Yours truly is a big fan of Australian made cars, owning a Pontiac G8 a lá Holden Commodore has made me appreciate the buildsmanship of these fine vehicles. It therefore is saddening to hear the news from Australia’s Drive that the Ford v Holden culture is dying off.
The Aussie publication recently attended the annual Summernats festival in the country, once a sea of Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons. Upon their arrival, they were struck by the change in scenery over the past few years. Mazdas, Toyotas and other imports ranked among the locally produced Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore. The publication decided to take a poll among showgoers on locally produced Holdens and Fords.
As everyone is well aware, the two companies will cease manufacturing in the near future due to high manufacturing costs in the country. With that said, Drive polled those in attendance to see if they would consider purchasing the latest iterations of the locally produced Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore.
70 percent said they currently owned a Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore, but a lowly 43 percent said they would consider purchasing a new model before the companies close up manufacturing for good within the next three years.
Why such low numbers? Those polled ranked concerns of build quality, fuel mileage and price ranked among the highest concerns.
“You can go out and buy a Hyundai i30 for little more than 20 grand, and the quality of that type of imported car has come a long way,” said a respondent.
Some were also turned off by the their experiences with the Holden Commodore saying, “I love the Commodore but I’ve had such a good run with Toyotas over the years that I wouldn’t change.”
The consensus stayed true through the whole poll that, simply, the big full-size sedans have lost their appeal with the younger generation. 85 percent mentioned locally produced large cars were just too expensive for the average buyer. This falls in line with dismal sales figures for Ford and Holden. Ford suffered its 10th straight year in decline in the Australian market, while Holden posted its worst annual results in a quarter of a century for 2014.
The rivalry is a storied one and can be compared to the likes of some well known competitions between Chevrolet and Ford, or Mitsubishi and Subaru. A shame because the Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore remain excellent offerings for the full-size segment with, subjectively, gorgeous looks.
For the full list of polling statistics from Drive, they may be found here.
Comments
Welcome Australia to what America went through in the 70’s and 80’s. You are no longer an isolated market and once the imports came in and economy factors like fuel prices and cost to buy came in it has changed your market. .
Ford is not leaving the Falcon because they want to they are leaving t because there is not as great of a future for it. Same for the Holden.
The first clue was when the Mazda 3 became your best selling car.
Now is the time were things will get sorted around and the enthusiast will have to adapt to the new ways of the market. There will still be cars for you but not as many choices as the market as a whole will start to treat their vehicles as appliances and not extensions of themselves or lifestyles.
I do not say these things to be harsh but just to tell the story of what we went through here as I see it happening all over again there.
In time you will still get performance cars and some RWD. They will be faster and better than anything you have had to this point but you will have less choices of them.
I expect your truck market may also take off more as the lack of RWD and even the Ute will drive people to these vehicles as well as SUV models.
The Ford Holden/Chevy debate will still always be around as you still have your older cars and they will remain a place a enthusiast can always take shelter in to still live the lifestyle and have fun.
As they say ” been there done that”.
No one can compete indefinitely to devalued currency. Since local manufacturing will soon be gone, I expect prices of imports to rise because there is less competition.
All good and well for you to say scott3 but at the end of the day you’ve still got your choice of GM RWD product in the States of ATS, CTS, Camaro, Corvette etc… When Holden is gone we will have none of that and GM aren’t looking to provide the aforementioned vehicles as a replacement due to the costs of tooling up for RHD in such a small market. It sucks, I don’t want a BMW or a Mercedes, I’d kill for the Nth American RWD product. I am a Holden/GM man and they have lost me once they start serving up more of this SUV and front wheel drive crap. Period…
And further more the Drive article is a load of bullshit. The quality of Australian cars has never been better, particularly with the VF Commodore, Holden are going out on a high. As for being too expensive, try buying a BMW or a Merc that offers simular room and performance and then whinge to me… I am still in my twenties and I may be the last of a dying breed but not everyone wants a SUV or small car. The main reason for the demise of Holden is market fragmentation. We are a market of a million cars p.a. yet there are over 60 different brands for sale in the country which is ridiculous. The Commodore is still selling 36,000 cars per year at number five yet number one is now the Toyota Corolla and sells 43,000 which isn’t a big margin in the scheme of things. So to be a market leader in Australia you can’t rely on one good seller anymore. In its heyday Commodore sold around 80,000 units per year. The trouble is there is too much choice here, but only if you want a front wheel drive or SUV and because of this reason GM won’t bring over any halo models because there won’t be a big enough market share to sustain the costs/unit of developing them specifically for here. Sad but true…
Well the reality is yes I have a couple choices but it is a far cry from what we had and not any of them are real affordable like they used to be.
In time you will see a RWD GM car at some point I hope like a Camaro but you also have to realize how small your market it and how it affects what companies offer.
Also with less people buying RWD each year and opting for the appliance car they are going to offer what sells.
At one point here in America we saw a time GM had planned to remove all RWD cars accept the Corvette. If not for the Mustang even the Camaro and Firebird were set to go FWD up to the point they had FWD Mules running. That changes as demand changed as well as Ford kept the Mustang and their FWD replacement turned into the Ford.
I know you guys are having some sad times and it is going to be tough but it is not the total end. I know you hate to hear some of this but the truth is you folks are following a similar path and in the end you may end up with a couple options but you are going to have to adapt or walk.
Study the changes we went through and what happened here and you will see some parallel.
The bottom line is learn what we went through and it may help you in what you survive what you will face.
Like it or not our history is there and there is some hope but the fact is things are changing you will have to adapt. My hope is you at some point will get to share in the RWD products GM offers here. They are not cheap but what is anymore.
The fact is FWD is the future there like it or not. You will have some limited options but that is it. like stated I see your pick up market making a larger growth as that is what many here turned too.
The bottom line is you lost the Zeta from GM One RWD platform we lost many more than that and we survived.
You can get mad at GM but the fact is people in your country are buying more and more smaller RWD cars and that is why you are getting more. People have changed and you will see much more of it. Kids today just are not car fans and they just see them as transportation at best.
Like I said I feel for you but you will just have to deal with it like we did. Things can go but they can come back to a degree as we have seen.
Just read your post Scott after I posted mine.
Here is an example to my points below:
“like stated I see your pick up market making a larger growth as that is what many here turned too.”
Correct. Note the Colorado in our market is only 2-3 years old but it is sitting at 4th or 5th in sales. I think I read somewhere that there is something like 16 models of mid-size pickups including GM, Ford, the Jap brands, VW, Chinese and Indian brands.
None of these models have the sort of features you have on the US spec Colorado. Features like integrated TBC, Corner bed steps, 6ft bed length option on the dual cab. I could go on.
Step 1 for GM – Distinguish yourself in the marketplace by rolling these features into the International/Australian spec Colorado and market the hell out of it. That would be a good starting point.
I really would like to see the second Gen Colorado for your market be the RHD of ours as they got it right.
I also would like to see Chevy make a RHD Silverado or GMC for your market. Ford has always has a F150 there for many years and I think it would complement the Colorado line.
I just see the number there and the kings of the market right now are the Mazda 3 and the Toyota pick up. The Colorado could easily lay waste to the Toyota here now and if given to you would do the same.
Not sure on the new Cruze yet as I have yet to see one in person yet, It may stack up to the 3 it may not?
But there is a better Malibu coming that will change minds and the new Buick Avenir I suspect may be a Holden at some point. It not only had work done by Holden but I have see it in Holden trim from the rear in a drawing. This car with the new Omega platform would offer RWD and FWD and also less weight but similar size to the Zeta if not more size.
There is a lot of things to come and change here so you can not fully judge this all where it is going as GM has a lot they have not shown yet.
All I know is Holden is in a place now where they can share in some of the best cars GM has and in more variety. The dropping sales on the Zeta have been slower than the Ford Falcon but they yet were dropping. If things had been left as they were there would be no Holden left at all.
I know loss as I am and have been a big Pontiac fan. I know what it is like to lose your brand. We lost ours years ago with the last Fiero in 1988 as that was the last true Pontiac only vehicle with a real Pontiac engine. They gutted the V8 soul in 1979. But in the end when they killed the car I knew they had to as there was just too much work in the division GM was keeping and Pontiac was so far damaged that they needed more help than GM could afford.
So at least you have the name and I see the Holden name getting a good verity of vehicles and they will adapt as the market adapts to remain viable. Sadly that means dome boring FWD sedans but they pay the bills so you can have the real fun cars too.
The way it works is automakers build what sells and what meets the regulations of that country. As it is now the enthusiast is now in the minority as people have changed and the love affair of the car is over for most of them. If they only knew what they are missing.
By the way I agree with your line market the hell out of it. GM has had major marketing issues here and It looks like Holden has done a little better but GM as a whole could still improve here. Too often they have a good product that gets over looked as no one knows about it.
I have a 300 HP HHR SS and when people see it they think I built it myself. Then I tell them GM did they are shocked. When I open the hood and they see the turbo emblem they are even more shocked. This should not be but it happens to too many GM cars.
Commodore is still selling at No.3 in passenger car sales.
I would take the Drive article with a grain of salt. The reasons for enthusiasts buying or not buying Commodores and Falcons in the last years of manufacturing and the reasons for regular buyers are different.
In the case of enthusiasts like those Drive supposedly surveyed I think it is more of a ‘screw you’ attitude to GM and Ford. Most of those people see what was a Holden/Ford Australia rivalry as opposed to GM/Ford. There is almost some kind of entente cordiale developing between local Ford and Holden people based on my interactions with mates who are Ford fans in the past year or so.
I would have never considered buying a Ford product before the closure announcements. Now I would seriously consider buying a Ford product, especially the Mustang since Ford by the looks of it have done such a great job ‘globalising’ it and from what we hear now GM aren’t going to bother sending the Camaro to our shores. Zero Five I suspect you are in the minority with your continued loyalty to GM.
What it comes down to for GM now is are they going to have competitive products to send here and the right people to market them if they want to be successful? If GM’s products aren’t competitive then they may need to consider adapting some of their products for our market. For example like how Chrysler have the SRT8 300C as an Australian specific variant or how Toyota developed a dual cab version of the 79 series with our market almost exclusively in mind. These kind of products maybe niche but they also help to build image and loyalty with those brands which helps their bread and butter products.
I’m currently doing post grad business studies and an example came up briefly in some readings on why Starbucks failed in the Australian market. Immediately made me think of our vehicle market and GM. It is quiet an eye opener and all multinational companies should take it as an example before attempting to tackle our market with whatever product they may have.
Hey note that I said you may just get some things in the future. Well pay attention to the new Buick Avenir.
You may just get this car at the Holden dealer near you. Not only did Holden have a hand in this car but there has been photos of drawings of this car as a Holden too.
Yes it is RWD and AWD.
For every end there is always a beginning.
Yes and Holden have just confirmed a two door RWD V8 sports car too, suddenly things are looking up!
Give them time and I think they will surprise you.
You also will not see product that goes unchanged as long as you have in the past too since now the product is for a global market not just your own market. It will see much more investment too.
Like I said with some loss you will see gain in many other areas. In the end the only real loss here is the local production and the Jobs I hate to see lost. Those would be difficult to ever see come back anytime soon. But again we are gaining in production here in Michigan and many said that would never happen too.
Heck they are going to build the Camaro here in Michigan and it was never coming back at one point too.
Never say never.
Indeed never say never. How complex is a Tesla model S to build? A floor plan with batteries and an electric motor with some gearing built in, a body on top, steering gear and the interior? I’m not sure haven’t looked it up but I imagine it will be far less complex in terms of parts compared to a ICE car.
3D printing/Additive manufacturing is also going to change the entire manufacturing industry in a big way. There are already metal sintering printers building metal parts for all sorts of industries and I think there was a 3D printer at CES that can print circuit boards as well.
Watch this space.
Michael have you see the Corvette looks like it is heading down under.
Yeah I did. Thanks.
The entire Australian economy is currently structured to be a supplier of commodities to China. But if commodities show weakness as they are currently, maybe the only cars the Australians will be able to afford will be from their asian overlords who are buying their corporations at a furious pace.
You mean America’s Asian overlords. 😛 Nearly half of the US Government’s Federal net debt is owned by foreign investors. The largest of these is China and Japan.
In comparison Australia’s Federal government net debt to GDP ratio is tiny and before the GFC was at 0. One of only a handful of countries in the world to do so.