While the entire Australian auto market appears to be cooling down, it’s worse news for Holden.
The latest sales stats, which Car Advice reported Tuesday, show Holden just barely cracked into the top 10 chart with 3,825 new cars sold in February 2019. That figure represents an 18.4 percent drop last month, though plenty of other brands experienced similar double-digit reductions in sales. The sheer number of cars sold is the real eye-opener.
For example, a single Toyota model outsold the entire Holden range of vehicles: the Hilux pickup. In total, Toyota remains number one with 16,359 cars sold last month, though that was still a 10.5 percent drop compared to the month prior. Arch rival Ford placed fifth with 5,678 new cars sold. Mitsubishi was the big splash as it moved into third place with 8,495 cars sold and sales grew 18.9 percent in February.
If there’s one bright spot, Australians still love their Commodores. The Holden Commodore was the best-selling large car by a wide margin with 576 sold in February. The runner up is the sporty Kia Stinger, but it found just 158 driveways last month. Premium large cars are counted separately, but the top seller in that category is still a margin of Commodore sales; only 169 Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedans were sold, the segment’s top performer.
In the crucial pickup and SUV segments, Holden is nowhere to be found, however. That’s despite brand new models such as the Equinox and Acadia in showrooms. The Holden Colorado also did not make the top three with Toyota, Ford and Mitsubishi taking those honors.
Holden has now proclaimed it’s a challenger brand to the top performers such as Toyota and new chairman and managing director, David Buttner, has begun to lay out the brand’s path forward. Buttner previously ran Toyota Australia during boom times, but it remains to be seen if Holden can experience some of that magic.
Comments
The Australian people are obviously upset with the company for moving production out off the country, and Holden doesn’t seem to care. They need to do something.
Also, if you look at the “top performer” mentioned in the article, it seems Australians prefer the check engine light not to be illuminated.
Things would be no different here if GM hadn’t been held afloat with the bailout and artificially protected from real competition in an entire segment with the chicken tax.
Ford shut down also. Seems like the General is just pissing off everyone.
Maybe the Australians are upset that Holden moved manufacturing out of the country, but so did EVERY other auto manufacturer.
Holden has been a Pontiac/Dodge style brand favored by working class Australians with Utes and Zeta Commodore best summing up the demo.
These consumers in every nation are the most economically nationalistic which is why Toyota could survive the end of local production but not Holden.
GM would f*ck up a wet dream. They should sell off the Holden brand while supplying products and introduce Buick’s from China and Korea. Buick due to Chinese success has the potential to surpass Chevrolet as a global brand and offers a clean slate in markets where Chevy is a bad memory.
Steve
Holden gets its products from
North America – Acadia, Equinox
Europe – Commodores, Astras
Thailand – Colorado, Trailblazer*
Korea – Trax**
*Ford & Toyota build their Australian trucks in Thailand as well
** Where the F#€K do you think all the F#€King Hyundais and Kias sold in Australia are built?
Australians are big early adapters of new technology, so GM should go early and strong with Holden AEVs. Except for expensive electricity, Australian cities appear to be well suited to embrace early big numbers of AEVs.
Don’t know about other city’s but Melbourne Victoria can only just keep up with current power demands, adding x thousand EV cars will kill the grid.
Scrap the Holden brand all together and bring in everything Chevy has to offer.
My pet hate about Holden is the all black interior policy, will be replacing my commodore soon and my preference for a light colour interior cuts Holden out of the running.
Pity, becouse the Acadia looks nice but the black trim lets it down.
The biggest issue I read about on au pages is the dealers being a bunch of (censored)
I am not sure bringing in amerivan chevy’s or vehicles would fix the problem. I remember the big dream of owning an American truck i had. But when i finally drove a GMC i could not help notice how much of a tank it was. Was sadly very disappointed. Went to pop the bonnet and then the bonnet catch broke in my hand. The Americans couldn’t get over how nimble our commodore was for a big car. I think bearing this in mind, any thing that comes in from America has to drastically change their handling characteristics. There was a time when i think it was the BA ford had a notch up on the commodore. A hard lesson for holden. Doesn’t matter how much power you have, the vehicle needs a good balance. I am not sure an American vehicle can deliver on this front, except maybe Cadillac or Comaro.
Because Commodore switched to FWD it now has to compete against Korean FWDs and some of them give a 7 year warranty.
The rusted on zealot enthusiasts loved the V8 RWD drive layout of the VF. That’s something the Koreans were not offering. I suspect that enthusiasts traded off the 7 year warranty for the sake of the V8 RWD.
While Ford offers a factory RHD V8 RWD Mustang Camaro buyers have to pay for a conversion to RHD. Neither the Mustang or Camaro are family cars. They barely four seat cars. GM … produce a four door Sportswagon version of the Camaro and make sure it’s a factory RHD.
The Kia Stinger is now at the top of my list. It’s got a 7 year warranty.