GM is axing Holden brand, and to stop manufacturing right hand drive vehicles

[Rural53]

       

The Holden brand will disappear at the end of the year after its owner General Motors announced it would no longer make right hand drive cars.

https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/machine/motoring/holden-brand-to-disappear-by-the-end-of-2020/news-story/c81a5e2993f664fc62965ad349601d0e

This is fairly serious news in Australia where the Holden brand is an icon. As a New Zealand motoring commentator says (quoted below), is GM in serious trouble?

There is plenty more to come out of today's announcement from the USA that GM are to stop manufacturing right hand drive vehicles.
I had the news phoned to me while I was driving back from Invercargill and the journalist just said the Holden brand is being discontinued and her question was what does this mean for parts and servicing.
After I picked myself up from the floor of the Nissan and just avoided a crash I thought about it. Initially I thought GM will just give us a selection of Chevrolets or what have you to relace vehicles badged “Holden”. But then I Googled the international story and realised that GM, the global giant, is abandoning us. Not just us, but every right hand drive market in the world. Vauxhall is exempt as it was part of the Opel package bought by Peugeot a year year ago.
This is extraordinary and shows the depths of trouble GM is in.
This probably means Holden NZ will become GM NZ and they surely must become a parts supplier only — unless they farm that out to someone like, say Repco.
It would also appear that Holden dealers will have all sorts of problems. How do they sell the current stock of cars against this sort of news? Where do they find another franchise? There will war over this with all sort of offers and back room deals.
There are two bottom lines here — for the first time since around 1920 in NZ our new car market will be devoid of anything from General Motors.
The other is that General Motors — the biggest company in the world for most of the years from the early thirties until about 2005 or so — is in serious, serious trouble.
Maybe Ford will have the last laugh after all.

[pep]

Maybe it is the return on investment, % of RH drive, USA product population compared with  the foreign crap.

After all GM was America, where we are lefties, when comes to transportation.

Cheers,
pep

[fatfillup]

Almost has to be a ROI decision.

Perhaps another car company will buy and or partner with GM to keep Holden alive.

[goodfellow]

I don't know whether NZ actually has any GM assembly plants, but I do know that it costs too much to manufacture/assemble in Australia -- even Toyota is leaving. There are way too many regulations, union demands, and labor restrictions that it doesn't make sense to manufacture anymore. It's cheaper for these companies to build elsewhere and take a hit on the import duty.

[stokester]

I know the last Pontiac GTO and the Caprice police cruisers were Holdens.  At the Chevy shop we did all the warranty work from one of the local departments.

The cruisers have 6.0L engines if I remember right.

[bmwrd0]

I know the last Pontiac GTO and the Caprice police cruisers were Holdens.  At the Chevy shop we did all the warranty work from one of the local departments.

The cruisers have 6.0L engines if I remember right.

Those Caprice were beasts too. I drove one around a bit when I worked for the cop car company. No one new what it was but it was quick. I did talk to a guy driving one in Portland no too long ago. He loved it.

[Rural53]

I don't know whether NZ actually has any GM assembly plants, but I do know that it costs too much to manufacture/assemble in Australia -- even Toyota is leaving. There are way too many regulations, union demands, and labor restrictions that it doesn't make sense to manufacture anymore. It's cheaper for these companies to build elsewhere and take a hit on the import duty.

No assembly plants of any manufacturer in NZ any more GM closed their last one in 1990 and Ford in 1997.

[slip knot]

I don't have much good to say about GM.

After the fake restructuring they did in 2008? I lost a lot of $$$ in my retirement account and so did a lot of other people who had invested heavily in GM. They can go belly up as far as I'm concerned.

[jabberwoki]

Shit maybe I should but that vintage Monaro now!!

[Elroy]

I know that it costs too much to manufacture/assemble in Australia -- even Toyota is leaving. There are way too many regulations, union demands, and labor restrictions that it doesn't make sense to manufacture anymore. It's cheaper for these companies to build elsewhere and take a hit on the import duty.

It appears obvious to Elroy, that our friends down under need to elect a Trump clone 

[Rural53]

I know that it costs too much to manufacture/assemble in Australia -- even Toyota is leaving. There are way too many regulations, union demands, and labor restrictions that it doesn't make sense to manufacture anymore. It's cheaper for these companies to build elsewhere and take a hit on the import duty.

It appears obvious to Elroy, that our friends down under need to elect a Trump clone 

Even with the tariffs and other protectionism the car industry in Australia enjoyed there was a comment yesterday that every Commodore sold recently was subsidised to the tune of $32,000 by the Aussie taxpayer.