Newly appointed Holden Special Vehicles boss, Tim Jackson, believes the Australian sub-brand has a bright future beyond 2017, when Holden will begin to wind down its manufacturing operations in the country.
Jackson was appointed new managing director of the performance brand on Wednesday. He replaced Phil Harding in the position after serving as HSV’s marketing and product planning director for four years. Jackson has spent recent months mapping out Holden’s future beyond 2017 and thinks the brand can remain successful, even after the discontinuation of the rear-wheel drive Commodore.
“There’s lots of speculation around given Holden’s closure announcement but our job’s the same – we have to deliver great performance cars to the Australian public,” Jackson told Drive.com.
HSV announced they would continue operations beyond 2017, when Holden said they would cease manufacturing operations in Australia, though the companies model-lineup is yet to be confirmed.
“We’ve got a lot of passionate customers, a great dealer group. Serving those people comes with great responsibility,” said Jackson. “Our job’s to deliver great products, that’s first and foremost, and the challenge is keeping everyone on target.”
Jackson said HSV’s new lineup would stray from its current model range, which consists of six V8-models, but was reluctant to specify which direction the company will take in the future.
HSV could be tasked with bringing in performance cars to Australia from other countries, like the next-generation Chevrolet Camaro or future Opel OPC models.
“We’re always cautious not to add to speculation. People know us for doing great value performance cars, that’s what we plan to continue doing,” he said. “It’s an exciting time for us.”
Jackson said HSV hopes to preserve its 140-strong workforce in Australia and New Zealand and to maintain its widespread dealership network in the two countries.
Comments
HSV will finally get a lighter and stiffer platform to work with and they will offer a car that will even make the excellent present model pale in comparison.
Nothing improves a car more than less mass and stiffer platform.
I just took a CTS Turbo for a spin this morning and can say the Alpha will make a great Holden and Chevy platform. I can only ponder what the Camaro holds.
I take my Zeta based Commodore SS for a good hard run through some tight, twisty and fast roads that go through some hills not far from me every so often and have no problems with the way it handles. But yes a lighter and stiffer platform would be of benefit. 😉
I do wonder how long HSV will last though. It may depend on what product they have to work with. There will be plenty of people who will steer away from the brand due to the closure of Holden manufacturing and engineering but then if they diversify into different product ranges then they could bring in other customers. The same people who do work on the HSV range also did some work on a concept dual cab ute for TATA recently so there is potential for the engineering and manufacturing staff to do work for other manufacturers as well. HSV are majority owned by Walkinshaw group so there wouldn’t be much of an issue having them diversify and do work on products that don’t come from GM.
The other thing is that with the closure of local mainstream manufacturing there will be a lot less young Australians who will be looking to study and work in the fields of automotive design and engineering. If there is less of a local talent pool to chose from then companies like GM, Ford and Walkinshaw will have less of a reason to keep there local design/engineering operations open here if they have to increasingly bring people in from overseas to fill to void.
Speaking of Caddy any word on whether they plan to get back into the RHD market and potentially bring their products here? I’d say there are more than a few people around who are looking for an alternative to the increasingly boring Germans as they continue to push more down market products. One does not want to pull up his luxury sedan at the lights next to a FWD minivan bearing the same badge any more.
The truth is if they build a great car they will buy it no matter if it is not built in Australia. Canadian built Australian based Camaro’s here sell with no issue.
As for engineers it takes so few to do up a car and and GM also will use their global resources to supply much of what they need. Australians do not have a lock on how to make a car handle and perform. GM Australia, Europe and America can learn a lot from each other and make even better cars. My present car has a lot learned from Europe in it and make the handling beyond anything I though GM was able to do.
I would expect you will see a SS sedan and 6th gen Camaro based coupe in a couple years. I also would expect to see some FWD performance to compete with Mazda down under based on Opel OPC products.
While they have done a good job down under having such a small market has also limited you from getting some really good other items. Sharing globally will bring you products that you only read about before.
I expect Cadillac to offer RHD so at some point you will see things like a CTS. After my drive in one yesterday you will be amazed. The Zeta is really good but the Alpha CTS is on the next level and just starting out.
A
Holden didn’t make the decision to stop local manufacturing in Australia, IT WAS GENERAL MOTORS (as the parent company) that decided the fate of Holden and they had no say in the matter.
Correct me if I’m wrong,but who in Australian Holden operations wanted it to be closed down?
These stupid auto journalists are destroying the good will and reputation of the Holden brand !
Stop dwelling on the semantics. Holden is GM and GM is shuttering production plants in country but keeping the division.
Holden as long as they are open will do the announcements for any present and future plans. Same goes for Chevy, Opel and any other division.
This has no reflection on Holden as everyone know they as well as the others are just divisions in one large cooperation.
I think you will find with access to more global options Holden will be better able to compete with all the other global automakers in Australia. I know it hurts to see this but the market is so small and the scale cost of auto making is so larger anymore it has to be global. Even here in the states we have seen the change.
Holden will have it’s image and still get some input into the product needs in their cars. While they may share with Opel and Chevy they will still have their own twist.