[JoeT]

Holden Eyes Second Model

Mike Sinclair
22 May 2008
www.carpoint.com.au

Holden could follow Ford's lead and build a second model range Down Under.

GM Asia Pacific chief, Nick Reilly, has confirmed Holden will look to build another model range alongside Commodore in Australia.

While Reilly's news that turbodiesel and hybrid versions of Holden's large car are on the way might have received the widest coverage (more here), the GM Group Vice President and President GM Asia Pacific also discussed the likelihood of the carmaker adding to its production portfolio during a media briefing earlier this week.

According to Reilly, while it's early days (especially for the G8 in the USA), demand in Holden's export markets for the Commodore and its derivatives is likely to remain strong. This should cement production of the car here for the medium term.

He suggests, however, the manifest change in the Australian car market may dictate Holden builds a smaller car Down Under.

"[Due to the segmentation changes] We're certainly looking at offering a different portfolio [of models] -- which we've already started to do," Reilly explained.

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Hot Dollar Won’t Stop Holden Exports

Australian Car Advice
21 May 2008
www.caradvice.com.au

With half its annual production now going overseas GM Holden has said that the high value of the Australian dollar won’t affect those sales.

Speaking in Melbourne to a media briefing General Motors Group vice president and president GM Asia Pacific, Mr Nick Reilly, said that despite predictions the Australian dollar could achieve parity with the US dollar, this would not affect the export programs in the immediate future.

Mr Reilly said it was unlikely that the countries taking product from Australia would change that source of supply because of the high costs in setting up similar production elsewhere.

“If you’ve got product that you only make here and it’s wanted in markets around the world then it’s very unlikely that those markets are going to invest in making that product,” he said.

However, Mr Reilly did say that if the Australian dollar continued to strengthen then it was possible that the volume of exports would decline because of the higher prices.

“What I can say is that it’s a good program, even at today’s exchange rates, but if the Aussie dollar goes up by 25 per cent, then I can’t tell you what we might have to do.”

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Ford To Build The Focus In Australia! ​

2009 Opel Insignia​

 

[VB3.3]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

Well they tried Vectra as CKD and that didn't go so well, I know the market has changed alot since 98/99 but I don't think they will try that again. Could this mean the door is ajar for the Torana?

 

[redTT]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

Yay a Torana!!!

 

[SpaceCowboy]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

Didn't the asian economic crisis of the time do the most damage to locally produced Vectras?

Times are very different now however and if large cars aren't the answer then perhaps mid-sizers are.

I'd give my left nut for it to be something RWD, but that could all be a pipe dream, I get this hideous feeling that it'll more likely be a Daewoo variant on the new insignia (a platform partner) that isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just that a new Torana would be a much better thing!

 

[mikmak]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

Well they tried Vectra as CKD and that didn't go so well, I know the market has changed alot since 98/99 but I don't think they will try that again. Could this mean the door is ajar for the Torana?

I know I have mentioned this before, but there was some guy in a press release around the Holden 50th anniversary (1998) say of the Vectra; "in ten years everyone will be driving cars of this size". PR man being accurate? Satan best fetch a Drizabone and a cup of hot milo. There's a change a comin':lmao:

 

[Baz]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

Sounds good. Hopefully it can boost Holden's sales and RWD would be great but i can't see that happening

 

[paul8488]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

With fuel getting more expensive I just can't grasp why if there's a business case for a Commodore there can't be one for a smaller RWD platform. Maybe Holden is scared that they'll encourage people to downsize which would harm Commodore sales. Still, I'd think that every market that has the Commodore would welcome a smaller, cheaper, more efficient Alpha-based vehicle or vehicles.

 

[redTT]

Is it really the case of people wanting to downgrade to a smaller car or people moving to a more economical car. How about a more efficient hybrid, diesel, lpg large RWD commodore?

 

[Stéphane Dumas]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

With fuel getting more expensive I just can't grasp why if there's a business case for a Commodore there can't be one for a smaller RWD platform. Maybe Holden is scared that they'll encourage people to downsize which would harm Commodore sales. Still, I'd think that every market that has the Commodore would welcome a smaller, cheaper, more efficient Alpha-based vehicle or vehicles.

maybe this smaller Alpha RWD platform could be also spin-off some others models for the export markets (new upcoming Chevy coming from example)

 

[Aych Es Vee]

Is it really the case of people wanting to downgrade to a smaller car or people moving to a more economical car. How about a more efficient hybrid, diesel, lpg large RWD commodore?

I really doubt its that people just want smaller cars.
Its definitly because they want more economical cars, AND large car prices are getting out of range.

 

[paul8488]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

maybe this smaller Alpha RWD platform could be also spin-off some others models for the export markets

Exactly. I could see this car in Australia as a Torana, in the Middle East as a Chevrolet (alongside the Caprice), in Asia as a Buick and/or Daewoo, in the US as a BTS and a G6 replacement, and in Europe as an upmarket Opel 3-series killer.

It would fit in very well, I think, with the direction Opel is taking. Maybe they could even do a coupe and sedan pair... basically a new RWD Calibra and a sedan equivalent.

 

[RedVee8]

^^^ mmmmmmm RWD Calibra mmmmmmm

 

[mang01]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

Maybe Holden is scared that they'll encourage people to downsize which would harm Commodore sales. Still, I'd think that every market that has the Commodore would welcome a smaller, cheaper, more efficient Alpha-based vehicle or vehicles.

Think "Torana" you think "smaller Holden RWD 4 or 2 door sportyish sedan (maybe and a hatchback coupe)". I think with the Commodore now being as big as any big Holden has ever been there's room for one the size of LH/LZ/UC again (probably slightly bigger than that since it's gotta crash extremely well these days). The two did not really cannabalise each other in the 70's - except maybe GTR & XU1 stole the Monaro's limelight (and supposedly we won't get another of those anyway, RATS!) - and I don't see it will now. And even if some Commodore prospects decided to go a size smaller it's better for Holden to pick up the business than say Toyota with the Aurion (Camry V6) and Honda with the Yank-style Accord V6. And also then the whole racing Torana giant-killer 6s stuff could start all over again!
Same applies wherever it's sold in the world, I suggest. Chevrolet Monza anyone?

 

[FierySolstice]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

maybe this smaller Alpha RWD platform could be also spin-off some others models for the export markets (new upcoming Chevy coming from example)

Uhh.. no.. Chevy has enough cars in its stable. This should be exported as the next G6. This is exactly what Pontiac needs right now to be different from Chevy, Saturn and Buick. It would be a great addition to the brand.

 

[jaywestfall]

Re: Holden To Follow Ford With A Locally Built Small Car?

Uhh.. no.. Chevy has enough cars in its stable. This should be exported as the next G6. This is exactly what Pontiac needs right now to be different from Chevy, Saturn and Buick. It would be a great addition to the brand.

Exactly, it will also go a long way to finally vetting out exactly what the commitment of GM is concerning the long term existence of the Pontiac nameplate.

Bring it on!

 

[Rick_VT]

I wonder if Holden has also thought about downsizing the Commodore back to maybe VT size, even VT is big enough for families, with less weight and more efficient V6 petrol and diesel engines it would be a pretty economical.

As for the 2nd model would be very interesting what they will build, you would think it would nedd to have export potential to justify building here so maybe the Alpha car would be it

 

[t-rex]

So should an Alpha Torana be sized more like a 3 series BMW? or more like a 1 series?

 

[crooner214]

So should an Alpha Torana be sized more like a 3 series BMW? or more like a 1 series?

How about right in the middle? It seemed to work pretty well for the first gen CTS, and would allow for the G6 to remain about the same size when it moves over (and hopefully, gets a real name).

 

[eb110americana]

Uhh.. no.. Chevy has enough cars in its stable. This should be exported as the next G6. This is exactly what Pontiac needs right now to be different from Chevy, Saturn and Buick. It would be a great addition to the brand.

Exactly, it will also go a long way to finally vetting out exactly what the commitment of GM is concerning the long term existence of the Pontiac nameplate.

Bring it on!

I'll cast another vote in favor of a Pontiac G6 replacement, Cadillac BTS, and no Chevy for the US on Alpha. For the middle east, however, I think a Chevrolet variant would be perfect.

Let Holden do the engineering on the chassis, and GM US should pay for most of that along with offering the best of our engineers to help keep weight around 3500 Lbs.

Since Cadillac will be selling a version as the BTS, let them work up the interior similar to the CTS, and then modify it for a Pontiac/Holden version.

Have Pontiac style the exterior with input from Holden, and use conservative bumper caps on Australian models (non-HSV) instead of the other way around.

Build it in North America somewhere, and export them so that we don't wind up with a stripped Pontiac for $25-$30K that is production-capped at 40K units per year for the US. We'll ship them to you and they'll all be cheaper. Keep Commodore production in Australia, everyone's happy.

So should an Alpha Torana be sized more like a 3 series BMW? or more like a 1 series?

I say 3 Series sized or even a few inches longer. It's a lot smaller than many people realize. When gas gets over $6/gallon here after 2010, then an even smaller model can fill out the RWD lineup off of Kappa.

Length:

Pontiac G8: 196.1"
BMW 5: 191.1"
BMW 3: 178.2"
BMW 1: 171.7"
Audi A3: 168.7" (5 door Wagon)

How about right in the middle? It seemed to work pretty well for the first gen CTS, and would allow for the G6 to remain about the same size when it moves over (and hopefully, gets a real name).

The first gen CTS was 190.1" long, which at the time it came out in 2003, was bigger than the BMW 5 Series, which was 188.0". In 2004 the 5 grew to 191.1," but still only an inch longer than the CTS--which grew to 191.6" in 2008 to again outsize the 5. A G6 is 189.1" long. Somewhere between a 1 and 3 Series would be 175", but I think a size around 180-185" would be best for Alpha.

 

[eb110americana]

I just checked, and the Holden Torana Concept was 183.2" long, so that puts it right in the middle of the numbers I suggested.