Everything GM ever did with Holden seems to have been an intentional fuck up, even when they tried taking the cars to America they made them look like stale old man cars, never offered any of the variants on the models and never offered wagons or utes so no wonder they never sold well.
Was it big daddy GM killing off a sub division to slightly increase profits by making that sub division sell its other cars again?
Or what about the a9z Torana? Australians were promised a new VE Torana, They designed it, GM saw it, stole it for Chevy and gave Holden the Cruze as a replacement then blamed the Australian market for not wanting them.
a9z could have saved Holden. every tom dick harry and even sally would be driving around in one.
Nicholas Parker
don't overthink the way gm handles things. there's no deeper reasoning behind their doings. ever.
Brody Bennett
Oh and to rub salt in the wounds, chevy never even used it.
Jaxson Kelly
So it really is just proper knuckle dragging idiocy that makes them do these things?
Easton Thomas
The Australian government killed Holden, shit like the fringe benefits tax made owning a Hilux more economically viable than a Commodore and fleet ownership was always Ford/Holdens cash cow. Combine that with the deletion of import duties with no subsidies to cover the difference and a company the size of Holden or Ford Australia never had a chance.
Carson Young
>What is the real reason holden died? Zeta platform was old and being outdone by everything meaning it had no appeal outside of the very few who just wanted it "cuz straya" and there were multiple re-skins and re-shapes of the zeta that it basically competes with all of the newer better cars and itself (G8, CTS-V, 5th gen Camaro etc). its the same thing that killed all of GM's sub-brands like Olds and Pontiac. if you are selling different variations and shapes of the same thing and the market gets saturated people will feel less reason to buy a newer re-skin of the same car because the people who want a legitimately new car will buy one that's "new" all around not just in interior and exterior like the aging Zeta by the time the commodore "SS" was brought here again (first time being G8).
>even when they tried taking the cars to America they made them look like stale old man cars The american versions hardly looked much different for people to give a damn about even the aussie versions. if you think different trim pieces and bodykits would've made or break the entire market for a model you are smoking some rich stuff. sales were also slumping in Australia where the cars supposedly looked their best and had every options imaginable for the same reasons i mentioned above. new car buyers wanted an actual new car with new engines, new platforms and better fuel economy and the Zeta cars just didn't supply that so they went to BMW and now the new Mustangs. people who already owned a commodore felt no reason to buy the newer ones because the exterior and interior changes weren't worth "brand new car" money to them and any performance packages they could just add themselves to their own old ones so their costumer-base basically bled out.
>a9z could have saved Holden Highly doubt that, they'd still be getting pressure from BMW who makes all the RWD cars aussies could want with the prestige of the BMW badge.
Jayden James
Holden died because everyone in Australia would rather buy an older holden then spend the rest of their money on sick mawds for it. who the fuck wants to spend 50k on a stock ss commodore when you could build something like pic for that price?
Parker Butler
...
Landon Gray
falcunt, go away you parasite
Nathaniel Stewart
Holden and Ford died because they didn't adapt when the market started moving towards smaller, more fuel efficient cars and also because local manufacturing was too expensive.
GM didn't bother much with the Commodore because it would have taken away from sales of its own vehicles and Ford wouldn't have a bar of the Falcon for the same reason.
I daresay the image of Falcodores had a helping hand in it too desu
David Gray
this basically shows the difference in pre VE and post VE in 2006/7 they tried to be too good for the brand commodore name wasnt premium in the early 2000's and suddenly they asked a whole heap more money for it in the VE when the VZ was already several thousand more than the intial asking price of the VY
sure the VE was better, and the VF (especially VF2) was phenomenal
but people who had mercedes money wouldnt drop back to a holden because the logo
they should have kept making marks like the SV8, for those who dont remember, a V8 with basic features
Jose Walker
I fucking hate the fuel efficient arguement the Falcon included both a 4cyl ecoboost, their barra EcoLPI (which was cheap as fuck to run) and ofcourse the barra turbo which when unmodified and driven normally was very damn fuel efficient
holden also tried with the 3.0 SIDI motor and their cylinder deactivation in the V8's
but no, all the consumer saw was "holden and ford make big cars that use more fuel"
Caleb Gutierrez
Holden and the unions fucked holden. They kept pumping out rehashed doemstic shit and opels for top dollar. Unions had management by the balls. Strikes over literally nothing. Productivity at all time lows.
Kevin Wood
unions helped fuck them with wages, but in reality the financial crisis was devastating for them AUD worth 1.15 USD yeah okay suddenly a C class is the same price as an SV6 commo its why the VE S2 is so rare compared to the S1
Chase Carter
>Classcuck bashing unions
Do you want our hardworking men working the same conditions as the sweatshops in China, fucking dolt. I bet you are a dole-bludging NEET as well, fucking classcuck.
Evan Robinson
GM didn't take any chance on making the cars fuel efficient, fucking CSIRO gave them a better shaped VT to help with aerodynamics and bundled it with hybrid with a 2-liter I4 turbo.
Didn't use the streamlined design, didn't use inline-4, didn't use electric hardware. Taxpayers funded to fix GM's ways and they fucking trashed it all.
Tyler Clark
>even when they tried taking the cars to America they made them look like stale old man cars, never offered any of the variants on the models and never offered wagons or utes so no wonder they never sold well.
Offering wagons or utes would mean offering entirely different cars to entirely different markets, this could not in any way possibly help the sale of the "Core product" here and considering how poorly the "Core product" performed why the fuck would they try and expand the range to cover other demographics? That's the most retarded thing i've ever heard.
Holden and ford died because of the cost of australian manufacturing combined with the trend towards smaller more fuel efficient vehicles, while these brands have vehicles of this nature, they aren't manufactured here. The cars which are getting less and less popular (Bigger, worse economy cars) are the ones which were manufactured here and with the ever increasing cost of manufacturing, those are no longer profitable.
Anthony Allen
Just reminding everyone, if the commodore and the falcon were still profitable, they could be manufactured elsewhere.
Levi Moore
3.0 sidis get similar fuel economy to things like Camrys whilst providing 50% more power, average Joe has no fucking idea this is a thing.
Michael Nelson
But are you getting Camry reliability or pricing?
Bentley White
Im hard working blue collar and I fucking detest unions dude. In the in the 70s/80s/90s and even early 00s, the union scum would lock non members out of sites. They would force themselves onto random sites and intimidate workers into joining. Rat faced little british cunts backed up by massive islanders. We dont live in a communist shit hole, we dont need corrupt unions who serve their own interests above those of the worker.
Connor Phillips
LARPer shill detected, we had a whole ruckus about royal commission into "union corruption" thanks to Libs sucking big-business cock and what did we get out of it? Only one (1) fucking conviction and that was a suspended sentence, so much for """"""wide-spread corruption"""""""
We need unions, without them big guys would be cutting wages constantly. As seen with the recent example of boycott against Unilever resulting in them withdrawing the 46% pay-cut against the workers.
Jackson Harris
Camrys pricing? You looked at the price of Camrys lately? As to reliability I work on Hiluxs and Cruisers for a living and I don't rate them any higher than most of their competition, Camrys might be different but I haven't touched one newer than mid 90s
Ryder Barnes
Small turbos only use less fuel on paper. A turbo 4 thats putting out the same power as a 6 will use just as much fuel with less reliability. Also just lol at the fuel argument. Look at what people are buying now. It's big SUVs and giant ute/trucks.
Luke Evans
This guy is on the money
Connor Smith
I reckon import tax and luxury tax killed the image of australian cars.
Much more trendy to get some weak euro pos with an inflated price tag than a more powerful, cheaper*, more reliable oz car.
Then again those foreign manufacturers obviously sold to a market ford or holden did not satisfy.
Seriously every man and his dog owns a bmw. And after 100,000km an ozcar won't fall apart.
*to repair and purchase
Juan Morales
>who the fuck wants to spend 50k on a stock ss commodore when you could build something like pic for that price? The engine in that alone is worth more than $50 grand you retarded dole bludging potato
