Keep Holden

[davegmh]

Someone has to buy new or there would be no second hand cars to buy.

[HK1837]

Sorry Hainsy, but I have to disagree with the "Even though taxpayers want australian cars".
If we did, we would be buying them. The fact is we are not.
How many of the 5 Australian built cars (Camry, Territory, Falcon, Commodore and Cruze) are in the top 10 sellers.
There are lots of factors, but I'll just look at the one sentence I've repeted from your post.

We complain about the loss of an icon (and an industry) yet refuse to do the one thing we need to do.
If we wanted Australian cars (that in itself is a loose term) we would stop buying cars from oversees (particularly Thailand and South Africa) and actually buy one of the "Australian" 5.
The governments also need to only buy local.
Having said that by selling off alot of their assets they no longer has the clout to place the orders. And even the cops dont drive Austalian.
As a start the Australian government should provide a blanket order for 100,000 locally made cars over the three manufactures.
No hand outs, just support the industry.

last question for the mysandman people, When was the last time you purchased a new or near new "australian car"?

I want an Australian car but I haven't bought one new since my VY SS ute, or near new since my V2 CV8 in 2004. The reason I won't buy one is they will not build what I want. Simple.
So I bought my 2011 SR5 V6 auto Hilux 4x4 new, and I bought the Mrs a Lexus RX350 sports luxury demonstrator.

[jason.ruff]

My newest car is a 17 year old landcruiser in mint condition, maintained by me. All the rest are 70's holdens. The world is full of consumers buying rubbish nowadays, even Australian cars. My grandparents had 2 cars in their entire life, my parents 4 or 5 in total. I have had about 30 or so and still counting.

[Alien DNA]

2012 Cruze at our place....bought new. Didn't let the mrs buy any other brand. She loves it...so we're still married

[Bigtonkatoy]

We have in total 5 cars all but one is registered a boat and soon an aircraft

[Dr Terry]

How many of the 5 Australian built cars (Camry, Territory, Falcon, Commodore and Cruze) are in the top 10 sellers.

3 of them, Camry, Commodore & Cruze.

The Commodore is usually the best seller of the 3, although for several months last year, Cruze outsold Commodore. Also it's all about the way they count them. If you count Commodores as just Commodores (i.e. sedan, wagon etc.) then they're usually at no. 3 or 4. If you throw in utes & Caprices & add HSVs (which are all Commodores or derivatives) then it would most likely still be our no. 1 seller. So it's a little unfair to say that Holden isn't making cars that we want.

It is interesting to look at what's happened to the car market over the last decade or 2. We now sell over a million vehicles every year, so lack of total sales is not a problem. What is a problem is that the market is so fragmented. Even the top selling car only manages 3,500 sales per month. In the 70s, 80s & 90s the top sellers were doing 8,000 - 9,000 per month. Back in the good old days (1960s) GM-H were selling over 12,500 cars per month!!, all built on one platform. Back then you had the top 5 or 6 cars selling in good numbers & then daylight & everyone else were selling miniscule numbers. These days even no. 15 is a reasonable seller.

I like how people generally want someone or something to blame for the auto industry's demise.

Was it the Government's fault, this one or the last 3 ? Was it the $A ? Was it the GFC ? Was it the unions ? Was the high overall cost of manufacture in Aust. ? Was it bad corporate management ? Was it our fragmented car market ?

Well I reckon it was a combination of all of the above, plus this one.

If you still looking for somebody to blame, have a close look at what is currently parked in your driveway.

I'm the proud owner of over 15 cars (family, historic & my company cars included) & they are all Australian made & almost all Holdens. What about yours ?

Dr Terry

[thatotherguy]

we have a VE Calais,VZ SV6 and a VS acclaim and are considering a VF ute or sportswagon. the only non Holden in our drive way is a 1939 ford hot rod.We often drive past the Holden factory in Elizabeth and look in the employees carpark and play spot the Holden,When i worked for Bridgestone i bought Bridgestone Tyres and believe if you work for a company you should support them. Maybe their cars are too good? in 1972 you bought a HQ and in 5-10 years the old 202 was clapped out and the body was starting to rust and the bench seat was sagging so you went and bought a new model, We bought our VS new in 1996 and it has done over 300000ks and apart from usual wear and tear items the only thing i have replaced is the radiator.

[chrisp]

Dr Terry, I dont know where you got 3 from
The top selling cars in January 2014 were
Mazda 3 -4561
Corolla -2941
Hilux -2544
i30 -2486
Commodore -2364
Focus -2074
CX-5 -1853
Ranger -1617
Golf -1557
ix35 -1496

[Dr Terry]

Dr Terry, I dont know where you got 3 from
The top selling cars in January 2014 were
Mazda 3 -4561
Corolla -2941
Hilux -2544
i30 -2486
Commodore -2364
Focus -2074
CX-5 -1853
Ranger -1617
Golf -1557
ix35 -1496

That is only one (abnormal) month. I was talking for most of the last half of last year. The Jan figures were just released I hadn't seen them yet.

However the numbers you've shown still illustrate my point. Commodore sedan & wagon - 2364 cars, plus utes, plus Caprice plus all HSV, would make it an easy number 2. That 4561 for the Mazda 3 is a runout model at extreme give-away prices.

Dr Terry

[HK1837]

I'm not saying Holden, Ford and Toyota aren't building in general want some people want. Just they don't build what I want/need, hence I didn't buy one for the same reason I wouldn't buy pink flouro workshirts if I needed yellow ones, or I woudln't buy a box trailer if I wanted a car trailer.

For my car I needed a reliable, large but relatively economical petrol engined ute that can easily tow a 2500kg trailer. The closest is the Hilux 4.0L V6, but even that is a compromise as the engine is a litre too small.
For my mrs I wanted a 5 seat, rear or AWD SUV or sedan with decent power that was no bigger in footprint that the V2 CV8 it was replacing, or hopefully slightly smaller. No-one could fulfill this requirement locally either. Lexus RX350 was the logical choice. Commodore or Calais or Falcon are too big. Toyota is FWD. If the Commodore or Calais were the size of a VL or VN with the 6.0L engine that is what i'd have now.