GM Holden not for sale – spokesman
May 6, 2009 by David Twomey
GM Holden is not for sale nor is any sale being entertained, Holden spokesman, Scott Whiffin, told CarAdvice today.
Responding to “highly speculative” claims by one media outlet that GM Holden would “probably” be sold to Chinese interests, Mr Whiffin said this was definitely not the case.
Self-styled automotive media expert and publisher of the New Zealand based Dog and Lemon Guide, Clive Matthew-Wilson, has claimed that a Chinese takeover of Holden “was a real possibility.”
“All of this looks just a little bit like self-promotion thinly disguised as complete speculation,” Mr Whiffin told CarAdvice.
“Let’s just deal with the facts – the fact is that GM is going through a process of reinvention that will see it emerge alive and well as a much leaner, more customer-focused and customer-responsive organisation.”
“In terms of Holden, what GM has said is that we are a viable, valuable and important part of its global picture. So to the answer to the question is Holden about to be sold off to the Chinese or anybody else – the answer is no,” Mr Whiffin added.
CarAdvice believes that only in the absolutely worst case scenario would Gm seek to sel off Holden, which has valuable Research and Development facilities that will be utilised by its ultimately restructured Detroit-based parent.
Seeking to make the situation absolutely clear Mr Whiffin said, “And to the question are there even discussions about selling off Holden or offering some kind of a stake a third party – no.”
Mr Matthew-Wilson, who styles himself as an internationally recognised expert on cars, said in a media release today that speculation that Holden will be sold to a Chinese company was valid, but this would not save Australian jobs.
“What the Chinese want is the dealers and the technology. The Holden Commodore would make an ideal vehicle to sell from China to America, and the Chinese could probably retail it for around 30 per cent cheaper than a Commodore built in Australia.”
“If the Chinese take over Holden, there will probably be a lot of assurances made about keeping the Australian plants going, but these will be largely empty promises.
“From day one the Chinese will start building a Holden plant in China and after a couple of years they’ll quietly close down their Australian assembly operation, leaving just a small research and development team behind,” Mr Matthews-Wilson said.
There is little to support his claims and Mr Matthew-Wilson has made similar claims, with little or no supporting evidence, in the past.
Chinese carmaker Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, which assembles and sells GM cars in China, would be the most likely company to buy Holden.
But Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar said it was premature to speculate about the future of Holden.
“These sorts of suggestion are completely premature and are not something we’d want to be drawn into,” McKellar said.
“It’s all in the area of total speculation,” he added.
Print it: 
Oh great this little s**t stirrer is back. Pulling something out of his backside again.
So they’d rather go down kicking and screaming then? If they are not for sale then what is the plan when GM goes bankrupt? It may take a while, it might take ten years but GM will go bankrupt at some point. If they don’t it’ll be a miracle. Where will that leave Holden? They probably aren’t sustainable on their own.
Can someone pass the crystal ball around…………apparently some of you can see into the future!
GM will go bankrupt in the very near future. If I were Holden I would be very nervous jndeed. It wont matter if GM have said Holden are safe because as we all know when the dust settles things may very very well look different. Holden may survive but only as a Daewoo rebadging company.
This Wilson bloke is an idiot pure speculation but of Corse Holdens man Scott Whiffin is bound to say what he did.
Crystal Balls BM – Could see that coming!!
It’s probably just as silly to claim Holden is DEFINITELY not for sale as it is to suggest that it could be.
The articles I read say that Ian Porter was the guy making these claims;
“Italian carmaker Fiat is negotiating with GM to buy Opel and Vauxhall.
With GM in a parlous financial state and relying on US government financing to stay afloat, Ian Porter, a car industry watcher with goauto.com.au, said Holden also could be sold.
GM is teetering on the brink of extinction and it could fall over and evaporate,” Mr Porter said.
There’s nothing safe or secure about GM.
Anything is possible when you continue in such a parlous state”
Oh and hi BM, studies are going well, hope you’re good yourself ^_^
The Chinese have plenty of money and GM has none.
Looks possible to me.
It could happen, maybe.
Limited Slip, the thing is that Holden probably are very nervous. They’d never admit though because “Holden and Australians are tougher”! They’re basing they’re future on a mid sized car that probably won’t beat the Focus which will most likely become a favourite in Australia once it’s being built here. I really doubt that they’ll last.
Specifically, why shouldn’t Holden last?
Have not been onto Caradvice for a week or so, but its good to see that the humor continues. Limited slip and Alex, you guys crack me up.
Alex Says:
May 6th, 2009 at 10:50 pm
So they’d rather go down kicking and screaming then? If they are not for sale then what is the plan when GM goes bankrupt? It may take a while, it might take ten years but GM will go bankrupt at some point. If they don’t it’ll be a miracle. Where will that leave Holden? They probably aren’t sustainable on their own.
Yeah mate. Toyota might go bankrupt in 10 years as well!!!
Limited Slip Says:
May 6th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
GM will go bankrupt in the very near future. If I were Holden I would be very nervous jndeed. It wont matter if GM have said Holden are safe because as we all know when the dust settles things may very very well look different. Holden may survive but only as a Daewoo rebadging company.
Where do you pull all of this from mate???? So you have a chrystal ball Limited?? GM may go into Chapter 11 (as has Chrysler) but that is a very different thing to bankruptcy. Maybe you might like to read up on C11 on the net. But how does that affect Holden? How do you know Holden arn’t making a profit? If you want to find out more, read their financials (they are available) and you will see that up to Sept 08 they were making a good healthy profit and then came the GFC. Since then they have reduced staff and shifts and for all we know may well be in the black again. Until we know, stop with the stupid comments.
Roddy…….GM and Holden have no money, their rear drive platforms are almost obsolete, they have the worst car in each class,they are basically a Daewoo import company and they lose money……..why would they survive?
eh179driver…..you are wrong….Holden havent made a profit for years and are only still here because of Government handouts…….when GM go its bye bye Holden.
Alex, I think the sentiment that the Focus will be a great car when built locally rings loud and true, however it is such a shame that Ford dropped the Laser nameplate. Especially in that class, names are a very important selling tool and so far Focus has not made a great sales impact on the market as it deserves.
On a more on-topic note, whichever way this news is going, I am sick of hearing about Clive of the Dog & Lemon Guide, I’ve read bits of his book before all of these “press releases” and think that he is pretentious writer. While some of the facts in his book ring true, it seems that alot of his writing is of bias and personal preference and not on a vehicle’s merit or lack thereof.
Perhaps TATA may be the life saver for Holden.
Holden need to survey their key demographics of St Marys and Macquarie Fields to ask residents if they’d prefer Chinese or Indian masters…
Makes sense Holden are already a Korean car company, almost. Barina, Viva, Epica are from Korea. Captiva is from Thailand. Only Commodore is manufactured here and those sales are declining to the point were they will, for the first time since the late 70’s early 80’s manufacture a four in Australia. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Chinese kids who will work in the new Holden Factory are about to graduate from high school. How does the Holden Grasshopper series two sound to you? Or the jackie Chan signiture series? Of course I hope I am wrong. But if you take off your red lion glasses you can see Holden has steadily declined and is loosing ground to the point were they are shutting down production days. Solution, make a more diverse range of cars here. Do what ever it takes to make it happen and keep jobs in Australia. NOW!!!!!!!
Makes sense, Holden are already a Korean car company, almost. Barina, Viva, Epica are from Korea. Captiva is from Thailand. Only Commodore is manufactured here and those sales are declining to the point were they will, for the first time since the late 70’s early 80’s manufacture a four in Australia. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Chinese kids who will work in the new Holden Factory are about to graduate from high school. How does the Holden Grasshopper series two sound to you? Of course I hope I am wrong. But if you take off your red lion glasses you can see Holden has steadily declined and is loosing ground to the point were they are shutting down production days. Solution, make a more diverse range of cars here. Do what ever it takes to make it happen and keep jobs in Australia.
The way I see it Clive Matthew-Wilson is a waste of sperm. And I would be saying this if his story was about either Holden or Ford. People working for these companies have enough on their plate, little alone worry what some twat is saying.
This may be a gud thing for holden as their new masters would have the money to invest in new techs for holden.
maybe someone should go out and buy a copy of this fools book so he will stop making up BS to get get publicity.
While he may hate EVERY car made in Australia, I as an Australian hope our car industry does survive, but it obviously needs exports to do so.
Andrew,
I agree on ford dropping the small car ball when they dropped the “Laser” name plate.
Sure it was a great move as the focus is a great car and a #1 seller in europe, but when it was delivered to OZ, everyone was what the “F” is a focus?????
No problem that they switched to the Focus, but perhaps a bit of holden like expertise in badge engineering it into a Laser would have seen a better sales result.
Nissan did the same by dropping the Pulsar nameplate.
The Pulsar was becoming another aussie favourite until they dropped it leaving the public saying what the “F” is a Tiida and how do I pronounce it????
Both Ford and Nissan handed a large chunk of market share to the Corolla by not keeping with familiar name plates
who realy cares who buys holden so long as thay still survive.I mean most of there cars are dawooes any way so what would be the dif who buys it
GM just posted a FIRST QUARTER LOSS of 6 BILLION DOLLARS ………….just the First Quarter………now everyone tell me that they wont go into bankrupcy !!! How can they ever hope to survive like that? Another nail in Holdens coffin me thinks……..
Just read that Limited Slip, truly staggering loses. Every performance metric is just tanking, profit, revenue, market share, cash burn-through. Does seem hard to see how even if the bankruptcy proceedings go to plan and they shed huge swaths of dealers and debt that they will come out viable.
I do think the best option is if SAIC invests heavily into Holden. I thought that with their part ownership of GM Daewoo Holden could just hypothetically cut away Commodore and remain as a Daewoo reseller, but even GM Daewoo is on the ropes, having posted yet another loss and > 50% revenue decline. You might not agree with this Matthew-Wilson fella, but you need very rose tinted glasses to look at GM’s finances and see a happy ending for Holden.
Hmmm, sounds like the Lion could be a dead kitten in a few years.
Wait until about two years time when fuel (as predicted) goes back to or near two bucks per litre. That will shake out a few more problems.