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Strong Commodore Demand Continues To Boost Holden Sales

2018 is poised to be an interesting year for General Motors Australian subsidiary, Holden. The brand posted its second year of profits yesterday, pointing to a healthy import business as signs of life for the future. After all, that’s all Holden will be by the end of 2017.

Holden sold 94,308 cars in 2016, keeping it competitive, but also allowing Hyundai to overtake the brand as the third-largest marque in the country. However, the story gets even more interesting minus the VF Series II Commodore.

2016 Holden Commodore VF Series II 008

According to Stuff.nz, if sales of the Holden VF Series II Commodore and its variants were subtracted from the brand’s total sales, Holden would fall to ninth place in the sales race, putting it a smidge ahead of Kia. Commodore demand remains strong ahead of Holden’s manufacturing shutdown and a slew of special and limited editions cars has helped inflate interest in the nameplate.

However, Holden is insistent its manufacturing operations would only drag it down if it continued to build cars in Australia. Despite posting a $125.5 million profit, GM itself contributed $128.1 million to help ease the manufacturing wind down processes. The Australian government also chipped in $51.4 million for the same cause.

2016 Holden Commodore VF Series II 013

The manufacturing arm of the business continued to operate at a loss. Holden, in its official statement, added the brand would have been $180 million in the red if it continued to build cars in 2018.

But, there is a silver lining to the Commodore’s popularity.

By the time the final VF Commodore rolls off of the assembly line at the Elizabeth plant, Holden’s lineup will begin to expand faster than ever. The Equinox, Acadia, NG Commodore and its variants will all arrive to fill showrooms with shiny, new sheet metal. Whether the new products offset the VF Commodore’s popularity remains to be seen.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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Comments

  1. Very interesting trend there! It’s good to see our neighbors down under getting hold of one of the last genuine, Australian produced vehicles available! Hopefully they sell every last model that comes off the line! It’s also going to be very interesting to see how they’ll receive the NG Commodore!

    Reply
  2. Next, PSA will buy Holden. GM will give up. Instead of developing a top tier line up GM, instead, is focused on the ride sharing of tmrw instead of the auto sales of today.

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    1. Why would anyone want to buy Holden ??? It’s just a retailer like any other company that buys from a manufacturer of goods and on sells them to the customer. In reality, Holden is currently a manufacturer of cars manufactured in Australia – once they stop manufacturing they are not worth anything.
      The one thing they sell at the moment is the Commodore which has a fair market because it is (a) made in Australia and (b) because it’s quite unique as a large family car / wagon / ute/ limo. The vehicles coming after Commodore are just like every thing else on the market – medium SUV, large SUV, front drive sedan and not made in Australia.

      Reply
  3. The NG Crumydore is going yo be a disaster here in the land of Aus. No V8 and no rear wheel drive. Don’t be surprised if in the near future GM gives up on Australia and pulls out. As was stated else were, if you take the Commodore (mainly V8s) out of the sales figures GMH would be down in 9th position in the sales dept. Do you think they will accept that. NO.

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  4. There is no excuse for GM not to offer a RWD car given the popularity of Commodore.
    Commodore could have been built in China. If Zeta proved to expensive due to lack of scale then a special CTS could have been been flipped to RHD for Oz only–Holden is already a mash up if Chevy and Opel so why not one Cadillac, too.
    GM is slowly retreating, transforming into a Sino American company.

    Reply

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