Holden is dead

[Dicknose]

GM made the decision to end the Holden brand by the end of the year.

Sounds like they will move sales to the GM name.
But it also means about 600 jobs will go - they were still doing design work in Melbourne.

A bit of a surprise but probably a good move in the longer term - why have a brand when there are no actual cars made by that brand anymore.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-02-17/holden-car-brand-axed-after-160-years-in-australia/11972092

[dodint]

I thought you meant Holden the forum member and felt really bad before I clicked.

[Yobbo NZ]

You also wouldn't believe how many driving their Daewoo/Opel/Vauxhall rebadged Holden, have no idea they're driving an import either.
One older lady once, when I had to fix something on her Astra, made a comment about seeing so many of them in Europe badged as an Opel....
I wanted to slap her.
Even the apprentice at work didn't believe me the Holden Captiva he was working on was actually a Daewoo.
Shows how strong the brand name is here, but how blind the average consumer was to the product they were selling.

[FaultyMario]

I thought you meant Holden the forum member and felt really bad before I clicked.

Fuck that noise. My heart skipped a beat.

[Dicknose]

Yet here the number of Chev badged Holdens!!

Ok so some more news is out - seems GM is planning on getting out of all RHD markets. Article says that is Aus, NZ and Thailand.
So I was thinking - what about the UK and Opel?
Quick google and found out that Opel isnt under GM, they were sold to PSA (peugeot, citroen) in 2017. Wow that somehow skipped my awareness.

They might still bring in some specialty cars - Camaro and Corvette. Guessing these will be sold at HSV dealers (if they can survive just with these - most are Holden dealers with a section for HSV)

[JoshInKC]

Wow, I missed the Opel news as well.

[Yw-slayer]

VX220 for life!!!

[Rare White Ape]

Yep so HSV is being renamed to GMSV, and they’ll continue to do RHD conversions for Camaros being sold here, plus they’ll likely look after the import and sale of C8 Corvettes, which were engineered to be built in RHD at the factory in America. Still no word on where and how they’ll be sold, but I suspect certain car dealerships will sell Camaros and Vettes alongside other brands.

We are one of the last RHD markets for GM; they’ve already pulled out of almost all of the other regions, killing Vauxhall along the way.

I wonder what is causing GM to do this. Is it because they’ve been haemorrhaging money for the last 10 years? A poor lineup of shit cars that fail to grab people’s attention? Bad management decisions? Too much on their plate and need to consolidate? The Bob Lutz era was great until they chose to suck the excitement out of their range.

[The359]

Interestingly, Opel/Vauxhall being sold to PSA, and PSA now merging with FIAT, means that Chrysler is together with Opel.

[Rare White Ape]

What a wicked web of deceit they weave!

[IMOA]

Just to be clear, GM aren't ending just Holden, they are ending all RHD production so there will be no GM brands/vehicles etc in any RHD countries.

[Dicknose]

Just to be clear, GM aren't ending just Holden, they are ending all RHD production so there will be no GM brands/vehicles etc in any RHD countries.

But reports said that was just Australia, NZ and Thailand.
I can see why you wouldnt bother with just those markets.

I guess they dont sell into Japan, India, South Africa...

[Yobbo NZ]

The last Chev RHD "imports" from Japan into NZ when I worked in that side of things were the lovely Toyota/Chevy Cavalier and Chevy Blazer.
Foreign vehicles in Japan were more of a novelty than anything and usually ended up in NZ.

[IMOA]

But reports said that was just Australia, NZ and Thailand.
I can see why you wouldnt bother with just those markets.

I guess they dont sell into Japan, India, South Africa...

No, they stopped selling in those markets a few years ago. You can see why they're ditching the whole RHD thing once Vauxhal/Opel was sold