Reports Claim Holden To Be Replaced By Chevrolet By 2017, Officials Deny It
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On the heels of the announcement stating General Motors will be pulling its manufacturing out of Australia, meaning no more domestically-built Holden models, a report from News Corp Australia indicates that Holden is on track to be phased out altogether by 2017 and beyond. To replace it would be none other than Chevrolet, which is withdrawing from its European campaign around the same time frame.
In fact, sources of the report claim that the Holden brand has been in the fence through the past decade, though its leaders, such as Mark Reuss and more recently Mike Devereux, have defended the marquee. That said, Devereux is set to take up a new position within GM’s International Operations division, which could leave Holden vulnerable to being discontinued. Regardless, Devereux has insisted to the media that it won’t be the case.
“Holden is here to stay. Holden has been a part of Australia’s past … and it will part of its future for decades to come,” Devereux stated. “Holden is one of the most valuable brands in Australia. We are committed to the brand for the long term. The brand is going to be a part of the fabric of this country for a very long time.”
From our vantage point, however, it’s difficult to believe those words, as everyone is still icing the sting from the announcement of Holden’s plans to cease Australian manufacturing, after multiple reassurances that it wouldn’t.
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I said a long time ago that GM should just replace holden with chevys and be done with this internal fighting!
I got ripped for thinking such a thing, i guess I wasn’t the only one thinking holden needs to go!
I hope this news is true, and remember rumors don’t just get made up from nothing!
Someone at a very high level are asking these q’s about holden!
What a week for Australia, first you lose your jobs then you lose your beloved holden! Dam that stings!
Manoli, could you point to me some of these reassurances that Holden manufacturing was not going away?
thanks
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2012/03/holden-australian-government-agree-to-maintain-australian-manufacturing-until-at-least-2022/
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2013/05/gm-holden-issues-statement-on-ford-manufacturing-withdrawal-from-australia/
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2013/11/holden-to-re-tool-elizabeth-plant-for-all-new-commodore/
http://gmauthority.com/blog/2013/07/gm-holden-backs-off-planned-wage-cuts-after-laying-off-400-workers/
Why not keep Holden around for Australia? It’s something they’ve become related to over its history and I am absolutely positive no fan of Holden would be of support to these news. Why separate them from their heritage, their love, and replace it with an “American Icon”? I love Chevrolet, but Holden should be able to dominate its continent, its homeland and birthright, all to its own.
I’d be pretty pissed if Daewoo came to the United States and vanquished Chevrolet, wouldn’t you? Sure, it may lead to a slight inefficiency for profits, but a business should fight for its loyal customers before it struggles for money. Leave Holden in Australia; everyone would be happy, the end.
A lot of it comes down to this. Holden is pretty much Chevy already product wise. Look at their web site and you see Holden grilled Chevys.
Now do you lose some name equity and keep the Holden name and try to retain the cost of extra marketing and regrilling of the cars. Or do you make them Chevys and save the cost of extra trim and use the deep pockets of the Global Chevy marketing arm. Also who is to day that you may also be able to work in a Camaro or Corvette at some point if and when they are offered in RHD.
This is a market that has made the Mazda 3 the best seller so I do not think moving to Chevy would be all that dramatic. Most Aussies are smart enough to see what their cars are and where they are coming from so GM has not really fool many down under while many here really have no clue what Holden really is anymore.
At work today I heard several people say Holden was closing down and GM was leaving. I stopped then and showed them GM was not leaving and at worst the name would change and that is all.
GM really needs to get a handle on the press on this as so many thing GM is leaving the country when they stop making the Zeta and that is not true.
The first three are all premised on the Australian government continuing the subsidization of the auto manufacturing in Australia. However, the government backed down.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/end-of-the-road-for-car-subsidies-macfarlane/story-fn59niix-1226731853242
Yes, but GM-Holden didn’t once issue a statement concerning the matter, until of course the one that outlined the end of manufacturing.
Don’t underestimate GM’s ability to destroy long-lived and cherished brands: Oldsmobile, Pontiac and now it looks like Holden. They will have the Corvette, V series Cadillacs, and jack shit for the rest of us.
I’ll hang on to my 2009 G8 GT.
Brian, without Holden’s own cars, only then could the option to rebrand Chevy could work. It will have mixed emotions, people will see it as being GM once again treating Holden like crap and that Holden can rest in peace. Personally, I want Holden and its operations sold back to Australia and then Chevy can come here and fail.
Also, our government was providing adequate funding and couldn’t afford to contribute anymore. GM wanted more but would not guarantee anything in return.
Australia is getting what they asked for
Brian, we never asked for it. In fact, we gave crap to GM Authority when they suggested Chevy replace Holden. Now we are giving crap to GM on social media because of their not thought through decision.
Some of those comment’s we’re sent my way, I thought it would happen, I was hoping it would happen, now I might just get my wish!
So Mazda 3 is #1 there? Another research GM should buy a controlling interest in Mazda. Rebadge some Mazdas as chevrolets and then you have something. It cost Gm mutch more than all they wasted on the chevy sponsorship and Peugeot partnership to have bought a controlling interest in Mazda. Mazda has developed some really nice new models and it would sure piss ford off?
@Dan
I hope for Mazda (and also GM) that GM will never take control over them. What would GM win with Mazda? GM can’t even handle two mainstream brands (Opel/Vauxhall – Chevy/Holden)…how should this work with antoher maintream lineup from Mazda???
If it passes Ford off I’m all for it
Replacing Holden with Chevrolet in the Pacific is lunacy. Why would you replace a brand that has history and market share with one that does not? And then struggle to make a name for it along with trying to regain ground that the previous brand lost due to inept leadership? Come on…
Wow, amazing the wide range of opinions.
First, it looks like Ford, GM and soon Toyota had no choice in closing manufacturing in Australia. None of the plants were competitive (with imports) and it took huge ($2000/car) subsidies to even be somewhat competitive. Heck from what I read the unions there still wanted raises when they saw the writing on the wall!
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/letters/unions-are-partly-responsible-for-holdens-position/story-fn558imw-1226780102422
So once that subsidy was pulled they had no choice fiscally but to close down the plants. GM tried to stay and said they would but once the money was pulled out they had no choice. The government made the decision for all three of th
As far as Chevy brand replacing Holden I think my 50/50 chance of that is incorrect. More like 20/80.
1-Holden has strong sales. In November they were #2 but there were three other marques nipping at their heels. After the Europe debacle GM will think real hard before they do that again and risk losing what they have.
http://www.caradvice.com.au/263577/new-car-sales-figures-november-2013/
2-Reuss worked there and has an appreciation of what Australia is really like and Australian’s opinion of Holden. He is now at a very high position to have his opinion heard. He has no pull per the organization chart for this decision but he is one of the top players at GM and well regarded by Barra and the board. This of course prefaces on Reuss wanting to keep the Holden brand.
3-I think the board will see that the ONE GM goal will not be worth stirring up the pot in Australia AT THIS TIME.
4-There is a new sheriff in town- Barra. IF this decision has not already been made, she needs time to get up to speed and see all the data, which is how she works. And right now she has way too much to learn and way too many more important decisions to make than whether a marketing change should be made in Australia. The closing of the plants was a no brainer made by Akerson for huge fiscal reasons.
5-We are talking about only 130,000 vehicles/year. That is one half of a plants capacity. In the global GM this is a tiny market and not worth the hassle.
Keep Holden for the mass market product and introduce right hand drive chevy icon product branded as chevy (camaro and corvette) similar to how they will use chevy in Europe going forward. Add the cadillac right hand drive world class products too. These same right hand drive Chevys and Cadillacs could be offered in UK and Japan. GM needs to build the chevy and cady brands using it’s strongest products to compliment it’s local mainstream brand.
Too many people do not really know or understand the issues in Austraila and Holden.
Really dig into the numbers and just how many cars are sold down under. It is like building and selling special cars just for California and no where else. The Australians did not ask for this but the markets have changed and most large MFG are not willing to cater to smaller markets with special marketing, special trim and other added cost that are involved here.
Generally profit margins on cars are small only trucks have a large mark up so they need to make money anywhere they can.
This is why most of the Asian cars are 85% the same the world over less special needs like suspension tuning and left or right hand drive. The rest of the world is just now catching up. In this day and age just the cost of developing a transmission can be more than one company can do on their own so we see deals like BMW going to GM to build them a tranny and then they sign the rights to it back to GM after a couple years. It is a deal that pays for GM’s cost and BMW a way to build a tranny to their needs but not have the high cost they can not afford. As one insider said the time has come where most MFG need a dance partner to survive development cost.
Holden’s ace was the Zeta but this is no longer the bread and butter car. It is not a lower volume car that has out lived it major market model status. Even down under it is losing sales to smaller and more efficient cars and has been lucky to hold on as the Falcon has taken a even greater hit.
The fact remains this. Holden as I have said for a few years is generally a Chevy division with different grills. Second is how much is it costing to make these Chevys Holden’s and how much more are they costing to market as such.
When you look at how much it cost to be Holden vs. Chevy that will decide what they will become. It will come down to cost and expenses. I am not sure of how much the extra trim cost but just marketing alone is a major cost. Everything you see marketing wise for Holden has to be done just for just over $100,000 car where if they were Chevy what is used here and else where can be used there. A little photo shop to move the steering to the other side and you have a marketing program that is global and already paid for to Holden if it were a Chevy.
One has to look at the Equity of the name too but while it is painful to lose any name you have to look back to the loss of Pontiac. So many said GM was doomed and GM would lose all that market share. Well these fears were unfounded. They gained market share and increased profits.
Now I am not saying that Pontiac and Holden are like a Gangrene leg but they are parts of the company that are not financially holding their end up. There is a real need to be profitable and efficient today as there is little margin of error. We have already seen GM and Ford dig out of financial issues one that still has Ford paying off the loans on their plants they leveraged. There was a time where they failed before GM and at that time the loans were available and they rolled the dice that they could pay them off or if not lose their plants and company to the bank. Ford did not take the loans because the banks were still giving them and when GM got the government money they were a little miffed as they would have liked the government to take over their loans as it was a better deal.
Anyways it comes down to this the market globally has changed and we have yet to see all the changes to come. We could still see the loss of models like Lincoln and Dodge if things do not get better.
It all comes down to what is going to keep the money coming in to keep a division strong. GM has to weigh the name change in Australia as they already have changed the cars with no ill affect. I see the Chevy move coming if it proves to be profitable and the name change will make some grumble but they will move on.
Now if Holden had to change their car line to a Chevy line up and they were going to lose more than two RWD models then I would say it was a big risk. But Holden is not really Holden anymore and they Aussies are smart enough to already know that. The real sting will be the loss of jobs not so much the name. Yes it will sting a little to lose the name but not as much as some think.
Also they may gain a coupe in RWD if they put Chevy in.
The difference in Australia and New Zealand is that Chevy doesn’t exist. Personally, I’d prefer to see re-badged or redesigned global GM vehicles and sold under the Holden nameplate, than rename it to Chevy. I cannot see there being any additional marketing cost as GM has no other brands of their own to compete against.
Joe and everyone go to the Holden web site Joe go to the Holden web site and you will see the cars in their lineup are mostly Chevys only with a Holden name plate. The only two real Holden’s are also sold as a Caprice and SS here as Chevys.
What GM is selling with Chevy is now sold globally in most markets. We are just now getting the second version of the global Colorado and I suspect at some point the Trailblazer will return too.
Holden has always shared many of the Chevy power plants but did their own cars but that has not been true for several years now.
The Holden Volt is a Chevy, The Holden Barina Spark is a Chevy, The Barina is a Chevy Sonic, The Cruze is a Chevy, The Malibu is a Chevy. The Commodore is sold as a SS, The Caprice is sold here as a Chevy Caprice, The Trax is a Chevy overseas and a Buick here, The Captiva is sold as a Chevy here. The Colorado is a Chevy here Only the Ute and Trailblaze Colorado Is not shared or use in the US market.
Check this out and understand Holden is already a Chevy line. http://www.holden.com.au/cars and you will see the cars in their lineup are mostly Chevys only with a Holden name plate. The only two real Holden’s are also sold as a Caprice and SS here as Chevys.