General Motors announced this week that it has made the unfortunate decision to discontinue the Holden brand and end its Australian operations. While car enthusiasts all over the world will miss the long-running Australian GM subsidiary, its demise was a long time in the making – perhaps even longer than we initially thought.
Holden Cruze
As Australian publication Car Advice reports, GM president Mark Reuss actually saved Holden from the guillotine a handful of over the past 10 years or so. Reuss first went to bat for the company when he served as the chairman and managing director of Holden, a position he held from February 1, 2008 until September 1, 2009. During this tenure, the executive successfully negotiated a deal with GM and the Australian government to begin producing the Chevrolet Cruze at its Elizabeth factory alongside the Commodore, helping to bolster its local manufacturing efforts and adding jobs to the region.
Mark Reuss
This was during the 2009 global financial crisis, when GM was in the process of cutting multiple brands form its portfolio, such as Hummer, Saab and Pontiac. The Cruze idea helped convince the company to keep Holden around, but it wasn’t an easy sell for Reuss. As Car Advice reports, he negotiated with GM higher-ups over the phone while sitting in his car as his wife waited patiently inside a nearby restaurant. Even though it was his wedding anniversary, Reuss wanted to ensure Holden had a future under the newly restructured GM.
Holden Acadia
Reuss also helped broker the deal to export a stripped out version of the Holden Commodore to the United States for law enforcement, which was sold as the Chevrolet Caprice, and helped get the Chevrolet SS program off the ground in 2013. Between the Caprice and the SS, his efforts helped GM Australia leverage its local manufacturing efforts and justify GM’s continued investment in the region even as sales began to slip throughout the early and mid 2010s.
Most recently, Reuss helped launch right-hand-drive versions of the GMC Acadia and Chevrolet Equinox crossovers in Australia, where they are sold as the Holden Acadia and Equinox, giving the company some up-to-date GM crossovers to help it compete with the likes of Toyota and Hyundai. These vehicles did not meet their sales targets, according to Car Advice, which was very likely one of the final nails in the coffin for the lion and stone brand.
General Motors will retire the Holden brand before the end of the year and will also soon begin to wind down its sales, design and engineering operations in both Australia and New Zealand.
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Comments
I wonder what things would be like had Reuss been given the big chair and made CEO
Fluff piece intended to bolster Reuss who supposedly bleeds GM blue because his father also worked for the company.
Holden has been the redneck OZ brand for sometime while Toyota and Mazda thrive in population dense urban centers. This is a chronic problem for GM and may be the future of US Chevrolet within a decade if Barra doesn’t stop dumbing down Bowtie models in favor of anemic Buick.
The Holden brand lacked consumer good will and cache. GM should continue in Oceania with Buick due to its strength in China and untarnished global reputation.
Laugh if you want but outside of North America Buick branding,due to China, Only Latin America offers GM a second chance on a global scale. Only Latin America really wants Chevrolet.
I suspect Holden & Chevy face a similar cultural divide. First, the performance/’high-country’ crowd that demands pandering coming off as callous; Versus second, the academic/lawmaker/banker crowd that’s socially-engineering people to think ‘legacy is lame’.
It’s hard to make vehicles (especially lesser models) appealing to the first group and also bridge the gap to people wanting a ‘feel good’ brand.
Even when they completely capitulate to the second group; Watch the second group change their tune to ‘someone else’s grass is greener’. While callously laughing at dumping the first’s punch bowl.
It,s the same thing in Canada and the US. Chevrolet and previously Pontiac were/are the redneck brands while Toyota and Honda thrive in big cities.
Hank ,in Canada the 350,000 regular incoming immigrants Plus 40,000 walk a-crosses the the international border (sanscustoms/immigration check points )from the U.S. annually go to the cities mostly Middle and Far Eastern or Orientals and they definitely buy and drive Kia ,Hyundai ,Honda ,and Toyota, while the hinterland redneck country you describe has virtually no growth and Chevy ,Ford and Ram are prevalent with no population growth ,because there no jobs for the kids anymore just farmers and retirees ,much like the USA ,but your immigration has probably really slowed to a trickle I bet !
You can’t make money in the RHD market unless you already make a bunch of them like the Japanese do. Its a no win situation. GM is getting out of money losing situations which is good for the company and stock holders. Hopefully they can improve what they currently sell and keep the company profitable.
Interesting article!
Fluff piece intended to bolster Reuss who supposedly bleeds GM blue because his father also worked for the company.
Holden has been the redneck OZ brand for sometime while Toyota and Mazda thrive in population dense urban centers. This is a chronic problem for GM and may be the future of US Chevrolet within a decade if Barra doesn’t stop dumbing down Bowtie models in favor of anemic Buick.
The Holden brand lacked consumer good will and cache. GM should continue in Oceania with Buick due to its strength in China and untarnished global reputation.
Laugh if you want but outside of North America Buick branding,due to China, Only Latin America offers GM a second chance on a global scale. Only Latin America really wants Chevrolet.
GM Simply cuts and runs where it cannot compete and I suspect the company is bleeding cash. Why can Toyota and Hyundai (who was a nothing 20 years ago) compete in markets yet GM continues to retract and IMO implode. GM is out of Europe, Aus/NZ, Russia, and numerous other markets yet others can build for a market and sell there. I find this leadership team at GM pathetic and the products are barely competitive. A recent Car & Driver review with the Buick Enclave vs Telluride/Palisade, Mazda and Ford Explorer said, the Buick cost the most but offered the least. It stated a universal comment that the interior was substandard for a $49K vehicle. Does GM ever listen? What is the magic success plan they have that will put the company in the lead in at least one category or market? They have all their eggs in the Future EV basket yet competitors are making excellent products NOW that people want to buy. As generations shift customers buying Hyundai aren’t going to just buy Chevy they’ve got to earn their business and cheap skating customers with subpar “VALUE” won’t keep the lights turned on.
Is there any front on which GM is not retreating or waved the white flag yet? Pathetic.
It’s pretty well the same as the US military who either retreat or are kicked-out. This week, the Philippines just kicked-out the US military and the Chinese will build a city on that US base.🤣
Currency exchange rates continue to be a big problem. Australian dollar continues to be very weak, which translates into almost no profit when converted back to U.S. Currency. Exchange rates between Australia and Japan make it much easier for Japan brands to be profitable.
GM Europe had the same weak currency exchange issues.
Others can and do compete, GM retracts… its pathetic. I want GM to rock and roll and the bean counters and idiots running this company are running it into the ground…
Currency exchange – Smoke and mirrors the US federal debt of appr. $10 Trillion is propped up by Chinese and Japanese large loans ,probably the highest debt in the world ,but if the stock market tanks from internal political chaos or from Recession in Europe and Asia and country’s start calling in passed loans the US monetary system will weaken significantly too ,nobody is immune !
as always no body in america wants their own things just like the japanese dont want theirs,,, people always likes to buy things that are made far a way from thir contry here in honduras they only want american things this is a normal thing american people have beautiful women but they rather like ugly indians from central america and they find them beautiful and for us central american people they are loco ugly shit man its rare but thats the way it is
The Caprice PPV was based on the WM/WN Statesman that was renamed to Caprice… while both car share a lot of similarity to the Commodore they are actually a longer wheelbase, and thus considered separate cars by Holden.
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