Holden offers fuel at 99 cents per litre
September 2, 2008 by Alborz Fallah
The economics might not make all that much sense on the surface, but given the amount of money and research that goes into developing more fuel efficient cars, perhaps it’s more practical to simply offer cheap fuel instead of making fuel efficient cars? Plus it makes more marketing sense! Right?
No doubt that idea was brought up at one of GM Holden’s marketing seminars. In a revolutionary move to offset the rising cost of fuel, Holden will be capping the price of fuel at 99 cents per litre for all new Holden customers! Yes, that’s not a typo.
The offer only applies to private buyers but includes Holden’s entire range of cars. The only catch? Well there really isn’t one, simply take delivery of any new Holden before the 31st of October and the old General will make sure you only pay 99 cents per litre for 91 RON petrol or diesel for up to 20,000 kilometres or two years, whichever comes first.
“We will provide this cap across all segments to ensure the benefits are as widely available as possible, given that fuel prices impact all drivers regardless of the size of their car, whether you’re buying a Commodore for the family, a Barina as your first car, or a Colorado as tool of trade, we know everyone will appreciate our helping hand.
GM Holden is committed to providing affordable and economical cars to our customers, and this campaign is another way that can be achieved.” Alan Batey, Executive Director of Sales, Marketing and Aftersales said
How does it work? Holden will give all new Holden customers a Holden 99c Fuel Cap debit card to purchase fuel for up to 20,000 kilometres or two years.
The system might sound complicated, but it’s rather simple and clever. Holden will base the litres of fuel purchased and compare it to the vehicle’s ADR081/01 combined fuel consumption figure. So if you purchase 50L of fuel and your ADR fuel rating is 10L/100km, Holden will record 500km.
In most cases within 48 hours after the fuel has been purchased, Holden will debit from the customers nominated bank account to the value of 99 cents per litre purchased.
The benefits of the system are not simply limited cheaper fuel, or that Holden will pay upfront and then take the money later, but also because all accounts can be monitored by a monthly email statement or checked any time online or by phone.
This will allow consumers to see how many litres have been purchased during that month. A sort of online trip computer. Granted it won’t be a very accurate one, but it will allow for a better overall picture of one’s fuel costs. Interested? We are too.
The cars that will benefit the most are the thirstier V8s, Holden has put together a table of all its cars and how many litres each car is entitled to over the two year period. You can find out more about that and the offer in general here.
Given the V8s desire for slightly better than average fuel, we are a little concerned that Holden will somewhat force new V8 owners into using 91 RON fuel to benefit from the scheme.
Will the new offer entice you to go with a Holden? Or perhaps to go with a bigger thirstier engine? Or is it just a clever marketing ploy? And if so, will it work?
Print it: 
I might give it a whirl Bavarian Missile and I’ll let you know how accurate it is!
no matter what the manufacturer, the best deals always come at the end of the month.
thats why the best holden deals were on until saturday.
if they meet certain sales targets by the end of the month, then they get a bonus from the manufacturer.
if they havent sold as many and it is nearing the end of the month, then they will sacrifice more dollars because they know they will get a kick back to cover it.
some people need to understand a bit about life
Nothing wrong with the picture just its intentions! Although equal rights would be good Golfy for the females on the site,shall I count the regulars? ME!
I agree AndrewM I mean look what my bros mate got as a deal when he bought a UTE on Friday? 8 cartons thrown in!
Haha, irony. Nothing like alcohol and cars.
I think this promotion just shows how Holden got their projections wrong. To be fair, they weren’t the only ones to have problems in forecasting future trends. It also highlights how car companies can be so locked into their plans that they are incapable of dynamically changing directions (no pun intended). This leaves them with stop gap strategies to allow them time to catch up with current trends ie. more efficient cars.
Cant be so obvious with pleasing us females visually though,perhaps some in”dick”ation would be nice,perhaps a belly button shot! You know what Im talking about Wheelnut!
My brother got into the 9s Jason on a long run in his VE SS-V Ute when he came down a few weeks ago,bloody brilliant I think although ultimate is close to $2 a litre in the Goldfields.
We have requested the ad to be removed earlier today, still waiting for the update to go through! We don’t like it either.
Cool……….thanks babe!
yep big deals central at end of month.
i got 41K worth of kit for 32K!!!!
golfschwein,
what\’s going on here. My point is this. Put aside the add on\’s you mention.
In one month you can get a car for 5,000 cheaper. Now thats a good deal would you think!! Next month they are offering 1,000 savings on fuel at you but making you pay 4,000 more on the same product.
It just a promo GiftED would say, get over it. Yeh right Will hand over an extra 4 grand to be in on this promo this month.
There are no savings to the buyer for this promotion compared to last month, none at all.. So, what\’s is the point. Is this what a promo is suppose to be all about is\’nt it.
Giving the customer a good deal AND SAVING MONEY!! There is no good deal here, only a price rise back to July prices.
GiftEd,
honestly why would you buy this month?. Why would you pay 5,000 more this month over last to get 1,000 worth of fuel off a holden product.
More better deals coming you say. Friggin good.
Newsflash ..
Everybody hold off.. Based on GiftEd advice suggest all buyers give Holden a miss this month. There are better rip-offs coming like this, next month, where you may save even less. Maybe even pay more for the cars. Thanks mate, will wait till Oct deal comes round.
They cannot have it both ways, either these cars are worth 5,000 more or less, it is they who have set the benchmark on there own pricing here. These prices last month were directly aimed at the FG, nothing less. Not for customers at all. If you bought then you got a good price if they slowed the FG sales down they acheived a thier goal. Now they are asking their customers to fork out another 5 grand again this month over last for the same car. This fuel deal is not worth anything based on this month price of the cars.
Hey golfschwein, I’ve seen those ads on here heaps lately. Who was the Ford Dealer?
Centre Ford, Perth.
I assume that if you wanted to put 98RON in your SS you’d still get the 99cents deal and just pay the difference.
A good marketing tool, would work for some and not others. Once you buy the vehicle then they have you for the services over the next year or two.
Buy new pre-registered cars and save 25% off the bottom line.
SO if i have LPG they will not only be paying for my LPG in full, but paying me around $0.40 credit [brings the total to $0.99]
Wheres the bench-seat/cab-chassis Holden? :-)
Cheers,
F-0
Klaus,
Do you not get the idea of promotions / sales? They are special offers run for a limited time. I can understand if people missed a really good deal, but they do tell people in advance when they are ending.
(BTW – Do you think there won’t be end of year promotions this year to make sure Commodore retains the number one selling spot?)
Oh and btw Klaus, I agree the heavy extras packaging were designed to nobble the impact of the FG. Ford have now responded in kind. It’s called competition.
Again Holden is chasing everyday Joe who knowns little about how much Holden was charging for the same car last month….for many 99c fuel offer will be a good one not realizing that your car will run like crap on 91ron or being charged more for the car itself….I have idea for holden…take the fuel money and invest in some more fuel economical cars.
Greenroom, I take your point about the economy of your Diesel Golf, but surely they are different cars for different markets? Is a buyer really shopping an SS against your car?
Don’t get me wrong, I love the Golf, & have tested a current R32.
2 things about the R32; it hangs on like an Ex-wife, but is disappointingly slower than my SS in a straight line.
Alborz, I’ve also seen 9.5-9.7Litres/100 km on purely highway driving.
That’s nearly 30 mpg from a 6.0 litre V8.
Overall, it’s a good compromise on fuel for me; one I’m prepared to live with.
luv your thinking frugal,don’t know how holden are going to manage that one.maybe a PROPER fuel card,and not this rebate crap system that they have dreamed up.take the discount instead….burt,let me lower myself down a bit for a minute…WHEN A CAMRY HAS A REAR DIFF,AND YOU CAN SIT A 6FT PERSON BEHIND A 6FT DRIVER IN A CAMRY,THEN YOU HAVE A LARGE CAR.CAMRY IS A GOOD CAR,SELL WELL,BUT MOST BLOKES ARE SICK OF THIS B#LLSH#T DRIBBLE FROM THE CARDIGAN BRIDGADE.GO BACK TO THE TOYOTA SITES….
Andrew M – “the concept of this is really no different to toyota offering capped servicing costs is it?? “… if so then its like any other throw in deal any manufacturer puts in e.g. 1000 dollars worth of fuel, free car washes for a whole year, its all to entice the majority, who are not car lovers but usually are money saving orientated.
Burt (& Ernie), you make even an Aurion owner embarrased with your comments, please stick to the topic about discounting.
Anyways would love to see the effects of this as an experiment, especially against the other large cars in its market segment.
What I find amazing about this is why is this suddenly a newsworthy item, not just on CA, but it was also reported on mainstream media.
Nowhere, on any news bulletin did i here about $2000 free fuel with territory, or capped servicing for toyota.
Very nice of the media to give holden such a free advertising plug, for their little advertising gimmick.
Interesting points:
- It is limited to 91 RON and diesel.
-Diesel will probably benefit the most due to high CPL cost.
- Most drivers will be limited by the calculated ADR consumption allowance and won’t get to 20,000 km. If your Omega gets 15 l/100 average because you do all city driving, and Holden recons it should average 10.8 then you’ll only get about 15,000 km out of them.
- And therein lies the biggest scam part of this, it’s actually a calculated maximun number of litres of fuel NOT a set distance travelled.
Err, its a scam depending how you look at it, If I were a Holden fanatic and looking at only buy a v6 commodore regardless, isnt this a better deal than having no discount whatsoever, its not like Holden are cutting costs, selling at a higher price, or something orather to recoup the discount?
Realcars, it’s not like you to be bitter and twisted. What’s going on?
Golfie, it’s not Realcars. Someone has been masquerading as him.
The impersonator has been banned.
Yep well that about the 3 rd time they have done that,will they ever learn?
Geepers some people wreck are great website. When will they stand up straight instead of being hunched over like the neanderthal they are?
Jobber,
dead right,
it is no different to offering free servicing/capped servicing, free fuel/capped fuel, free car washes or what ever……..
whats your point??
sorry, but the way you responded made it seem like you felt i said something to the contrary……….
some people just dont understand “business principles 101″,
and by the uneducated comments i never expect them too either.
are these the same people on here that call it a scam when the super market has ice cream “save $2″ one week, then put the price back up once the promo has ended???
when the promo has ended, holden is entitled to put their price back up.
for all we know holden may have been 3/4 of the way to doing their A*se with last moths deals.
i use to manage a supermarket, and when we had Coke on special for a ripper price, we were actually losing 1c per bottle.
the 2 basic things to remember in retail is…..
High turnover means lower margin
Low turnver means higher margin.
holden was probably able to reduce the prices of their vehicles more last month because they knew they had plenty of stock sitting around to be able to have a higher turnover and hence they could afford a smaller margin
some people need a few points on life
Andrew M
Exactly right, it’s business and marketing principles 101.
Toyota are plastering all over the TV at the moment that their fixed price servicing is the cheapest by any manufacturer.
Wow, sounds great doesn’t it? I wonder how many people have been influenced by this claim and made a purchasing decision because of it?
I also wonder how many people are aware that Toyota advised all their dealers that before each model was included in “fixed price servicing” that the base price of that model was raised by at least $1000.
So every person that purchases a Toyota with “fixed price servicing” has allready pre-paid part of their servicing in the purchase price.
So what does this cost Toyota, exactly the same as it was before. How much do you save with “fixed price servicing”? Nothing – but gee it makes for a great TV ad.
What has this got to do with Holden?
You can rest assured the cost of this scheme is factored into the vehicle pricing ie a rise in the base price – guaranteed.
Business 101; there is no such thing as a free lunch.
It wasn’t me I swear!
Although I must admit I can get a bit bitter and twisted at times Golfie.LOL.
I agree with the no free lunch comment.
I suppose Holden has to get in on the act if they want to hook these customers.
I have always wondered how New Car dealers can justify the servicing charges on modern cars anyway. I mean all that is needed in most cases is an oil change with filter and an inspection to check that nothing is coming off.LOL.
Sorry Andrew, with all the scam tirade before your post it felt that you were taking a stab at so called ’scams’ from other manufacturers.
We can go all the way with this marketing lesson, from this to loyalty programs its all under the marketing bucket, its how businesses do businesses, thats why I kinda feel pity for people being a fanboy or advocating a brand (corporation)
Realcars, no doubt Holden will attract a number of buyers with this deal, question is whether its going to get the numbers they need…
Jobber,
no probs mate.
and in answer to your question will holden get the numbers they need……
they will asses this mid month, and if sales are poor they will run a better promo to pick the months sales up towards the end.
never go into the month with your best deal first.
the idea is to sell as many cars as they can for as much as they can, in the same way the consumers focus is to get as much as they can for as little as they can