Is Holden missing out on a valuable market segment?

[from oz]

Originally Posted by mattyman1010

Could the Vauxhall/Opel Vivaro fit the bill??

I'm fairly certain that the Vivaro van was almost a go'er in the Holden stable. I remember reading a Wheels mag with the Vivaro listed as an upcoming model.

Maybe Renault vetoed the idea?

[vt6banger]

it isnt just the wagon segemnt they re missing but also the HD 4WD Colorado is ok but wont compete ability wise with landcruiser or patrol, to bad we cant get silverado or something like that in ute, dualcab and wagon. with the amount of f trucks and similar style chevs i see getting around there must be a market for them brand new

[mikmak]

Originally Posted by from oz

I'm fairly certain that the Vivaro van was almost a go'er in the Holden stable. I remember reading a Wheels mag with the Vivaro listed as an upcoming model.

Maybe Renault vetoed the idea?

Possibly because Renault realised that the Commercial market is the only segment where they are making any money. I was talking to a dealer a few months ago who was saying that if the Kaleos didn't meet expectations, Renaults time in the Oz market was very limited. Whether it was his opinion or whether it came from some where else, who knows, but Renault are certainly not setting the market on fire.

[RedVee8]

I voted 'compulsory other' to indicate that the Colorado wagon is not the only product Holden are missing.
So yes, they do need a proper 4x4 wagon.

[Myke]

Originally Posted by 96_impala_ss

Well, we too in the US need something to fill the hole left by the Blazer/Trailblazer. I dont see why GM is giving up the midsize SUV market. They are kings of building those!

I guess GM (and Holden) think people in the market for a midsize SUV, aren't likely to take it off road and therefore don't see the point of having a midsize SUV/4WD aswell as a midsize crossover vehicle. I guess it didn't hurt if Holden had a proper 4WD in the market, not that Isuzu though, its a bit oldschool...

[TDi]

Originally Posted by mikmak

Possibly because Renault realised that the Commercial market is the only segment where they are making any money. I was talking to a dealer a few months ago who was saying that if the Kaleos didn't meet expectations, Renaults time in the Oz market was very limited. Whether it was his opinion or whether it came from some where else, who knows, but Renault are certainly not setting the market on fire.

From my understanding, Renault Australia had nothing to do with Holdens decision on why they couldn't import the Opel Vivaro (Renault Trafic) and the Opel Movano (Renault Master) LCV's. Holdens excuse was that they couldn't put together a business case for the vans. So how the hell can Renault Australia manage it?? Holden's dealer network is massive compared to Renault's, yet Renault is doing quite nicely with these vans.

I really don't think Renault will leave Australia again. IF they do, then that'll be it, they'll never make a return again. I believe they've put too much money into it and with their LCV range, Kangoo, Trafic and Master, doing well, they can't afford to lose that part of their business in this country.

[Rick_VT]

Ive always wondered if the Enclave would work here as a prestige SUV to go up against lexus and others.

And something smaller then Captiva to go against rav4, what happened to that concept that was done few years ago by Mike Simcoe i think??

[Patto1]

Originally Posted by vt6banger

to bad we cant get silverado or something like that in ute, dualcab and wagon. with the amount of f trucks and similar style chevs i see getting around there must be a market for them brand new

You, me and thousands of other Aussies would buy one if Holden sold the full size Chev trucks, there is at least 6 private importers in Australia bringing them in at about double the price and they still sell hundreds of them each year, but if Holden sold them for alot less, the sales would be in the thousands.

There is a market or the Silverado and Tahoe in Australia, just ask some of these recent buyers from one of the importers:-

http://www.corvette.com.au/Available...vered-254.aspx



P.S. for those that can't be bothered counting, there is 430 photos from just this one importer, this would be repeated at the other importers around the country, who said there is isn't a market in this country for them ?

[RedHotMike]

Originally Posted by Patto1

You, me and thousands of other Aussies would buy one if Holden sold the full size Chev trucks, there is at least 6 private importers in Australia bringing them in at about double the price and they still sell hundreds of them each year, but if Holden sold them for alot less, the sales would be in the thousands.

There is a market or the Silverado and Tahoe in Australia, just ask some of these recent buyers from one of the importers:-

http://www.corvette.com.au/Available...vered-254.aspx



P.S. for those that can't be bothered counting, there is 430 photos from just this one importer, this would be repeated at the other importers around the country, who said there is isn't a market in this country for them ?

Not so sure about this. Holden did try an experiment with the Suburban in the mid 90's and sold only a handfull. Ford also discontinued local delivery of their F trucks a few years back due to lack of sales/profitability.

Red Hot Mike

[vt6banger]

Originally Posted by RedHotMike

Not so sure about this. Holden did try an experiment with the Suburban in the mid 90's and sold only a handfull. Ford also discontinued local delivery of their F trucks a few years back due to lack of sales/profitability.

Red Hot Mike

yeah they only brought the suburban, no ute or dual cab which is what i think will be the sellers, if they could just break into the fleet market [govt/mining] it would be a good start.

[King Riffle]

The Holden Suburban:


We seem to have the same issue here in the U.S. GM no longer has a truck based midsize suv, and Ford's Explorer will go car based for the next model.

Would something like the current Chevrolet Blazer (Brazil) be permissible in Australia? I doubt it would be here.



More pics: http://www.mundoautomotor.com.ar/web...t-blazer-2009/

[RedHotMike]

Originally Posted by vt6banger

yeah they only brought the suburban, no ute or dual cab which is what i think will be the sellers, if they could just break into the fleet market [govt/mining] it would be a good start.

Correct but Ford had them here for years and in the end only a few were being sold so they ceased importing them. IIRC the Suburbans had to be converted to RHD in Aus which wouldn't have helped their profitability. No Idea if the current generation are sold in any RHD markets these days???

Red Hot Mike

[AndrewGS]

Originally Posted by RedHotMike

IIRC the Suburbans had to be converted to RHD in Aus which wouldn't have helped their profitability. No Idea if the current generation are sold in any RHD markets these days???

Red Hot Mike

The GMT-400 Suburban that Holden got were produced in RHD at the factory in Mexico using a modified RHD Blazer IP.

No current North American GM trucks of SUVs are built in RHD, only privately converted. They do sell the SUVs in RHD markets that allow LHD, like Japan.

If it were up to me I'd design all models ambidextrously to sell globally, even if only in small numbers. I can't imagine it would be that costly to swap the firewall, IP and steering rack around and plumb a few brake line extensions. The cost of the parts shouldn't be that much more either since they are all machine made of the same material. Maybe I'm just clueless.

[RedHotMike]

Originally Posted by AndrewGS

The GMT-400 Suburban that Holden got were produced in RHD at the factory in Mexico using a modified RHD Blazer IP.

My bad - honestly though they were converted..... wonder where I got that from then???

No current North American GM trucks of SUVs are built in RHD, only privately converted. They do sell the SUVs in RHD markets that allow LHD, like Japan.

If it were up to me I'd design all models ambidextrously to sell globally, even if only in small numbers. I can't imagine it would be that costly to swap the firewall, IP and steering rack around and plumb a few brake line extensions. The cost of the parts shouldn't be that much more either since they are all machine made of the same material. Maybe I'm just clueless.

Yeah - that one has me beat too. Any idea how easy/hard it would be to make a LHD/RHD firewall/brakes/steering package universal across multi platforms? Ie all new platforms hence forth take a standardized module designed for such things. Retrofitting onto older stuff could have major issues I'd be sure.

Red Hot Mike

[TDi]

Originally Posted by RedHotMike

Not so sure about this. Holden did try an experiment with the Suburban in the mid 90's and sold only a handfull. Ford also discontinued local delivery of their F trucks a few years back due to lack of sales/profitability.

Red Hot Mike

Ford Australia stopped importing the F Series truck because the factory that supplied our market, along with the New Zealand and South African markets, in Brazil, could no longer meet our new emission laws, that were being introduced at that time, not because of a lack of sales or profitablility. Ford were selling around 350 units of the F Series a month, a nice little number!!

The Brazilian factory, which was the only Ford factory in the world that built RHD F Series trucks, no longer builds them for RHD markets because they're still a generation behind the F Series trucks that are sold in North America.

If Ford Australia could get RHD versions of the current F Series truck, they would have had them here yesterday. How many second hand F Series trucks do you see sitting in car yards and if you do, they're still fetching top dollar.

If Ford Australia could get the F Series truck, Chrysler the Dodge Ram and Holden the Chevrolet Silverado here, they would sell and sell in big numbers!!