Amazosan
Part of things
The Stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' dealin' son of a gun!
Posts: 188
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Dec 11, 2013 22:02:39 GMT
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A sad day for car fans - Holden will discontinue making cars in Australia by the end of 2017. A strong Australian currency, high manufacturing costs and a small domestic market were among the reasons behind GM's decision, and the final straw seems to be the Australian government's decision to cut the amount of subsidies it gives to Holden. As an aside, Ford Australia announced earlier this yeat that it will cease indigenous production in 2016, yet hasn't experienced the ire of the Australian public in the same way that GM has; maybe as they've always been seen as an American company, whereas Holden is regarded as one of their own. About 2900 Australian jobs will be affected by the decision; 1600 from the Elizabeth plant in Adelaide and about 1300 from Holden's Victorian workforce. Although the Holden brand will stay on in Australia, however all cars would be built overseas. Holden was founded as a King William St saddlery in 1856; they branched out into automobiles in 1908. As Holden Motor Body Builders, they made bodies for various manufacturers and from 1924, HMBB became the exclusive supplier of car bodies for GM in Australia. The company was taken over by GM in 1931 but still continued to produce bodies for other companies, such as Willys coupés for example. GM ultimately won a subsidy from the Australian government to produce the first Australian-designed car, which emerges as the Holden 48-215, also known as the Holden FX, in 1948. The end of the road for the big Oz Lions: 1948-2017. - Amazosan
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Last Edit: Dec 11, 2013 22:20:28 GMT by Amazosan
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fred
Posted a lot
WTF has happened to all the Vennies?
Posts: 2,957
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Dec 11, 2013 22:29:42 GMT
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Sad news indeed Love those Ozzie monsters
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'79 Cossie ran Cortina - Sold
2000 Fozzer 2.0 turbo snow beast
'85 Opel Manta GSI - Sold
03 A class Mercedes
Looking for a FD Ventora - Anyone?
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Copey
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,845
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Dec 11, 2013 22:56:10 GMT
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damn shame!!
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1990 Ford Sierra Sapphire GLSi with 2.0 Zetec 1985 Ford Capri 3.0 (was a 2.0 Laser originally)
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It is a terrible shame, but unfortunately the world has changed too much for Holden to survive.
As one of the tens of thousands of people whose job now has a fixed end date, it will mean that I am looking at potentially leaving Australia when the plant closes. A lot of the engineers will find work in China or Thailand, but the people hardest hit will be the production workers.
Still, for the next four years, we'll be producing some of the best large RWD sedans the world has ever seen, especially at the price. It's just a shame that most people would rather have a mid-sized SUV.
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This is a damn shame indeed...
It seems that all the big 'worldwide' brands are taking over from country specific companies in general.
I can only hope that those poor people who will be out of a job soon find something fill the void! How very sad indeed...
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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Are they now going to offer rebadged Opels/Vauxhalls as Holdens instead? Such a shame.
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79cord
Posted a lot
Posts: 2,615
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Dec 12, 2013 10:28:42 GMT
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What hasn't been said yet is that combined with Fords departure this leaves only Toyota assembling cars in Australia.. & those are already available from overseas.. So Toyotas future here & that of well over a hundred local component & parts suppliers seems doomed. The effects of this will be nearly unprecidended here.
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fuel
Part of things
Turbo-Jet
Posts: 352
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Dec 12, 2013 11:00:05 GMT
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Are they now going to offer rebadged Opels/Vauxhalls as Holdens instead? Such a shame. Not any longer. They were doing that in the 90s with the Corsa (badged as Barina), Astra, Vectra, Calibra and Zafira however GMH have been badging GM Koreas offerings for the last ten years with the Captiva, Viva (Lacetti), Cruze etc. There have been rebadged Japanese vehicles in the mix too with the Isuzu Rodeo/D-Max (Holden Rodeo/Colorado), Suzuki Swift (80s Holden Barina), Suzuki Ignis (Holden Cruze, before the Korean Cruze), and the Nissan Pulsar (Holden Astra however was fitted with the GM FamilyII 1.8 engine). Holden have been in bed with many car makers indeed!
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VR-4 :: GSR
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Dec 12, 2013 12:36:11 GMT
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Are they now going to offer rebadged Opels/Vauxhalls as Holdens instead? Such a shame. nope, just change to Chevrolet
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Amazosan
Part of things
The Stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' dealin' son of a gun!
Posts: 188
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Dec 12, 2013 14:50:13 GMT
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Are they now going to offer rebadged Opels/Vauxhalls as Holdens instead? Such a shame. nope, just change to Chevrolet Well, no-one quite knows yet; the Holden badge may stay, but if patriotic fervour means that the Australian public boycott the Holden name, they may just switch to the Bow Tie.
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Amazosan
Part of things
The Stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' dealin' son of a gun!
Posts: 188
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Dec 12, 2013 20:01:30 GMT
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RIP Vauxhall; thats what we'll be saying in less than 18 months. Count on it.
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Basically the same as SAAB, although they were a world wide market 100,000 cars just doesn't pay any more
Toyota is a little more secure, because the cars built here do not have unique development costs like the Ford and Holden did
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Contrary to popular opinion, I do have mechanical sympathy, I always feel sorry for the cars I drive.
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Toyota will ask for money to develop new models then shut down when the current models come to the end of their lifespan, GM will change the Holden name to Chev when the buying public understands "Australia's Own" really means Korean.
Ford have their global Mustang coming in 2015, which most likely will mean the Falcon will be put down forever, Least Ford will have something to race in V8 supercars
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Last Edit: Dec 13, 2013 8:36:15 GMT by hardtop
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Joe T
Part of things
Posts: 711
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RIP Vauxhall; thats what we'll be saying in less than 18 months. Count on it. And Opel? Why?
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Amazosan
Part of things
The Stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' dealin' son of a gun!
Posts: 188
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Dec 13, 2013 12:21:46 GMT
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RIP Vauxhall; thats what we'll be saying in less than 18 months. Count on it. And Opel? Why? Because GM appear to be doing as Ford does and having as few 'badges' as possible outside of the US. Like the Holden brand, the Vauxhall marque has been at threat of being axed before; in the 80's when GM ultimately decided to drop the Opel brand in the UK instead, and in 2009 when they almost sold their European operation to Magna International. The Vauxhall/Opel situation is a curious one when you have Opels being sold in Eire, yet take one step over the border into N.I. and the cars don a Griffin! The UK manufacturing base will no doubt remain, as GM have rated their UK plants as more efficient than their European counterparts (!), but GM may feel that a 'German' marque can be sold with less discounts to the badge snobs in the UK.
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chaseracer
Part of things
If you have to ask why, you will never understand...
Posts: 597
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Dec 13, 2013 13:43:17 GMT
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It is a terrible shame, but unfortunately the world has changed too much for Holden to survive... Still, for the next four years, we'll be producing some of the best large RWD sedans the world has ever seen, especially at the price. It's just a shame that most people would rather have a mid-sized SUV. And there's a reason for Holden's demise, sadly...
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Joe T
Part of things
Posts: 711
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Dec 13, 2013 13:44:38 GMT
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Because GM appear to be doing as Ford does and having as few 'badges' as possible outside of the US. Like the Holden brand, the Vauxhall marque has been at threat of being axed before; in the 80's when GM ultimately decided to drop the Opel brand in the UK instead, and in 2009 when they almost sold their European operation to Magna International. The Vauxhall/Opel situation is a curious one when you have Opels being sold in Eire, yet take one step over the border into N.I. and the cars don a Griffin! The UK manufacturing base will no doubt remain, as GM have rated their UK plants as more efficient than their European counterparts (!), but GM may feel that a 'German' marque can be sold with less discounts to the badge snobs in the UK. I would disagree. Holden were building cars just for themselves and no-one else, in a market with a population of 23m. Vauxhalls and Opels are the same car, so it costs next to nothing to market them with different badges. It's a totally different situation. The UK is the 2nd largest market in Europe for GME and there's no way they would risk that by suddenly changing the brand. Opel has no reputation in the UK as a 'German' marque like Volkswagen, so there's very little chance of that IMO.
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Dec 13, 2013 14:05:04 GMT
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It is a terrible shame, but unfortunately the world has changed too much for Holden to survive... Still, for the next four years, we'll be producing some of the best large RWD sedans the world has ever seen, especially at the price. It's just a shame that most people would rather have a mid-sized SUV. And there's a reason for Holden's demise, sadly... Yes, but in Holden's defence, Ford Australia went down the path of developing and building a local SUV and that didn't help them at all. The real problem is that there is too much choice available and the already small market is divided up into 400 tiny chunks. Case in point, the best selling car in Australia last month (November 2013) was the Toyota Corolla at 3894 units. Less than four thousand a month!! Even if you could guarantee the Commodore a permanent spot as the #1 best selling car in Australia, 4000 cars a month is not enough to keep the factory open. Even running two model lines, Cruze and Commodore, which are both in the top 10, the total volume is still too low. Last month's VFACTS sales figures for Australia: Top-selling vehicles in November: Vehicle Sales Variance % Toyota Corolla 3894 -7.1% Mazda3 3666 -1.0% Toyota HiLux 3368 +3.0% Hyundai i30 3157 +67.4% Holden Commodore 3097 +16.5% Toyota Camry 2375 -24.5% Ford Ranger 2014 -8.0% Holden Cruze 1846 -12.7% Mitsubishi Triton 1703 +12.6% Mazda CX-5 1700 +3.8% Holden sold a total of 4943 locally-built cars. In 1998, the Commodore was selling 7500 cars a month, without the Cruze. And in case you're wondering, the Ford Falcon managed only 1277 units last month, and the Falcon-based Territory SUV sold 1584 units. Falcon has had several months this year with less than 600 cars sold. I honestly don't know what they actually get the workers to do all day, there's 1200 people in the Ford assembly plant! Sourced from here: www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/story2/886626A6D05A8724CA257C370000EB88
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phil73
Part of things
Posts: 122
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Dec 13, 2013 14:49:29 GMT
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Sad day for Aussie workers. Just because the HQ Monaro was a work of art we'll forgive Holden for the travesties that were the sunbird and the camira. And perhaps the Torana.
Holden never mastered small, cheaper cars. There are only so many big sixes and eights any company will ever sell.
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Amazosan
Part of things
The Stylin', profilin', limousine riding, jet flying, kiss-stealing, wheelin' dealin' son of a gun!
Posts: 188
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Dec 13, 2013 17:12:18 GMT
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Opel has no reputation in the UK as a 'German' marque like Volkswagen, so there's very little chance of that IMO. Arguably it has; it wasn't that long ago that they were selling Mantas, Monzas and Kadetts alongside near-identical Cavaliers, Royales and Astras, yet people still perceived them as a German marque.
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