our managing director, Mark Bernhard, can say, ‘Hey, we really think we’d like to have a rear-wheel-drive V8 as a halo car.’
Told you. if GM can be stuffed they'll send a few half-arsed Camaros along with stickers on the speedos and wonder why they won't sell at BMW and Merc prices . Then they'll say, well that's it. I give GM five years in this country. Theyre doing about as good a job as the Turnbull gov
Actually if I remember rightly, one of the bosses (can't remember which - there have been a few lately) said that (I'm paraphrasing) Holden fans had to get used to liking what GM was going to provide, rather than what they wanted.
Australia is a small market. The globe has been moving away from RWD V8 sedans and wagons for several decades. Lacking scale, ongoing production makes little sense.
Yep. GM products are just yob vehicles now. No amount of PR/marketing's going to change perception. Importing crappy FWD models & slapping "upmarket" pricing on them hasn't exactly worked. I don't hold any hope for any of their small car fleet in a crowded market. I don't know who'll buy Insignia. Hope I'm wrong. Trax/Equinox/Trailblazer/Acadia are their only hope now. They all seem second rate to me.
On which planet would that be? Take away BMW and MB and European cars are overwhelmingly FWD. Except for Cadillac, and the Chevrolet Camaro and Corvette, GMNA is overwhelmingly FWD. Ford NA? Lincoln Continental is RWD and that is it. FCA? Yes, you have the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Charger. The Charger's strength is police fleets. If the 300 is still selling, then I don't see it anymore.
I could go through the World's inventory of RWD models, but they are overwhelmingly trucks and "luxury" offerings from their manufacturers such as Lexus (Toyota), Infinity (Nissan), and Genesis (Hyundai). The most popular passenger car sold in Australia is the Toyota Corolla. Also in the Top 10 are Mazda 3 and Hyundai i30. The notion that there is frustrated demand for a mainstream-priced RWD sedan is belied by the fact that Australians are buying the exact opposite cars. It is also belied by the fact that no other manufacturer has stepped in to fill the gaps left by the demise of the Ford Falcon and the Australian-built Commodore. The Stinger? Ask me that when the Stinger hits the Top 20 on the Australia sales charts.
I have said it many times before. It has been stated by others on this thread. The car buying public is not buying RWD sedans. This is a trend that has first became clear 22 years ago when Ford Falcon sales stopped growing and a year later when Commodore sales began to turn over. Reality is reality whether you accept it or not.
The bean counters are in charge now. If it doesn't make GM a hefty margin then it isn't going to happen.
GM is basically becoming Toyota. In the US, we have Chevrolet which makes the bland, boring commuter cars. Then there's Camaro and Corvette wedged in there. Take it or leave it.
Cadillac, which is the Lexus of the brand. Similar chassis, badge engineered, high prices for not really a lot of product.
Buick? I have no idea why this brand still exists.
GMC is just a pretentious Chevrolet with extra chrome. I don't get it either.
The truth of the matter is, as a country, Australia was played by Japan, then Korea, and now China, Thailand, etc.. America too has been played.. Anglo politicians simply do not get it..
Government policy on trade and competitiveness matter. Did Australia ever try to level the playing field between Holden and say Toyota in its home Market? Nooooo.. Doors wide open in Australia for Japanese Jobs, Doors wide shut in Japan, Korea, etc.. for Australian manufacturing.
The only reason people buy FWD sedans anymore is because they don't know any better. Plus, most people just treat cars as appliances nowadays anyways. They'd rather engage their phone rather than engage the clutch and 1st gear anymore. That's why crappy CUV's are dominating the market.
Driverless cars are the future if they can ever get them to work right because this new generation cares more about someone's dinner on facebook rather than enjoying the road.
Give me RWD and a V8 any day of the week. I refuse to buy a FWD 4 or V6 powered sedan or CUV. If no one makes them anymore I'll buy a used one until they no longer exist anymore.
Meanwhile, Mustang is an example of what can be achieved when manufacturers
look at RHD markets in terms of bundled production under ECE design regs.
Iam shocked that the might of GM was not able to provide an Alpha sedan globally
through all its RHD and LHD markets, something that may have transformed the
perception of Buick, Opel, Vauxhall and Holden.
There were a whole bunch of holden tragc V8 buyers there, they were an easy sell
and basically eating out of Holden's hands.... how oculd all those $50K-$70K buyers
be let go on a whim to go chase FWD pudding / beige sales....
Australia is not a straight overlap of Europe/UK, there are decent pockets of valuable
niche RWD buyers who are only too happy to pay a decent premium for what they like.
Ford saw this and found a way to make the Mustang happen. Similarly, GM should have
provisioned for a CTS sized sedan for Buick/Holden/Opel/Vauxhall with a variety of
engines and transmissions depending on regonal sensibilities. The fact that GM didn't
even bother is to every Holden buyer's eternal disgust.
Read what I wrote, RHD not RWD, again it not Holden or Australia's fault GM cannot manufacture a competitive RHD car.
As for RWD at luxury level GM hasn't been able to do that either, as they have found out Crappilac will only ever sell in NA & probably China.
I know what the top selling small cars are here, that's why I point it out, you repeating the obvious (that they are not Holden) shows that you also know GM cannot break into the market.
What I also accept and you (and many others) refuse to is that Commodore could have gone on for some time had Holden not been forced out of it's export markets by GM itself.
oh and at $76,490 for a loaded SSV no-one considered it an entry level RWD sedan.
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