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Holden is gone, but GM creating new brand for Australia?

11K views 54 replies 21 participants last post by  V-Car 
#1 · (Edited)
GM killed Holden but is reportedly creating a new brand for Australia
GMSV will sell the Camaro, Corvette and Silverado
RONAN GLON
Jul 28th 2020
autoblog.com

General Motors recently confirmed it will close its decades-old Holden division and exit the Australian market, but trademark filings suggests it wants to maintain a limited presence Down Under. It's allegedly joining forces with a local tuner to import a handful of right-hand drive models and distribute them across the nation.

Australia's patent office received requests the protect the names GMSV (General Motors Specialty Vehicles) and SV Specialty Vehicles on June 19 and July 3, respectively. Trademark filings never guarantee a carmaker's intent, but enthusiast website GM Authority learned GMSV was formed to represent General Motors in Australia once Holden disappears. It's believed to be a joint venture with well-known Holden tuner Walkinshaw Group.

CONTINUE AT LINK ABOVE
 
#2 ·
Interesting report.

It does make some sense to focus only on higher-margin specialty products (which are desired by customers and can more readily turn a profit). In some ways using a "GM##" type name is akin to what GM did years ago in Japan. It's been awhile since I've read about scenario but basically GM didn't use "one brand" in Japan -- but had "GM Stores" that sold multiple brands under one sales channel.
 
#9 · (Edited)
I was thinking the same thing when I read this initially.

To me it makes no sense to create "GMSV" while killing Holden --- unless, the reason is about consumer acceptance and product placement.

By that I mean, it could have been very difficult to "erase" (or "re-imagine") what Holden is/was (a mass-market, mainstream brand with a portfolio of cheap-to-moderate priced offerings), and scale it back to a specialty products company (with a very limited range and/or higher priced products).

If they did that -- and Holden morphed into a small, limited scope specialty outfit -- the transition could have been wholly lost (or outright rejected) by consumers.

In that way, perhaps it is no different than taking any mainstream brand and making it "exclusive" -- only to have the endeavor possibly fail. Years ago (pre-1990), Audi was much more of a mainstream brand and slowly became a more exclusive, expensive, and luxury car auto-brand. But it took decades of solid execution, product planning, and a gradual shift in consumer expectations and perception to make that happen.

In GM's case, they arguably didn't have that kind of time and maybe it would not have worked. Holden is too well known and ingrained in the market to go from "everyday" to "exclusive" while also delivering a much small portfolio of products.

Is this the right move? Who knows.

The larger point here may speak to scope, scale, and profitability. GM obviously could not sustain Holden's business model Down Under (feeding product to dealers, marketing, advertising, developing "affordable" product for the market, etc). But to take some products off the shelf, convert them in Australia, and sell them at a mark-up to a small client-base? Maybe that does make them a few bucks, while also being profitable. That seems to be what GM is doing in markets like Russia (and some of Europe), but who knows if the squeeze is worth the juice. Something tells me that if they find a local partner to take on some of the risk (like Walkinshaw), then perhaps there isn't much lifting that needs to be done by Detroit to make it a reality.
 
#14 ·
Alpha platform is going to hang around for another two or three years thanks to the Cadillac refreshes
but that's beside the point, the real problem was the Luke warm reception to the RHD Camaro and its price.
Not enough buyers wanted it and they nearly got caught with a bunch of vehicles that were increasingly hard to shift.

Whatever vehicles GMSV chooses has to be right for our market or it will be a financial disaster to them
and beyond Silverado, I don't see anything thats low risk and fairly easy sell in our market.
 
#15 ·
Is it any easier to design an electric vehicle to be either RHD or LHD in comparison to an ICE vehicle. I would expect it would be but of course you still have all the certifications to go through. I agree that the Silverado seems to be the only product that can be converted without huge expense (the Camaro already is being converted). The problem I have with GMSV is the S - I see nothing special at the moment.
 
#16 ·
One problem for Walkinshaw is the public's perceived price of full size trucks in the U.S is much lower than reality.

They're in the 50-60k range minimum USD

We have guys crying online social media about them being 30k trucks which they're clearly not

This is why Walkinshaw is only importing the LTZ crewcab level right now

If they could get some volume maybe a cheaper variant is a possibility but for them the RAM 1500 classic is covering that market at the moment

If they could get a Tahoe over here for around the 125k AUD pricerange out the door that would be a good alternative to the Landcruiser 200 series

Especially seeing how the Landcruiser is dropping the V8 for the 300
 
#19 ·
GM killed Holden but is reportedly creating a new brand for Australia
GMSV will sell the Camaro, Corvette and Silverado
RONAN GLON
Jul 28th 2020
gminsidenews.com

General Motors recently confirmed it will close its decades-old Holden division and exit the Australian market, but trademark filings suggests it wants to maintain a limited presence Down Under. It's allegedly joining forces with a local tuner to import a handful of right-hand drive models and distribute them across the nation.

Australia's patent office received requests the protect the names GMSV (General Motors Specialty Vehicles) and SV Specialty Vehicles on June 19 and July 3, respectively. Trademark filings never guarantee a carmaker's intent, but enthusiast website GM Authority learned GMSV was formed to represent General Motors in Australia once Holden disappears. It's believed to be a joint venture with well-known Holden tuner Walkinshaw Group.

CONTINUE AT LINK ABOVE
This article was published by Autoblog.com, not GM Inside News--which is this site. It is an old story. If memory serves, virtually the same information appeared here on GM Inside News months ago.
 
#27 ·
Whatever they bring over will be sold in very low numbers and be way overpriced for what they are, GM doesn't give a **** about the aussie market here whatever happens is a win, win for them as they sell cars and it's not going to cost them a thing because they wont be doing the RHD conversions.
 
#28 · (Edited)
The big winners are actually Walkinshaw who get paid for every conversion done on behalf of GMSV
and the Australian government piling on Luxury Car Tax and GST on top of those already inflated costs.
All GMNA gets is guaranteed sales to fans who are willing to pay, none of this exists without them.

Let's face it, most of them are leased as business vehicles so payments can be written down against
business use, there's a certain symbiosis (conspiracy) between buyers, Walkinshaw's business model
and the value adding to the tax department collecting LCT and GST. but I guess they're just the tip of
the iceberg compared to mid-sized pickup sales....
 
#31 · (Edited)
GM is gone, Holden is dead. Long live H2X where hopefully a bunch of sacked holden workers are heading to right now. I have been conversing with H2X and there is a sign they may do a commodore / falcon replacement since their basic design of their new auto vehicles is modular. Pretty much what GM had planned for that fuel cell / electric concept car a while back.
 
#37 ·
my guess is this is ether an "underground" push from inside GM OR likely walkinshaw pushed deal more then a "proper" business plan from GM
I could see the Hummer EV teh Escalade the Camaro and Vette and that is about it for ANY VOLUME

and for the "what if" Holden went with Opel to PSA I doubt PSA has a lot of interest in scratch designing a NEW COMMIE and its RWD platform and as far as I can see Holden was mostly DOA once the Commie was turned into a FWD Opel in drag
 
#39 ·
Agreed that Holden was dead as soon as the decision to cancel local production of Commodore was made. GM made a decision based on their own mismanagement because they wanted Australian Government money even though Holden was still making money even with the VF Commodore. The money was being siphoned back to GM headquarters to keep them afloat. GM is still losing money which should tell you something about how competent the management at GM are.
 
#40 · (Edited)
stupid creating a new GM brand. Just keep Holden as a scaled down brand with 30 to 50 dealers. Sell locally-converted Silverado, as well as current Acadia, Corvette, Trax and Equinox. As the mainstream GM products cease RHD, replace them with more locally converted US product (Tahoe, Colorado ZR2, Suburban) Aim for 20,000 to 30,000 sales a year and you are done. It means no massive re-branding exercise and keeps an existing nameplate to keep up the lucrative parts and servicing of 1.6 million current Holdens on the road. It also keeps their options open as electric cars take off and RHD becomes dead easy.

But still interested what happens with GMSV. Im surprised GM are bothering, but I suppose if they need to have a local presence due to parts and servicing I guess they figure they may as well sell some cars while they are at it.
 
#43 ·
my guess is this NEW approach allows them to sell the "converted" products using their "HOME" name IE Chevrolet Silverado and removes ANY expectation of AUS production and ANOTHER V8 Commodore OR even "value minded vehicles not to mention I would bet Wilkensaw is a BIG push and is taking on a LOT of the "risk"
 
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