Comments on: GM Holden not for sale – spokesman

By: swampdawg

swampdawg — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:59:10 +0000

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.

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:52:53 +0000

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.

By: Limited Slip

Limited Slip — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:11:33 +0000

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……..

By: topdog

topdog — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:37:50 +0000

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

By: Andrew M

Andrew M — Thu, 07 May 2009 11:04:19 +0000

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

By: mazdaman

mazdaman — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:54:45 +0000

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.

By: Shak

Shak — Thu, 07 May 2009 10:41:11 +0000

This may be a gud thing for holden as their new masters would have the money to invest in new techs for holden.

By: Theo

Theo — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:46:35 +0000

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.

By: The Salesman Kung Fu Fighting

The Salesman Kung Fu Fighting — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:11:29 +0000

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.

By: The Salesman

The Salesman — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:07:46 +0000

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!!!!!!!

By: The Realist

The Realist — Thu, 07 May 2009 00:05:19 +0000

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…

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:32:57 +0000

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.

By: AWD

AWD — Wed, 06 May 2009 23:17:02 +0000

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.

By: AWD

AWD — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:25:21 +0000

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?

By: eh179driver

eh179driver — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:21:37 +0000

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.

By: Roddy

Roddy — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:31:46 +0000

Specifically, why shouldn’t Holden last?

By: Alex

Alex — Wed, 06 May 2009 16:38:57 +0000

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.

By: SamR

SamR — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:56:52 +0000

The Chinese have plenty of money and GM has none.

Looks possible to me.

It could happen, maybe.

By: RoFlmaTiC

RoFlmaTiC — Wed, 06 May 2009 15:01:45 +0000

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 ^_^

By: Cupid Stunt

Cupid Stunt — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:45:26 +0000

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!!