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driller2000
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  #2422869 18-Feb-2020 08:37
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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.

 

 


 
 
 
 

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richms
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  #2423000 18-Feb-2020 09:48
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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...

 

 

Been clear that its been coming tho, hence their terrible sales figures that have only accelerated it. Holden were not trying, speeding up their demise.





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MikeB4
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  #2423020 18-Feb-2020 10:26
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Over the years I have owned many many Holdens from Kingswoods to Commodores and one absolutely dreadful piece of garbage a Captiva. My Last Holden was a VF Commodore which I had very mixed feelings about and flicked it after 12 months. The Holden product has deteriorated of the the last decade with poor engineering, very questionable reliability, terrible customer support, a woeful dealer network. Frankly I am surprised the death throws were for so long. I feel for the staff who will lose their lively hoods. Their fleet was from a time past and with no EVs or Hybrids in their inventory they seemed to be sellers of Dinosaurs and unable to move with the times or could not recognise the trend. Thanks more some good, bad and terrible memories GMH.




rb99
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  #2423023 18-Feb-2020 10:32
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Bung: Third of population and quarter of roads looks like it came from a Wikipedia article that used LHTraffic & RHT for roads and LHD & RHD for vehicles.

 

Yes I did get it wrong and yes I did pinch it from Wikipedia. I think I actually had it right then changed it. Story of my life...





“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

 

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  #2423364 18-Feb-2020 17:37
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We never had Holden in the UK - but many of the cars shared common shapes with Vauxhall/Opel.

 

 

 

Vauxhall/Opel was flogged to the Chinese recently though so they already exited  the market in that sense.






rb99
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  #2423405 18-Feb-2020 17:43
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Vauxhall/Opel was flogged to Peugeot I think. But I'm probably wrong again.





“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

 

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robjg63
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  #2423417 18-Feb-2020 18:24
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rb99:

Vauxhall/Opel was flogged to Peugeot I think. But I'm probably wrong again.


Nope. You are absolutely correct. Apparently PSA turned it from loss maker under GM to a profit of $587 million US within 12 months.
That probably just speaks volumes for the GM management ability. Don't forget they also went bust and required some pretty big loans from the US government a few years ago. To give them credit they did pay it back ahead of time.




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CYaBro
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  #2423421 18-Feb-2020 18:31
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Warning: NSFW!





Opinions are my own and not the views of my employer.


jpoc
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  #2423437 18-Feb-2020 19:27
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Bung: Scott3 is following rb99's mistake. NZ & Aus RHD, US LHD.

A decision based on which side of the car the driver sits is strange in an era where other car manufacturers can build cars to customer specification on the same assembly line. Gone are the days of the paint shop only doing one colour at a time.

 

The dash moulding and the floorpan/firewall have to be different. The tools to mold the dash and stamp the floorpan/firewall are, I have been told, the two most expensive tools to produce for a modern car. 


rb99
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  #2423440 18-Feb-2020 19:36
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Simple solution - steering wheel in the middle, works for MacLaren.

 

Geez, I really should charge for this kind of quality advice...





“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

 

rb99


richms
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  #2423441 18-Feb-2020 19:40
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jpoc:

 

Bung: Scott3 is following rb99's mistake. NZ & Aus RHD, US LHD.

A decision based on which side of the car the driver sits is strange in an era where other car manufacturers can build cars to customer specification on the same assembly line. Gone are the days of the paint shop only doing one colour at a time.

 

The dash moulding and the floorpan/firewall have to be different. The tools to mold the dash and stamp the floorpan/firewall are, I have been told, the two most expensive tools to produce for a modern car. 

 

 

And they wear and need replacing, they dont just make one of the things that do those molding. Well if you only manage to sell 2000 cars in a year then 1 would be plenty I guess....





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rb99
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  #2423442 18-Feb-2020 19:41
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robjg63:
rb99:

 

Vauxhall/Opel was flogged to Peugeot I think. But I'm probably wrong again.

 


Nope. You are absolutely correct. Apparently PSA turned it from loss maker under GM to a profit of $587 million US within 12 months.
That probably just speaks volumes for the GM management ability. Don't forget they also went bust and required some pretty big loans from the US government a few years ago. To give them credit they did pay it back ahead of time.

 

True. Saab didn't do too well out of their GM encounter...

 

Also, be interesting to see what happens to Vauxhalls UK car plants now Peugeot have them. Everyone wondered if they'd last under GM, now its the same under PSA.





“The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.” -John Kenneth Galbraith

 

rb99


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  #2423443 18-Feb-2020 19:42
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wow totally didn't see this coming, we all know some die hard holden fanboys. it's like waking up to a zombie apocalypse. bye bye holden. but i actually don't miss their lousy cars lol.


eracode
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  #2423461 18-Feb-2020 19:50
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@Handsomedan Quote - snip:  “I think it stinks the way that GM have gone about this ...”.

 

How do think they could or should have handled it? (serious question)





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jpoc
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  #2423470 18-Feb-2020 20:13
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WyleECoyoteNZ: To be honest, the writing was on the wall when Commodore was declared dead last year.

Every other vehicle in the range is a rebadged Chevrolet or GMC

 

I thought that the last Commodore was a rebadged Opel/Vauxhall. Indeed, I think that at the end, the entire Holden range was of that provenance. Often very similar to various GM North America products but only available here because RHD models were produced for the UK /Irish markets.

 

 


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