It was only recently that Holden was properly dragged behind the building and shot in the temple, but ask most Australians and the proper answer to “When did Holden die?” would be 2017, when the RWD Commodore was killed off and replaced with a rebadged Opel Insignia. You want to know how dead Holden really was at that point? Sales all but flatlined. Instead of having a home-grown machine with proper power, Aussie-friendly proportions and the model selection that loyal buyers had wanted all along, they were now being fed a mix of American and Thailand-produced GM rebadges with one Euro model thrown in as icing on a cake that sure as hell wasn’t made of chocolate. The fans spoke with their money…by not spending it on any newer Holden models.
We’ve lamented the loss of Holden ever since it was crystal-clear that Australian production was going to be flushed down the toilet. We’ve driven the exported models for ourselves. The Chevrolet SS was a riot to drive for such a buttoned-down, mature sedan. Anybody who claims that the Monaro-based GTO was “boring” must not have driven one properly, because I did…and had to pay a dealership for a set of tires before being told to not return. I’ve had friends with G8s who adored them, and if I had free cash laying around I must admit, a Caprice PPV is a tempting option. And a lot of gearheads agree. So how in the hell did all of that positivity fail? Donut Media’s Nolan takes a swipe at the question to see if he can come up with a proper answer:
Who cares. It seems GM has no leadership and vision. Question is, do you really want to be on a ventilator made by GM?
Having just returned from Oz a few weeks ago, (quarantine: done!), I have to say that the Commodore SS’s are some of the most wicked cool cars on the planet. If these had been imported to North America and marketed properly I would like to think that they would have sold very well. However, I can see how they would have hammered Camaro sales, and possibly bruised Corvette as well. The final models of Commodores are a beautifully balanced design, big brakes, big wheels, four-door sedans with 6.2LS engines and 6-speed manual transmissions, and the interiors are exceptionally nice. The car industry is brutal of course, and GM has to protect itself, but would, say Porsche or even Toyota, (using these simply as benchmarks), have pulled such a clunky, classless butchery of its assets? Perhaps, pure conjecture by me, but the truth is, GM has a rich history of this kind of incompetence. It’s an ingrained culture of stupid, azz-covering, pussyfooters, where the only real innovation has come from inspired types from within who have broken from company policy and slipped something out the back door. Instead of envisioning a truly brilliant and inspired plan to save or reinvent Holden, GM fell back on its 1950’s slash and burn strategies of cutting off its limbs to save its fat gut. Rant complete.
There isn’t enough virtual ink to describe why Holden had to die. The story is similar to Pontiac though, in that many of the die hard supporters and fans hadn’t bought one in years, arguing anything fitted with an LS was just a rebadged Chev, or whatever. Then there is the small cars; Holden’s local response was to import a bunch of sub-par Daewoos and advertise “hey look, we have cheap Korean made s**tboxes as well!” Except, while nobody was looking the likes of Hyundai and Kia started to make half decent small cars that sold on virtues other than price.
But the short of it is that for whatever reason, the car that meant so much to Australians of the 1950s just didn’t matter to the Australia of 20-teens. And I’m partly to blame-I’ve had two locally manufactured Holdens in my garage, the newest one built in 1985.
It was such a heart felt loss when Holden shut down manufacturing in Adelaide, as the company I worked for, made many parts for a lot of the makes and models . My brothers only job was firstly GMH at Woodville, the transferred to Elizabeth, before Woodville closed.
Almost every car I ever owned was a Holden, from the FC, FB , and my favourite EJ, then the HT Panel Van. The the first of the Statesmans, my HQ , then the VL Commodore Mock Brock, and my final car is the VS Statesman 308. The last of the Australian made motors, which is why I love this V8.
I did buy a VZ commodore for 1 Dollar, but I had to fix it, so it is a spare in the back yard. Pffft V6