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Holden Does Away With Cruze Name In Australia

It’s no secret that General Motors’ Australian Holden brand is undergoing some major changes. The biggest changes including ceasing local production at the Holden Elizabeth factory to become a national sales company. Just as important, however, is a top-to-bottom restructuring of its vehicle line, including the introduction of the new Commodore NG/ZB, the launch of two new crossovers – the Equinox and Acadia, and the introduction of the new Astra compact car family to replace the Cruze range.

Holden Astra Lineup

2017 Holden Astra lineup (left to right): Astra Sportwagon, Astra Sedan, Astra Hatchback

The Astra family will consist of three body variants: the five-door Astra Hatchback, the five-door Astra Sportwagon, and the four-door Astra sedan. The first two are sourced from Europe via GM’s recently-sold Opel-Vauxhall division. The two vehicles are sold in Europe under the Astra and Astra Sports Tourer names, respectively. The new Astra sedan, meanwhile, is not at all an Opel product. Instead, it is a right-hand-drive Chevrolet Cruze sourced from GM Korea. Though the three vehicles are nearly identical from a mechanical standpoint (since all three ride on the same GM D2 platform), the design of the hatch and sport wagon differ from that of the less premium sedan model. But that’s neither here nor there.

The point is that the Astra family has completely replaced the Cruze range for Holden in Australia and New Zealand, after just one generation of vehicles.

The GM Authority Take

Though we understand Holden’s objective to give its new compact range a new image by using the (relatively) new Astra name, we have to wonder whether the Cruze name and associated brand were ever a problem to have gotten rid of it entirely. After all, the Cruze range did sell well or decently, depending on the year. And without Opel, next iterations of the Astra family will most likely be nothing more than rebadged and slightly tuned variants of the Chevrolet Cruze family.

Interestingly, prior to its replacement by the Astra, the Holden Cruze range was available in the same three body styles – sedan, five-door hatchback and five-door wagon… the same variants offered by the new Astra family.

GM Authority Executive Editor with a passion for business strategy and fast cars.

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Comments

  1. Will the Astra name stand for the next generation???

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  2. This was a clean break to give the line a new impression of their compact line.

    Right now GM and Ford are trying to recover from the pull out. While all production left it is the home brands that took the brunt of it.

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    1. The point of the Astra name to provide a clean break is obvious. What’s not entirely obvious is whether the Cruze name was so damaged so as to do away with entirely… especially after an Opel Astra was introduced in Australia then pulled out 11 months later.

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    2. Big question is, who keeps all the Opel vehicle names? GM or PSA? Do we know?

      What’s the point of keeping Holden Astra name if PSA keeps the rights to Astra when they bring next generation 100% PSA vehicle out?

      Will GM/Holden or PSA have to rename next crop of cars?

      Reply
  3. A little insight from Downunder. The Astra name has been used in the past by Holden firstly way back in 1984-89 as a badge engineered Nissan Pulsar built in Australia, before being replaced by the Nova with was a badge engineered Toyota Corolla 1989-96. Later resurrected the Holden(Opel) Astra was very successfully sold between 1998-2009 before it became too expensive to import and was replaced by re-badged Daewoo Lacetti as a Holden Viva. Briefly in 2012-13 Opel established themselves in Australia and sold the Astra until they quickly withdrew from Australia. Again Holden reintroduced the Astra name in 2015-16 covering the previous coupe version and later 2016 – present the current new series (Opel) Holden Astra Hatchback, Sportswagon and the (Chevrolet Cruze)Sedan. The Holden Cruze was introduced in 2009 and locally produced in 2011. It was initially successful before competition made it an also ran in the private sales.
    I’d guess that Holden chose the Astra name based in its past strength in the market and the Cruze nameplate being not so loved. As for the future, your guess is as good as anyone’s outside of GM and Holden.

    Reply
    1. Astra has latterly been associated with the German Opel brand, where Cruze was associated with the Daewoo/GM Korea brand, then latterly as an Aussie made Cruze.

      I think the Astra name has more “street appeal” than a Cruze, and is very likely to appeal to fleet buyers – where no doubt it’s main sales volume will come from.

      Reply
  4. Holden’s constant shuffling of model names would have to be part of the reason for their failure (apart from having GM as a parent) –
    Apollo, Astra, Barina Spark, Cascada, Combo, Crewman, Cruze, Epica, Frontera, Insignia, Malibu, Nova, Suburban, Tigra, Vectra, Viva, Volt, Zafira ……. with a couple of exceptions, remembered as crap.

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    1. They’re all Holden – that is the brand name

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      1. Sure, Holden is the brand… but the model also is a brand.

        I’d wager that Holden’s constant reshuffling of the brand names has not helped it (at best) or hurt it (probably closer to reality).

        Compare Holden’s approach of constantly changing the names of its vehicles with that of say Volkswagen, where the Golf is the Golf and has been the Golf for a long time… in Australia and globally. It has earned a reputation and a brand of its own, that is complimentary to the VW brand… and vice-versa.

        Holden just needs to 1) pick good names and 2) stick to them… market them… cherish them… promote them… take care of them. With time, those models will also establish brands and reputations of their own.

        Reply
  5. Shakespeare said it best.. ‘A rose by any other name would smell as sweet’ as it doesn’t really matter what Holden gives the Chevrolet Cruze; but it might be interesting if General Motors made the Chevrolet Cruze 3-door Hatchback in the US market as well.

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  6. Holden as well as all of GM need to quit with the constant name changing. If the vehicle is lacking in comparison to its competition spend the money on making the vehicle better. You are going to have to spend money to make the name change so why not spend it wher it counts. Make a better product.

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    1. The Cruze is an excellent compact.. but I agree.. the name changes are silly. Personally I would have never given up on the Cavalier name. Chevy would have had a 35 year plus name in the market.

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      1. In the UK, where we had 3 generations of Vauxhall Cavaliers. They were subsequently replaced by the Vector and more recently the Insignia. I know I wasn’t the only Insignia owner who in a moment of forgetfulness referred to their Insignia as a Cavalier. You’re right. The manufacturer brand is important. So too, the model brand.

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  7. The old TS-series Holden Astra (1998-2004) was one of the best-selling small cars in Australia. It’s an established nameplate here so it makes sense to dump the newer Cruze name.

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  8. Unfortunately Cruze has a bad taste associated with the nameplate due to poor reliability and poor interior ergonomics. Astra was a well loved nameplate and Holden will be pushing hard to make it successful yet again. What has hurt Holden’s marketshare more than anything over the years has been since the sourcing of GM Korea products over GM Europe, which started out as rebadged Daewoos. Many cars sourced from the Korean factorys are still tarnished with that image as many of those models were of a poor quality and generally unreliable. Apart from the demise of the large car market and the swing to SUVs the Korean imports have been the single biggest factor in the downturn in the GM brand. The fact Commodore is still Holden’s biggest selling nameplate (despite selling about 25% of its volume 10 years ago) should be scaring the living bejesus out of any GM executive. Unfortunately once ZB comes on line this market share will plummet too, in forums and on social media there is already plenty of vitriol being directed at this car. The brand is in for the roughest time in it’s history, as there are no other Holden models represented in the top 10 sales on the Australian market.

    Reply
  9. Cars sourced from GM Korea have good engines and are reliable, they are GM cars the same as Chevrolet in the us.

    Reply

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