Spurred On By Strong Colorado Sales, Holden To Discontinue Mighty Ute
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The Holden Commodore Ute; a vehicle Americans have envied Australia for since the dismissal of the Chevrolet El Camino, is reported to soon be no more by the end of 2016, as the VF Commodore family runs its course. Australia’s Daily Telegraph sums the reason why:
Australian-made cars now account for less than one in 10 of all new vehicle deliveries in Australia; local production is at its lowest level since 1957. Holden Commodore ute sales are down by a staggering 31 per cent year-to-date, the lowest sales of all time. The sedan and wagon are up 15 per cent since the new Commodore arrived.
It seems Australian customers prefer the the more versatile nature of the Thailand-built Holden Colorado pickup, which accounts for 1 in 5 Holden models sold. This could also cement the decision to never bring the Ute stateside, as a new Chevrolet El Camino. Happy Monday, everyone.
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😮 & 🙁
Happy Monday? How about Bah Humbug. This bites big time. Seems anything they do to the Colorado wont quite equal the sporty or luxury aspect of this type of truck. Those others are in reality just trucks, while Ute/El Camino had a certain aura or class about them. 🙁
Flashback to 1987 the El camino is discontinued because of strong sales of the S10.
“Flashback to 1987 the El camino is discontinued because of strong sales of the S10.”
Just as it is in 2013. But people still can’t let the El Camino rest in peace even with the sales numbers to seal its fate.
And nested repy comments still aren’t working for me.
You beat me to it.
It is sad that the segment is too small to support the car as I loved my GMC Sprint. My Sonoma ZQ8 was close but it still was not a full replacement for my Sprint.
There are a handful of loyal people who would buy these but too few for today economic climate.
The article is wrong. In 2012, the market share for Australian produced cars was 12.7%. It is impossible to tell what 2013 is as it has not completed. With Ford leaving, future market share will probably be less than 10%, but you can’t tell yet.
http://www.innovation.gov.au/industry/automotive/Pages/AbouttheAutomotiveIndustry.aspx
This just the media taking another shot at our industry…. However, its more than likely true
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
GM needs to formulate a plan as to how it is going to meet the future CAFE standards with its current truck portfolio. The El Camino route in V6 form could have and should have been part of that strategy to get the leisure truck customers into something appealing and more economical.
You don’t know what you got until it’s gone…
People just become complacent and before they realize turning their backs on tradition assuredly relegates it to the past, it’s too late to save it. Oz was the last hope for muscle cars for everyman but unfortunately pride in the domestic product there has waned as much as it has in the US and their rich automotive heritage will inevitably fade into history. While it has taken us years to begin our recovery, Australian muscle and the traditional Ute will slip away forever leaving everyone down under tootling around in metallic beige Camrys with doilies on the seats just like Main Street USA. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the days of all badass V8 Holdens are numbered. Offering the Chevrolet SS only fully loaded with an automatic, a restrained color palette and 11 horsepower less than an SS Camaro – with an “EPA Est Fuel Economy HWY” rating of 21 mpg (the Camaro gets 24) – at a $10,000 premium (!) won’t help except to assure the new SS’s scarcity on our painfully Asian import crowded streets and byways. Imagine for a moment, if more people were comparatively insane (or just had an actual pulse), we could probably have gonzo V8 Ute “El Caminos” and SS wagons with 6-speeds and all the other tasty stuff the Aussies sadly take for granted right here. Perhaps a few de-contented versions that middle-class folks could afford too.
The extinction of El Caminos and Utes and station wagons and V8 performance is indicative of a much greater issue than poor fuel economy: it’s an overwhelming global consumer preference for bland. Only the rich guys are seriously bucking the trend.
They are and it is called Colorado.
The mid size truck is targeted at MPG and more capacity. The engine line up is not made for heavy towing but for hauling and good to better MPG than the full size line.
At some point in the future I would not be surprised to see GM and Ford replace the 1/2 ton trucks with the Colorado and Ranger lines. They would then take the 1/2 ton and make it into a light 3/4 ton to avoid the Café regs of the Half Ton as the 3/4 ton is much easier to being as they are more lax standards.
Now these changes will be down the road but all MFG will go to extreme measures to protect their truck marker and the way that they build and market the trucks will have to change. They will exploit any loop hole they can.
As of now Ford said no Ranger in America but GM said the same on the Colorado. It would take little for Ford to make the change here and at some point call it a F150 or Ranger.
The fact the Ute’s are half car and half truck hurt them in both segments as most people today want more of the one or other. We who like them are happy with the combination but we are in the minority.
MY Sprint could not haul like my Sonoma but the Sonoma was almost as comfortable as the Sprint. This is where we lose many people in Ute sales.
“if more people were comparatively insane (or just had an actual pulse), we could probably have gonzo V8 Ute “El Caminos” and SS wagons with 6-speeds and all the other tasty stuff the Aussies sadly take for granted right here.”
Thankfully, we don’t need anymore crazy people on this earth.
Also, what did the El Camino do that the present day Colodao can’t do? That also tells you why there aren’t as many “comparatively insane” people anymore. If they wanted a mid-sized pickup, they would have gotten a Colorado.
The v8 powertrain goes the same way. Gas will never get any cheaper, and nobody gives damn about any “tradtion” because they are wastes of time and energy. I sure as hell don’t bother with needless traditions with unscientific backgrounds, and I know that the cars GM builds today are better than a trashy El Camino fromt the 60’s and 70’s.
Stuff it. There is work to be done with the Colorado. There’s no time toys like the El Camino or the Ute.
Combining high speed (like 200 km/h) and open cargo space is an utter nonsense in my not so humble view.
At high speeds, everything which is stored outside in the non-enclosed cargo space would be blown out by the drag, or heavy stuff back there would create too much drag, causing the car running at high speeds to use too much fuel. It is a complete nonsense, excuse me for being so blunt with my judgement.
I can to at 160 km/h (100 miles/hr) with a Iveco Daily or Mercedes Sprinter or something like that, but with a closed cargo space, not open.
So cars like a Holden Commodore Ute are like a dinosaur, condemmened to extinction because not being functional for any practical purpose.
Except for emotions. OK. But then… I would prefer a real sports car without an open cargo space acting as a brake.
Ute comes with a leather tray cover and you can option for the hard tonneau cover. So if you are driving it like a sports car, cover will always be on. If you are hauling cargo, it varies depending on the height of the cargo. Most Ute buyers leave the cover on whenever applicable anyway, you never know when you may have to go to the supermarket or something. You need to think of the Ute being less like a truck and more like a sports coupe with a huge trunk that can carry those dirty or big loads.
The Colorado is more of a commercial vehicle. Hard cheap cabin plastics, no leather seat option, rubber carpet mats only etc. Only non-commercial item would be the My Link system that was just added a few days ago, but even that’s commercial feeling with its tiny screen and stuck on look (worse than a Merc A Class or new Mazda 3). The Ute is based on the Commodore and has been for decades. So whatever cabin features the Commy has, the Ute most likely gets too. The VF Ute is so much better to drive and own than a Colorado, and so was VE… And VZ… And VY, VX, VT, VS and so on. In fact those models I just mentioned are all better than the current Colorado minus My Link if that’s something important to you. If you really need infotainment, go for VE Series 2 and VF. The Ute doesn’t feel like a truck, it feels like a car.
Those covers, be they flexible or rigid, are just too clumsy to open and close for the occasional visit to a supermarket, but to easy to open for the occasional visit by a thief. And a really good protection against the unclemencies of the weather arent they neither. But maybe somewhere far away in the outback where it rarely rains…
I prefer a station wagon or hatchback.
If needed, I can put some load on the roof, or would get a trailering equipment, or rent a real truck for a few hours.
For commercial use, I shy away from those crossovers which have a passenger car sheet metal wrapped around the whole car, instead of having a rugged enclosure of the platform which is more forgiving for the occasional scratch from some equipment being heaved over the side. The only advantage those pickups do have is that their platform is lower, because it does not reside above the wheels, but between them (which adds the disadvantage of not having a full rectangular space). That’s the difference between a Chevrolet Montana (Brasil) or Utility Bakkie (South Africa) and a, say, Piaggio Porter.
Criminy! The Ute wasn’t meant to be a practical truck first and foremost nor would most people likely be torn between choosing one over a Colorado for obvious reasons. It’s highly doubtful that anyone pulled their hair out in 1987 deciding between an S10 and an El Camino which was by the way extremely long in the tooth at that point. Could it be that it was actually just time for the El Camino to go as it shared a platform with certain other needless traditions with unscientific backgrounds (like the Buick Grand National) that were all phased out after 1987? Is it unfathomable that these two trucks were intended for completely different audiences and that a sad minority (misguided as they may have been) really did give a damn about the El Camino? Is there an unwritten rule that all pickups must be practical and is it wrong to desire a truck that hauls ass 100% of the time and cargo only when absolutely necessary? Someone apparently should’ve fired each and every one of those nutty Holden engineers for their wastes of time and energy creating an abomination like this http://gmauthority.com/blog/2013/06/holden-commodore-ssv-ute-runs-the-nurburgring-nordschleife-in-819-47/ when they should’ve been focused on improving the Colorado’s cupholders.
The Ute is no truck. It’s nearly as senseless and unnecessary an acquisition as any Ferrari and in its highest state of tune is damned similar in its overall appeal. If we could get them in the states, I know most would end up in heated garages beside just such exotica and they’ll be worth a fortune a few years down the road. Now’s as good a time as ever to explore your comparative insanity and buy an SSV Ute before all you have left are terminus Colorados. How absolutely peachy they didn’t design the final generations of Ute for contractors and municipalities and thanks Grawdad, et al. for proving my point while missing it entirely.
“Is there an unwritten rule that all pickups must be practical”
Yes. If you are not a registered tradesman or a farmer, you have no reason to own a pickup.
Pickups are for work. If you want fun and fast, get a sportscar.
The tonneau cover is metal and locks down to the car just like a trunk/boot lid. There is a mechanism that lifts the cover up just like a trunk lid too. So no theives can get in without damaging the vehicle, thus setting off the alarm. As for the leather cover, yes theives can open it but you wouldnt store things in the cargo tray that you want to get stolen. Both covers are easy for owners to open and close. Impossible for a theif to open one and difficult for the other. A ute’s cargo tray is more secure than a full size pick up with its covers, especially with the tonneau cover.
As for scratchers, all cars and trucks are prone to that when dealing with such equipment. Your hatchback or wagon would be more likely to be scratched as you lift the equipment on to the roof of the car. As for the trunk, the interior materials will be scratched and stained far worse than the ute’s tray. You wouldnt be able to fit anything into a hatchback for that matter.
As for a full size pick up, well these are not offered in Australia, New Zealand or South Africa where our ute is sold. The Colorado and its competitors (Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, Nissan Navara. Etc.) are sold here and there but like the Colorado, they are all built for commercial use rather than commercial and personal… Thats how the ute was born in fact. A farmer wrote to Ford Australia asking for a vehicle that could take produce to market one day and to take themselves to church on Sunday. Solution: Half pick up, half car. The Holden Ute and Ford Falcon ute also have larger cargo space than the Colorado and its competitors and are way more fuel efficient than the full size pickups. Not to mention they are faster than all of the pick ups, with HSV’s Maloo R8 SV leading the way as world’s fastest pick up.
As for trailering, a simple solution tp those without pick ups but it does require you to have a car powerful enough to pull whatever your load is along. The length of this convoy means that driving and manuvering is more difficult than in a ute. Full size pick ups are also large in size and face similar problems.
All pick ups must be practical otherwise there is no point to them. However, you dont have to be a farmer or tradesman to own one. You may want a pick up to pull a 5th wheeler or to transport dirt biles or a quad bike or even just large items or items you dont want in your car such as a lawn mower.
I get the feeling that many outside of Australia and New Zealand dont quite know what to categorise the ute as. Truck, coupe, sports car? The ute is all of them. It gets its sports and performance from the demand for then to be fun and powerful. They started off as being commercial vehicles with the comfort of a personal vehicle but as they became an icon in Australian culture and we embraced them, there was a need for them to become fun and exciting.
As tradesman (excluding those in rural areas who are still true to our culture) embrace medium pick ups like the colorado, the ute has relied on its sporty and fun side for sales.