2016 was not a kind year to Holden. General Motors’ Australian subsidiary posted a sales dip of 8.4 percent and its market share dropped nearly one full percentage point to just an eight percent share.
Stefan Jacoby, GM international chief, said the sales drops were expected, but also blamed the bad figures on Holden’s “lost relevance” in the market, according to Drive. It’s an extraordinary statement considering the brand was built on building Australian cars for Australians.
However, Jacoby thinks 2017 will shape up to be a much better year, despite the fact Holden manufacturing will close its doors for good.
“[Holden managing director] Mark [Bernhard] phrased this in the right way this morning – market share is not important in this transformation phase we are in at the moment, important is we are restructuring and transforming the business of Holden into a sustainable business,” Jacoby told Australian media at the 2017 North American International Auto Show.
“I think we used 2016 to really set the fundamentals. We defined the program with 24 new vehicles coming by 2020. We are in the middle of the roll-out of that.”
Holden launched numerous new models sourced from Europe and the United States to begin its product revolution and also laid out a new marketing message and an updated Holden lion insignia during 2016. Jacoby felt these small steps would continue to grow to better things in 2017.
“We are more or less changing all customer experience. We are working on the brand. The brand needs to be refreshed, it needs to be actualized. We understood that Holden was an iconic Australian brand and is an iconic Australian brand, but it lost over the years its relevance for the customers.”
Holden’s future product portfolio may be selected from any of GM’s global brands to ensure the best fitting products come to market. Through this newfound strategy, Holden hopes to become relevant once again.
Comments
I think the Jacoby really used a very poor choice of words.
The cost to sustain such small markers is so high anymore it is impossible to operate as they once did. It is not the fault of what Holden did or did not do but the pure economics involved doing it.
The way that automakers go about building cars everywhere is under massive changes to survive and we will see even more radical changes in the future.
Translation: “We accept Holden sales are going to be terrible. We abandoned what people bought Holden cars for, right when gas got cheap again and the AUD became favorable again. Our bad. We’ll try to work Holden into our future plans, now that we’re only using four platforms globally… they’ll have to be RHD anyways.”
I truly believe that Holden has been SAAB’d.
Holden will still get forced to serve up the sub-standard dross that they have been serving up since about 2005, with the Commodore being the only exception to that. If GM had fulfilled the agreement in the way Pontiac would have continued to do (ie. with more than just a single low volume model for the public and another even lower volume model for emergency services), things would’ve been very different. Captiva has had more recalls than a Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Colorado has serious reliability issues related to the substandard Italian diesel it uses (while badged as a Duramax it’s actually VM Motori), everything except Commodore have been pitiful pieces of junk which have been extremely uncompetitive. GM and Ford have definitely dropped the ball with regards to global vehicles and might as well leave Australia completely by the end of the year.
All GM brands, outside of China, are damaged to a certain degree and without realivence.
My comment will angry many of you but, truth told, for a majority of Americans, brands like Hyundai, Honda and Toyota are deemed superior to Chevrolet regardless of how great the current line up is.
None of the GM brands, including Opel, have been able to capitalize on home field advantages. I’m hoping that this changes under Barra.
This is a harsh reality and consumers are to blame. We’re beginning to see nations lose their entire manufacturing base due to their own citizens knowingly and willfully disinvesting in domestic industry over a long period of time; selling their souls to the lowest bidder. I will proudly never buy a Hyundai or a Honda or a Toyota but would definitely kill for a metallic orange 2017 HSV GTS-R.
Unfortunately, Australians embrace of imports made Holden irrelevant and now imports is all they get. The US is on the same collision course; it’ll take us quite a while longer to get there, but we’re doing ourselves in just the same.
Right pure garbage
Good because I’m tired of no 4 door real sport cars.That chevy ss was pure garbage! Power train was there but other then that the body was pure garbage! I hope we can get a aggressive 4 door monster with the C7 Zo6 motor in it.because dodge is kicking chevy ass right now?.
Dream on. Your fantasy Z06 monstersedan will never happen. In fact, you won’t see another V8 RWD Chevrolet sedan again, but in your case this should come as a relief. How could thy have sullied Chevrolet’s good name with such garbage to begin with? Oh, the indignity.
Enjoy the Dodge muscle while it lasts. The LX platform is ancient and its Giorgio replacement won’t come with an American musclecar accent, so hurry and get your Hellcat now, Chevyboy! Before too long your only option may be a Kia Stinger. Thanks for playing.
Well first the Giorgio platform is just a remixed LX platform designed to be able to go smaller. Drive today’s charger and a Giulia back-to-back and you’ll see what I mean.
Second, a V8 RWD Chevy in the future depends on things like CAFE standards. If Trump & Co relax them enough, it could return as an option – especially on large AWD cars meant to pair with Holden.
Third, GM probably is putting most of its Chevy bets on a RWD V8 in the TrailBlazer or other SUV type sport car. We might even see a Colorado SS out of it. Lowered enough, it could enter Ute territory.
So it’s not all bad news.
SUV type sports car….?!! LOLing so hard right now. SUV and true “sports” driving don’t go together. End of story.
The Charger doesn’t drive as well as an SS and the Giorgio based car will doubtless be a terrific automobile but it won’t offer the audacious engines which make the current Dodges legends in their own time. Though a planned twin turbocharged 4-cylinder may perform very well, the car will be a totally different animal and the same can be said of the Chevrolet alternatives you’ve posited – which doesn’t necessarily preclude an “aggressive 4-door monster with the Z06 motor in it” if it just so happens to take the form of an SUV – but honestly what’s the likelihood of that ever reaching fruition?
Anyway, you’re right. It’s not all bad news if you’re willing to accept the paradigm shift.
Actually Giorgio can support V8 and blown V8’s. Originally this was going to be reserved for Hellcats, with the TTV6 Pentastar serving as the new R/T.
(This wasn’t just for Dodge, Maserati needed it too – since FCA like GM will have just one RWD platform going forward for cars and SUVs).
However, Trump changes everything.
If CAFE is relaxed for “sport class” cars, or some sort of sport car exemption is issued… R/T could easily stick with the truck V8 sharing arrangement.
GM on the other hand will have to undergo platform refreshes. You might be able to eek out a V8 in the E2XX hood, but it would still be transverse (LT4-style).