Handsomedan:
I think the saddest thing in all of this is the human element.
There's those in the manufacturing/fitting/dealership side, plus the corporate office people (all of whom are likely to be made redundant) and then of course people who bought brand new or second hand Holdens right up until yesterday with no idea this was coming...plunking down a wad of cash on a new vehicle and then hearing that the brand is no longer, must be quite hard to take, too. Think of the hit on resale after it gets to 3 or 4 years old (new car) or the inevitable "Wouldn't buy a Holden, they're dead" comments on Trademe listings of second hand cars...
Being made redundant is no fun (been through it 4 times) and it's going to hit a lot of people. I think it stinks the way that GM have gone about this, but at the end of the day other brands have ceased to exist and the world has gone on.
Agreed.
However this was inevitable IMO i.e. lack of economies of scale + changing tastes + some below par offerings = poor sales = curtains.
That said I have had my VE SSV for 10 years and have been very happy with it.
Based on that exp I will likely by a VF SS Redline as my last ICE vehicle - one last dinosaur roar if you will. And I am not worried about parts and servicing as there is enough expertise / 2nd had fleet / wrecks to draw from - and I doubt I will hold onto it for 10 years like I have with the VE.
End of era I guess....but as they say the only constant is change.