Holden axes Commodore

jack_christie

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Holden axes Commodore range to focus on SUVs

Two years since Holden ended its Australian manufacturing operations, the company on Tuesday quietly revealed the Commodore would be discontinued in 2020, along with the once-popular Astra.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12...commodore-from-2020/11786056?section=business

https://www.caradvice.com.au/812953/holden-commodore-decline/

https://www.speedcafe.com/torquecafe/holden-kills-the-commodore/

The Holden Commodore (ZB) is a Full sized car produced by former GM subsidiary Opel (currently owned by Groupe PSA) in Rüsselsheim, Germany, released in February 2018.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel_Insignia#Holden_Commodore_(ZB)

Seems like Holden is another GM brand being run into the ground.

In March 2017, Groupe PSA agreed to buy Opel. In the 2018 financial year, Opel achieved an operating income of 859 € million. It is the first positive income since 1999.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opel#Sale_to_Groupe_PSA

Maybe GM should sell Holden to someone who can run it.
 
Not exactly a surprise. Sedans and estates are being killed off left and right to make room for their Crossover counterparts.
 
FUCK YOU GM.
 
I am up to almost 40k miles on my SS, the last real Commodores really were great cars it is a shame they screwed the pooch so bad getting the word out not just in this country but down under as well.

I always find it funny when a car is taken off the market all the fan boys come out bitching and screaming maybe instead of sitting on their asses they should have bought one.

The real sad thing is when you drive your Aussie built car to TWO Australia day celebrations with full Holden badges and no one says a word yet Texans in traffic give thumbs up and say go Holden.......

What is funny the about this situation are the alternatives from GM that have effectively replaced the OG Commodore. The Silverado/Canyon (effectively replaced the UTE) and Camaro (Holdens only performance vehicle at the moment) which are all priced through the roof compared to the Utes, SS V redline and HSV versions. I find it interesting HSV had to bring in THREE models from the States to replace one model with two variants and you get less practicality with the Camaro vs. the Commodore and for sure the HSV versions. For most in the country the UTE version of the Commodore offered more than enough payload for what they used them for so the Silverado and Canyon are extreme over kill.
 
4WD option

Still FailWD biased and based, I've driven one (a Buick Regal GS AWD) and it was disappointing. The rear end cannot be stepped out if desired and considering that the Commodore has long been associated with hooning, that's a biiiiig fail.

Basically GM replaced a mediocre sirloin steak with a tofu burger (that is obviously tofu) and then wondered why all their customers left.
 
The thing is, I don't think it would have made any difference if everyone came out in droves to buy SSes. It was a limited run to begin with, and IIRC, they all sold.

GM killed Pontiac two years (if that?) into the G8 being available and 4 years of "GTO." Then they brought the "Caprice" over as a commercial only vehicle for a few years in a market dominated by the Charger.

I can't think of any logical reason why GM would leave money sitting on the table by so poorly mismanaging Holden's US presence. Yes, we have the Camaro, but that'll be dead soon too.
 
The thing is, I don't think it would have made any difference if everyone came out in droves to buy SSes. It was a limited run to begin with, and IIRC, they all sold.

GM killed Pontiac two years (if that?) into the G8 being available and 4 years of "GTO." Then they brought the "Caprice" over as a commercial only vehicle for a few years in a market dominated by the Charger.

It wasn't even commercial only - it was police only. Shortly after they introduced it, they banned sales to civilians of any kind. Which was a mistake - what they should have done is looked at the surprising demand for their $35K RWD sedan and just opened sales up. I think it would have sold rather well to fleets and the general public. Better yet, just replace the Impala (which few were buying) with what was being sold as the Caprice.

I can't think of any logical reason why GM would leave money sitting on the table by so poorly mismanaging Holden's US presence. Yes, we have the Camaro, but that'll be dead soon too.

Don't forget that GM is still infested with a (currently decreasing) number of idiots who are radical irrational Not Invented Here zealots, who sabotage projects brought in from overseas divisions when they can. Also, GM is seemingly run by idiots in general - remember, these are the same idiots that decided they didn't want a guaranteed 100-250K fleet sales per year when they killed off the B-body entirely in 1996.
 
SS and Caprice sales wouldn't have done anything to help keep the plant open doubling SS production from 14-17 would have put them just under 30k cars. They needed domestic sales in Aussieville and the population basically abandoned the Falcon and Commodore for econo boxes from Asia. Had they made better econo boxes would that have helped offset the lower sales of the performance sedans? Bringing over the Silverado, Canyon and Camaro is not doing anything except making Holden/HSV look even worse when you look at their price tags.
 
SS and Caprice sales wouldn't have done anything to help keep the plant open doubling SS production from 14-17 would have put them just under 30k cars. They needed domestic sales in Aussieville and the population basically abandoned the Falcon and Commodore for econo boxes from Asia. Had they made better econo boxes would that have helped offset the lower sales of the performance sedans? Bringing over the Silverado, Canyon and Camaro is not doing anything except making Holden/HSV look even worse when you look at their price tags.

1. See the part in my post above about replacing the Impala. GM could have moved the tooling over just fine and would have sold way more in North America than they did in .au. obviating the need for .au sales.

2. There are reasons the Aussie population stopped buying the Commodore. As our very own Australian, Misrabelle, pointed out:

img_0891-jpg.3555267

"Behold the Commodore in its natural habitat." - Misrabelle, Dallas 2019

:p
 
I don't think it would be so easy to build sales just by moving tooling. The market is moving towards economy cars and CUVs - big sedans like the Taurus and Impala simply are not selling. This community is not a representation of the population at large, most people buy a car the way we buy a refrigerator; we are not interested in the passion and user experience of the fridge, we just want a box that makes cold things. Most people just want a box that takes them places and is unoffensive to look at.
 
I don't think it would be so easy to build sales just by moving tooling. The market is moving towards economy cars and CUVs - big sedans like the Taurus and Impala simply are not selling. This community is not a representation of the population at large, most people buy a car the way we buy a refrigerator; we are not interested in the passion and user experience of the fridge, we just want a box that makes cold things. Most people just want a box that takes them places and is unoffensive to look at.

They're not selling now, but back in 2011? There were a lot more buyers and the CUV hadn't taken over yet. Remember all the people bemoaning the loss of the Crown Vic in 2011? Producing the things in North America would have cut down on costs to the NA market, too.
 
They're not selling now, but back in 2011? There were a lot more buyers and the CUV hadn't taken over yet. Remember all the people bemoaning the loss of the Crown Vic in 2011? Producing the things in North America would have cut down on costs to the NA market, too.

Also they make more profit on SUV's and trucks, so they kill off everthing else or move production to lower cost countries
 
Also they make more profit on SUV's and trucks, so they kill off everthing else or move production to lower cost countries

Doesn't seem to be stopping Hyundai/Kia, Toyota, or Nissan from building similarly priced mid to large sedans in the US and selling quite a few of them.
 
By 2011 the crossover was fast gaining ground, to go back to a pre-crossover/SUV dominance means turning back to the early/mid 1990s. Hyundai/Kia, Toyota, and Nissan are the remainders of a once crowded market - and Nissan isn't doing so great. Even Hyundai/Kia is slinging far more ecoboxes and crossovers than they are sedans.
 
By 2011 the crossover was fast gaining ground, to go back to a pre-crossover/SUV dominance means turning back to the early/mid 1990s. Hyundai/Kia, Toyota, and Nissan are the remainders of a once crowded market - and Nissan isn't doing so great. Even Hyundai/Kia is slinging far more ecoboxes and crossovers than they are sedans.

The ecobox market in the US isn't that great, though - look at Ford discontinuing all of their ecoboxen due to lack of sales, look at the tanking sales of the Accent, the Versa and the Yaris. Nissan's problems are more due to mismanagement and less due to product.
 
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