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Euro Holdens to arrive mid-year

9K views 80 replies 32 participants last post by  kts350 
#1 ·
Euro Holdens to arrive mid-year
Motoring
Words: Matt Brogan
Published : Wednesday, 17 December 2014

Holden has today confirmed its threesome of European-sourced models – the Astra, Cascada and Insignia – will go on sale by mid-2015, but not before its revamped Cruze arrives in late January.

"Other models" – likely including the renewed Barina Spark, Volt and Captiva – will come "toward the end of 2015 or early 2016", while a facelifted MY16 Commodore is also expected around September 2015, before production winds up in 2017.

The news comes just weeks after GMH confirmed the current Commodore will be its last rear-wheel drive V8 model to be offered in Oz though Holden today confirmed that the VF-series range will be updated "at least once more" before local manufacturing ceases in three years.

The Opel Insignia, the next generation of which will replace the Commodore, is one of three European-sourced models due to arrive in "late Q2 or early Q3", and initially will be sold alongside the Commodore (large) and Malibu (medium) ranges.

Holden says its growing line-up will also be joined by the Astra GTC and VXR hot hatches, and convertible Cascada, all of which are expected "around the same time" as the larger Insignia VXR.

*Full Article at Link
 
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#8 ·
It did work. And it worked very well when Holden dealt with Opel directly.

Until the end of 2002 when the Swiss-based GM Europe (aka RenCen's club for "the boys") decided to charge commission for their "services" to support their Corvette/Cadillac lifestyle: a flat fee per car, plus %. So the poverty-pack Vectra suddenly became more expensive than the Commodore, and the Astra price went up and equipment levels went down. And the profitable Barina suddenly started generating losses. In effect the cars became sale proof.

As for the new strategy: isn't the new lineup too confusing to consumers? Can the dealers afford the floor plan with falling sales volume? Eg. Hyundai sell more cars per dealer with less models on offer. How are Holden dealers to make money?
 
#30 ·
But I thought the Buick LWB Epsilon model was the LaCrosse, with Regal used for the SWB Epsilon model.

Based on current model overall sizes, the Insignia is just 1mm narrower and 1mm shorter than the Regal - not that the current LaCrosse is any wider than the Regal - I seem to recall that getting 3 athletic Aussie men across the rear seat was a requirement for Commodore.
 
#31 · (Edited)
I don't know the exact details, I have hardly any contacts left at Holden now (one of the last ones got his pink payslip yesterday, plus a DCM letter delivered by a courier).

Anyway, before GM confirmed the local shut down, Holden were working on a hybrid Buick/Opel for local production: basically a stretched Insignia with cheaper/less advanced powertrain and suspension destined for Buick. That project didn't last very long, Marry Barra killed it back in 2012 (she was the then global GM product "guru"), and it wasn't really an "engineering" project, more packaging of existing components.

I don't know much about the next gen Insignia, sorry - it is a Opel-driven project, hardly any Detroit input (apart from WWP to keep costs down).
 
#36 ·
I was told yesterday that the waiting list for a C type Merc is four to six months depending on the version. Merc are starting to lose sales but it will only be to whoever has stock available. With the exchage rate tanking I expected MB to have plenty of stock bought in before the tanking.
 
#39 ·
Regardless of where they are built, the European car companies (including UK companies) see the value in selling into Australia. About the only one not represented at the moment is SEAT, although they have sold here in the past.

Some of these models only sell 10's of vehicles each year, yet these all companies can still sell and service them at a profit.

In contrast, the only US company represented in Australia (excluding Holden and Ford) is Chrysler/Jeep, with Cherokee, Compass, Grand Cherokee, Patriot, Wrangler, 300, Grand Voyager and Dodge Journey.
 
#42 ·
I know this is all about the upcoming Euro line-up for Holden, but what about this "revamped"Cruze?

We know that Holden lost out to GM NA on a facelift for the Cruze, so will this US facelift - which is appearing in other markets - be Australia's revamp?

What about the Chinese market Cruze Classic? Did Holden do this facelift for the Chinese market? Will this car be the Australian revamp? It's a tidy redesign with a much needed and fairly neat redesign of the rear quarters and facsia.

Keen to see what's coming for the Cruze
 
#43 ·
Although the 2008-2015 1st generation Cruze was built in both LHD and RHD versions, it's been withdrawn from Europe (and thus the UK) so Australia would be the only market for RHD versions of the 2016 2nd generation Cruze - given GM's reluctance to build RHD anywhere other than Opel/Vauxhall (and Holden until all build stops there) then it's questionable whether they'll bother building RHD Cruze just for Australia.

If Australia did take both Chevrolet Cruze and Opel Astra, however badged, it'll be interesting to see how they're positioned - no point competing against each other.
 
#44 · (Edited)
Thanks mate but Chev's UK site has the US facelift Cruze prominently displayed in sedan, hatch and wagon form as on-sale in 2015.

The China Cruze Classic facelift of the Gen 1 car could be a source for the Australian revamp. I suspect we will get the Gen 1 US facelift which is on target for the UK (and sourced from South Korea) before Chev's withdrawal from Europe and the UK by the end of 2015.

I reckon you're right though - unlikely Australia will get the NG Cruze given the lack of markets for RHD.
 
#46 ·
Chevrolet has effectively gone from Europe already - no new factory orders were placed once the withdrawal plan was announced - as far as the UK goes one dealer has 6 unsold Spark and that's it, most dealers had found other franchises within days of the announcement - the UK didn't get the Gen 1 Cruze facelift and won't.
 
#50 ·
Australia will get the next-gen Cruze. I'm just unsure of where it will be built. Most likely either Thailand or South Korea. It can't come soon enough.

MY15 is being launched in a couple of weeks (Elizabeth plant re-opens 15th January) , which is basically only a new grille and a couple of extra features (DRL's, rain sensing wipers on SRi-V and a few others). This is the final update of the vehicle, which is likely to end production in Australia in around 18 months time. At this time I would expect the new model Astra to be imported and the new model Cruze Sedan from somewhere in Asia.
 
#54 ·
They've simplified the range, concentrating on making the car as cheap as possible to produce. At this point in the model cycle the car struggles to compete with the class leaders, so sells on pricing alone. It needs to be as cheap as possible.

To be honest the 1.4 turbo would have been nice as a base motor, but for most people buying the car they don't care about it really. The 1.8 is enough for them. Those people who want something a bit better will buy the 1.6 turbo. The diesel has always struggled. They're just too expensive. Diesel Malibu has been dropped as well. Another sale proof car.
 
#58 ·
A year ago the Cruze was my bread & butter but in the last few months (Mazda 3 release etc) there's been little interest.
This is just the usual product lifecycle. The car is already 8 years old, everyone wants to drive the latest, the sales numbers are not going to improve.

Unfortunately I don't expect much improvement this year, in fact the sales numbers are heading south.
 
#57 ·
Appreciate the info. Honestly after spending over a month in the Diesel Malibu I think it's a shame it never took off. It's biggest failing was a lack of continuity. The interior looked foreign but not like ooh-la-la-my-truffles-are-from-France foreign. More like where-on-earth-did-this-come-from foreign. It wasn't bad, just unfamiliar. The economy was ridiculously good for a car of its size.
 
#60 ·
That shows just how effective "I've bought a Jeep" campaign has been. As I posted elsewhere the Christmas Jeep ad was terrific -good humour and almost believable and well executed 37.2% increase is impressive. Also Land Rover has been impressive too at 21%. Maserati's 199% comes from a low number base but shows they are doing things right.
Porsche is the one that gets me 47.6% increase. They have no flair in their designs. I saw a new Macan this morning and if I hadn't been right on its bumper and able to read the badge I would have just thought it was a Cayenne. same with the Caymen and Boxster -they still look like derivatives of 911 rather than different models. It must be what the market wants though if their sales growth in Australia are reflected in other markets.
 
#65 ·
MY15 Cruze will probably see a slight increase in sales, but only for a short amount of time. The same happened when the MY14 was released (1.6 Turbo's, etc) and when they advertised the Z Series heavily. People actually believed it was a new model.... Cruze sales for the last couple of months have been tough. This month they have bonused them so heavily it's not funny. They've never been so cheap.

If this is what we have to look forward to with the MY15 down the track, maybe the numbers will continue to come, simply because of the price leading position that Holden is making with the vehicle. It's the same with the Captiva. It's as old as the hills (basically 10 years old this year and based on an old Daewoo platform), but it still sells because it's good value. It's a pity about the electrical faults that are still erupting with them, even now.

The Euro stuff coming with only sell if Holden gets the price right and from the start, not 6 or 12 months down the track after they've spent all their advertising budget on them. The same happened with the Trax Turbo. They advertised the car heavily, put it on the Xfactor and everything and we had no stock. Customer's came in asking about them but we had nothing to show them. Typical Holden stuff ups.
 
#67 · (Edited)
... The same happened with the Trax Turbo. They advertised the car heavily, put it on the Xfactor and everything and we had no stock. Customer's came in asking about them but we had nothing to show them. Typical Holden stuff ups.
Marketing rarely co-ordinate their new launch advertising with Distribution - the lead times for imported cars are quite long, while marketing sometimes commit their advertising $$$ well before the cars are available.
 
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