Holden Colorado top-spec models driving high profit margins
While Holden's sales were down in 2016, it's a high-end product mix driving Holden's net sales revenue in the Holden Colorado range.
Holden's new Colorado, launched in 2016, signalled a new, focussed direction for the company. Australian ride-and-handling tuning, along with competitive pricing and features is now leading the way for rich margins on high-end Colorado sales.
Speaking with the media at the 2017 Detroit motor show, Stefan Jacoby, executive vice president and president of General Motors International, said it's not about sales numbers, it's all about profit share.
"I wouldn't say we are not ramping up Colorado volume. It needs more evidence and presence on the road, it can't ramp up from one night to the other. What is a true evidence of us doing the right thing first of all, is a net sales increase each week. So we are selling at a much higher price point, maybe that's more important than selling every vehicle we can get," Jacoby said.
"We are selling much more LTZs than ever before, much more SS-Vs than ever before. This is much more successful for us than just ramping up volume."
In fact, Holden is so keen to sell higher-end Colorado variants that it's willing to forego fleet buyers in the hunt for high-end sales.
"I'd rather sell an LTZ than the LT for some fleet customers. I'd rather have quality in my business and the right customer experience. Over the last 18 months we have really focussed on quality and made big improvements. Today we build the best Commodores with respect to quality."
While it is rewarding to sell high-margin models, Holden will lose a significant share of Australian sales when local Commodore production ends in 2017. That gap will need to be filled with cars and aiming to snag low volumes of high-margin cars will only work for so long.
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