General Motors Special Vehicles, or GMSV, General Motors’ new brand presence in the Australian market following the retirement of Holden, is reporting strong demand for new Chevy vehicles in the region.
Per a recent report from Australian publication Car Expert, GMSV has sold more than 2,100 units of the Chevy Silverado pickup truck in Australia and New Zealand. Meanwhile, the first allocation of 250 units of the C8 Chevy Corvette Stingray has sold out as well. Pricing for the Corvette starts at AU$144,990, or $103,084 at current exchange rates (12/14/2021).
“We’ve introduced GMSV to thousands of people and have had an unbelievable reaction when we’ve been able to showcase models from the line-up,” said GMSV Australia and new Zealand director Joanne Stogiannis, per the Car Expert report. “The reception to the C8 Stingray at Talem Bend earlier this year was phenomenal, as was the pure pulling-power of the Chevrolet Silverados at Bathurst last weekend.”
Vehicles offered include the C8 Chevy Corvette Stingray, including both Coupe and Convertible models, as well as the Chevy Silverado LT Trail Boss, Chevy Silverado LTZ Premium, and Chevy Silverado HD LTZ Premium. Chevy Silverado models are converted to right-hand drive by Walkinshaw in Melbourne, whereas C8 Stingray models are produced in right-hand drive direct from the GM Bowling Green factory in Bowling Green Kentucky.
“The demand for these vehicles has blown us away, Silverado and Corvette,” said GM’s managing director for Australia and New Zealand, Marc Ebolo. “Absolutely blown us away.”
Despite the demand for new Chevy vehicles, General Motors has faced considerable backlash for the decision to phase out the Holden brand, including from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which criticized GM for its alleged mistreatment of Holden dealers. ACCC is also looking into the automaker’s decision to stop the supposed “lifetime” capped price servicing program, while the Australian government has censured General Motors for its treatment of Holden dealers. Court cases between General Motors and ex-Holden sales operations are currently under way.
Back in July of 2020, GM Authority was the first to report that GMSV would be the new GM brand in Australia, following the uncovering of a trademark filing.
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Comments
If the lifetime maintenance program is built into the selling price, why would or should GM have an issue with it. With so many other vehicle manufacturers giving lifetime oil/filter changes now for their vehicles maybe GM should think about doing the same. Sure would save us some money when labor rate at Chevy dealers I’ve checked about have been from $89 – 170 and hour. And I had thought they would have been fairly even around the country. Tomg
The issue is that without the sales of new cars, cost and overheads of service centers is going up. Simultaneously volumes in the supply chain are going to drop, making parts and logistics more expensive. This was not accounted for in their initial pricing.
It’s funny that the Australian government is pushing bundled maintenance while in some other countries, automakers have been forced to stop (South Africa most recently) due to anti-trust/competition issues raised by third-party garages.