Ford and Holden on Shaky Ground....(again)

[Monman71]

I bought my first non holden last year, A Mitsubishi triton dual cab, the Colorado was six years behind I was told from my good mate who was the dealer and he sells both, I still use my crewman for work and can't see why they stop that model because they sold heaps.i was behind a VS and VE commodores today and the size is so much different.

[HK1837]

they build a basic omega,SV6,berlina,SS,SSV,and calais as well as small and medium 4cyl and a 4WD what else do you want ? I have an SS torana and it is a nice car to look at but it is terrible to drive.

Something worth buying. A good start would be to look at the biggest seller, the Hilux. And build something as good as it. Then build a ute tradesmen will want: make it a leaf spring cab chassis with optional well back. Then a Camry sized rear wheel drive as a Hybrid, big 4 or small 6 plus a Gen2. Call it a Torana. And sell the Camaro.

[wbute]

Holden are only a pawn in a game of money. They needed to remain relevant to the market and not just rely on government subsidies to survive. GM America no doubt only kept them alive because of these subsidies.

[thatotherguy]

Mid sized cars with good engine choices. Not big family sedans it seems is what we want. Or cars with ground clearance and good visibility. Not big low cars. That's what everyone buys. A commodore is useless to me. I have a wife and 3 kids. Never even considered buying one.

so a WB ute must be ideal for you then ?

[thatotherguy]

I must admit we have a VE calais and it is a big bulky car but we also have a VZ SV6 and it is a great car and feels much lighter to drive too. We tow a 1850 kilo boat and go away a lot so we needed a rear wheel drive and a decent boot as well as towing capacity . GMH need to go back and look at previous sales figures, the VR/VS was a big seller and so was the VT and i think it was because they were a good sized car.

[Taily]

It would be interesting to see that graph in the original link placed against the number of imports (especially Subaru AWDs) and The Ford Territory, which used the Falcon platform on which to build. As someone mentioned, SUV's are the new "four wheel drive" of the school mum set. They buy them for all sorts of reasons such as ANCAP rating, they can seat a soccer team and are supposedly safe. I haven't driven many of them in the last few years apart from a couple of Subarus and a Mitsubishi ASX thingo... If I can be brutally honest - of the ones I have either hired or driven around because a family member owns them - they are deadset attrocious to see out of (massive thick pillars and blind spots etc), couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding and have that god awful single speed gearbox rubbish, fall apart, lurch around like Peter Garret on crack and if they aint leaning - they aint handling... In short, they feel atrocious and dangerous to drive for the most part.

If you plot those sales against the graph I would bet penny to a pound that the Territory was the demise of the falcon (it was actually introduced as a Falcon wagon replacement but I feel it has eaten into the sedan sales as well), and the number of imports of all types would be up due in no small part to the access to massive cheap(er than they used to be now as there is much competition) car carriers eminating from Europe and Asia heading our way.

What can be done? Not much. Australian based vehicle manufacturers are just as much a victim of the "global economy" that governments champion and the Australian market will only hold so many of all units sold per annum....

My wife owned a Mitsubishi 380 which we bought new in 2006. Brilliant, well built, quiet and well thought out car with a reasonable bit of go/stop and handle in it with fuel economy that would drop into the high 7's/low 8's Lt per 100km when on a good freeway. Not perfect for boat towing (FWD - seriously need RWD or AWD for some slippery ramps) but enough power to tow a decent sized fibreglass boat that I own for the most part. I just wish it was either AWD and had around another 40-50KW and I would have traded my own daily driver for one. Ralliart were going to do something before the market slid away to the SUVs and Mitsu pulled the 380. I also had the opportunity to also drive Falcons and Commodores around the time that we owned the Mitsu and I'll be honest the closer one to it was the Falcon. The VE Commodore sedan still had (what felt like) the same chaff cutting harsh sounding V6 that came out in the VNs I used to work on when they were new....

The only way to save the Falcon or the Commodore (in their rear wheek drive forms) is protection of the market through higher import taxes, which of course will never happen as our weak willed spineless pollies wouldn't dare stand-up to the American government bailed out GM or Ford, nor to any other government really.

End of rant...

[HK1837]

Be careful towing over 1600kg with a VZ, if you have a crash insurance may be voided as they are only supposed to tow 1600kg max plus about 150kg towball weight. VE Calais can do 2100kg plus towball. You have to be also careful of GCM of car and trailer. You might find the towing capacity decreases to stay under the GCM as the load of the car increases. As an example some of the dual cab 4x4's with claimed towing capacities of 3t and 3.5t are with an 80kg driver and no passengers or load. As soon as you add passengers, load and towball weight the towing capacity decreases. VZ and VE will be the same.

Also watch the carrying capacity of the car. As an example I just looked in my V2 CV8 owner's manual, and it lists the total recommended load of passengers, luggage and towball load is 326kg. So in this example take off say 150kg towball and you can carry 176kg. That is basically 2 x people, no luggage! VZ will be near enough to the same.

It also says for V2 for towing up to 1600kg:

Essential: 1600kg towbar and electric or hydraulic brakes on trailer over 500kg.
Recommended: load distribution hitch for trailer over 750kg.

[Innuendo]

The point that nobody has risen is that since the Rudd/Gillard government the Aussie dollar has skyrocketed and they have done little to nothing to rectify it.
For the Australian cars to survive the Aussie dollar needs to be back at 0.75 - 0.80 cents to the US dollar. This increases the the price of imports (make them less desirable to the pocket) and deceases the price of exports (Australia sells more of our own products and keeps employment).

But now with most parts being made and purchased offshore Holden would have issues. There is no easy fix and whatever the government, subsidies would have to remain in place as they always have.

It used to be cultural not to want to own "Jap Crap" of a "Womens" car - no longer!

Regards, Smooth

[thatotherguy]

the CV8 has a 1600 towing capacity but the sedans and wagons have 2100,Holden sell towing kits for 2100 kg for VZ and ours has the heavy duty tow kit fitted

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the CV8 has a 1600 towing capacity but the sedans and wagons have 2100,Holden sell towing kits for 2100 kg for VZ and ours has the heavy duty tow kit fitted

[HK1837]

I didn't realise VZ were 2100kg. The same regarding carrying capacity applies though. This has to include the towbal load which is normally about 10% of the trailer total mass.