Holden has been priding itself on a newfound brand freedom following the decision to cease local manufacturing; the Australian brand may choose the best vehicles it thinks will suit its future portfolio from GM’s global catalog of products.
We had the pleasure of bumping into newly-minted General Motors Vice President of Design Michael Simcoe, who has a long history with Holden and GM Design Australia, and he briefly touched on the future of Holden.
Simcoe stated Holden indeed is choosing the best of GM’s global product portfolio for its revamped lineup, but with a catch: Cadillac is off limits.
We were unable to get into further detail on why Cadillac vehicles are barred from Holden’s consideration, but there are a number of logical factors we think could be behind the reasoning.
Cadillac has long been rumored to be planning an Australian introduction in the future, and its more premium nature may keep it from vehicle sharing with Holden.
To clarify, this is not a matter of sharing vehicle platforms, but rather sharing actual vehicles with Holden in the same way the GMC Acadia will become the Holden Acadia. That means you won’t see an ATS, CTS, CT6 or any other Cadillacs wearing a Holden lion in the future.
Comments
That is the best deal they could have ever been told. This gives them the ability to do about anything they want to do.
As of now we know Cadillac is planning to go down under and is already testing cars there.
We know the reason. Alpha and Omega are restricted from RHD because of poor design choices, rooted in the notion that Zeta II would continue with Holden.
It’s not that Holden can’t source Cadillac cars or platforms, it’s that Cadillac is not available. And any Cadillac cars that use other platforms, already have viable alternatives with Cadillac parts (seats, trim etc) that could be badge engineered and bolted on as needed (Platinum Edition, etc).
I realize they’re trying to turn a negative into a positive, by helping make Cadillac exclusive, but the logistics aren’t in dispute by anyone.
Holden should be able to regain market share. Holden may now finally be able to take on global rivals with a wide variety of products.
“May now finally.” Right. Holden already could import these products. They tried with Opel in Oz just a mere few years earlier.
What I would like to see from Holden is whether they’ll add more Chevrolet-badge brands, hopefully a Camaro or Impala, maybe a Traverse. They can start there.
The way this could work Holden can offer from budget to moderate priced vehicles with a mix of Chevy and Opel.
In other words they will be Buick and Chevy under one roof with only the cars they chose and tune for their market.
Cadillac will arrive in the future and they will be right with the rest of the world in styling and platforms and not a gen behinds in styling or platforms.
Note too the Corvette will becoming in a RHD C8 and while marketed as a Corvette it will be sold at Holden dealers or even Cadillac at some point down under.
Holden vette
Both cars chevy and holden vette one market
Very well and good so long as a ALL platforms are engineered for RHD as well. Recent missed opportunities include Bolt, Volt and Camaro!
Don’t expect anything other than what we will get in the UK rhd – sorry we all have to wait for next generation Cadillacs , Camaro , bolt etc . Even small time players like Alfa , Maserati etc all ready offer rhd – GM missed out big time on lots of product recently !