GM Pulls Pin On Australia

Not to worry. For all the cars they sell, they are irrelevant.

A very unflattering article regarding Holden’s motor vehicle manufacturing history in Australia.

It reminded me of the crisis in 1975 when the Whitlam Government increased the wholesale sales tax on passenger vehicles to 27.5%, and sales went dead in the water.

GMH went ballistic and threatened to retrench many workers, some 16,000 from memory, and Whitlam & Co hit the panic button, dropping the tax to 15%, and vehicle sales took off again.

An amusing cartoon appeared in the newspapers featuring an American fat cat smoking a huge cigar whilst sitting behind a desk bigger than my office in a room about half the size of our house and with a little Whitlam standing in front of the desk.

The caption read “The door’s behind you, Sonny”.

I searched for information on the crisis and found this link to Hansard from early 1975.

http://historichansard.net/hofreps/1975/19750305_reps_29_hor93/

If you click on “View PDF” and download it, then use “Ctrl + F” and search “Holden", you will get 18 results.

Page 1097 outlines the history of GMH in Australia and shows them as having been nothing more than a bunch of carpetbaggers.

Meanwhile, without GM and their ilk, some sections of vehicle manufacturing in Australia are actually doing quite nicely.

A very different and unflattering view of the history of both Ford and GM on the world stage.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/daily/nov98/nazicars30.htm

The Washington Post article from 1998 has a polite summary of the positioning by both Multinationals preceding, during and post WW2.

Prior to the commencement of WW2 Ford and GM controlled 70% of the German car industry. Prior to the USA joining in the war they were also upgrading to manufacture military equipment for - guess who?

Should we be surprised that GM has, or in the future when Ford make business decisions in their best corporate interests?

Note:
Since the WP report dates from the last century it is hopefully free of this century’s “fake news” and vested interests syndromes.

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Worth mentioning whilst the numbers seem ‘awesome’ as $ off RRP goes, horrendous depreciation is going to be a genuine thing! (Then factor in warranty/servicing nightmare, which wasn’t good when they were actually here)

John Cadogan (AutoExpertTV yub tub channel) just put up a decent video up & the discounts will need to be in the ~$15k range (mainstream SUV types) to start with to basically break even after 4 years. So some of said article looks worth spending time investigating.

A bit of research into the vehicle to see how much of it might be ‘common’ (parts) across GMH/Holden vehicles as if there is anything bespoke that fails it’ll be huge $$$.

What irks me is that they’re still getting Tax payer $$ via the Automotive transformation system (ATS), (I don’t know how much mind … but still … being from S.A. the $150m they just disappeared overseas whilst already planning on shutting down I would have thought would have been the last of it :frowning: ).

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For those interested, this is the video in question…

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Laugh or cry?

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Advice from a rival and long term stayer in the market place. Well, perhaps the brand name anyway?

Despite various changes of investors/ownership and direction,
“I should have bought a Jeep” might resonate with the now abandoned Holden diehards. The ones whose experience of a Holden is why they kept going back until?

Puzzlement?
GM divested itself of Opal a year or so back, and clearly had made a decision about the future for Holden.

Why were these not both rolled out the door together as one package?

Did GM fear loosing the branding of Holden to a potential competitor would be a bad outcome? In particular in a market it might still seek to make future sales in under it’s own monicker. I’m yet to find an inside the minds of GM link, but honestly could not be bothered looking. The Jeep marketing commentary was unexpected. It says much about what car manufacturers really think about consumers.

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An article regarding GM having decided to quit Australia a year ago but only advised their Australian management a fortnight ago.

Who would have thought?

And not just for those buying the discounted leftovers.

Far worse off will be those who were unfortunate enough to have bought vehicles without any discount or warning that they would very shortly be obsolete.

Not only will they suffer on the resale values but also in the case of accidents as the insurance companies will enjoy lower market values to pay out write-offs and to also decide to write-off vehicles which might have been repaired if their market values had not plummeted.

I wonder what will happen with owners who have new lifetime replacement insurance policies as we do with Suncorp when the models are no longer available?

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An article regarding a Holden dealer suffering heart problems whilst on his way to a meeting with GMH.

Talk about adding injury to insult.

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With friends like GM, who needs enemies?

image

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An interesting situation.

Car dealers complaining about being done over in a deal?
Some ex customers might not offer too much empathy.

On the down side the report mentions 9,000 jobs on the line.
With an ongoing need to provide servicing there will be ongoing work for sometime. Although GM might like to prune the number of authorised and supported service outlets severely to save on costs.

Are the other jobs likely to me absorbed through increased sales at other brand dealerships? There is however an industry downturn in car sales.

The bigger crunch. Will dealerships be left with stranded assets, and insufficient access to alternate brands to pay their bills?

It may be a good time if you own a GM sponsored product to find a reliable independent maintenance service. Is GM going to be a little more forth coming with providing service support to non affiliated service providers? Unlikely! :thinking:

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The Federal Government has announced a Senate Inquiry into the Holden shutdown.

Fantastic news. Hopefully they will take GM to the cleaners instead of GM doing that to the dealers and their employees.

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An update on HSV plans.

And numerous poignant comments below the article.

Sounds like most other businesses in the hours before they go into administration or close their doors, does it not?

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An update on Holden dealers battle with GM.

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Gm caught out lying about their 10 year servicing guarantee in Australia.

Jeep is signing new 10 year franchise agreements in Australia.

I not sure whether that is good news or bad news.

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With Australia’s automotive future in the hands of over seas manufacture, do we need to look outside Australia for objective assessments?

The local motoring press largely depend on the cooperation of local importers/distributors. The same might be said of the local motorists organisations.

Why look elsewhere for reviews and reliability/owner feedback?
Most new models are released in OS markets ahead of local release. There are typically larger markets outside Australia which would provide a greater depth of experience.

Once a model comes to Australia, if it is unreliable or poorer quality in it’s home market it is likely a bad choice here too. Some vehicles are always going to be less successful in Australia, because the design is also a poor solution for our needs. Some might say they are not that different. Owners of USA designed oversized Utes (sorry urban trucks) might agree.

There are numerous OS sources on the web that offer insights into vehicle reliability. No recommendation, but two sites as samples. You do need to sign up to the first.

USA a broad brush
(Guide to Car Reliability & Owner Satisfaction - Consumer Reports)
UK retail leasing company keen to help, and also change how you purchase your next vehicle.
(https://www.osv.ltd.uk/are-jeep-reliable/)

The second made some interesting comparisons.
In their most recent dependability review, ReliabilityIndex placed Jeep 29th out of 40 manufacturers, with a reliability score of 173. This isn’t that much below the industry average; in fact, it’s similar to the score of brands like Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar and BMW, but it’s still not a great score.
And of course they are also happy to lease new owners a Jeep, Merc, Jag or Beema. :wink:

An update on the Holden dealers investigating GM’s treachery.