[Aus GTS]

Found this report and thought it may be of some interest.
hope the link works
Holden V8 sedan could live on! – Car Reviews, News & Advice - carsales.com.au

 

[PFWiz]

Good article.

As it says GM needs to hurry if they plan to have a vehicle in place for the stated 2017 Oz plant closings.

They don't say it in the article, but GM would have to produce the SS with other (smaller) engine combinations. In order to make this whole thing feasible GM needs find a way to raise the production numbers (economy of scale) To help meet CAFE numbers they will need to offers higher mpg models. The higher mpg models will appeal to a broader spectrum of buyers resulting in higher sales.

GM needs to forecast sales figures of at least 100,000 units to make it feasible to set up production alongside an existing car line (Oshawa perhaps). To have its own plant GM needs to forecast sales of well over 250,000 units per year. These numbers are based WAGs using my 20 years of GM plant experience.

My SS is a great ultra high performance large sedan, but will Joe Sixpack pay $30,000 for a de-contented 4 cylnder tubo SS Jr?

That is the real question...

 

[z51vett]

Thanks that's what I've been reading also in various print media.
z51vett
Doug

 

[z51vett]

Good article.

As it says GM needs to hurry if they plan to have a vehicle in place for the stated 2017 Oz plant closings.

They don't say it in the article, but GM would have to produce the SS with other (smaller) engine combinations. In order to make this whole thing feasible GM needs find a way to raise the production numbers (economy of scale) To help meet CAFE numbers they will need to offers higher mpg models. The higher mpg models will appeal to a broader spectrum of buyers resulting in higher sales.

GM needs to forecast sales figures of at least 100,000 units to make it feasible to set up production alongside an existing car line (Oshawa perhaps). To have its own plant GM needs to forecast sales of well over 250,000 units per year. These numbers are based WAGs using my 20 years of GM plant experience.

My SS is a great ultra high performance large sedan, but will Joe Sixpack pay $30,000 for a de-contented 4 cylnder tubo SS Jr?

That is the real question...

They will build it with the Camaro, ATS and CTS same platform no need for diff engines low production numbers will not need that. Plant will be able to handle it Camaro is being moved from Canada to that plant for 2015 model year. Will use the CTS platform lesser contented to save money on build.
z51vett

 

[chevypwr]

Had a feeling this would happen. Aussies love their V8's, there was just no way they could have left aussie's without it. Now we just need to see it happen!

 

[willy92]

Good article.

My SS is a great ultra high performance large sedan, but will Joe Sixpack pay $30,000 for a de-contented 4 cylnder tubo SS Jr?

That is the real question...

The Impala base engine is a 4cylinder, no turbo, and those cars roll out everyday, but we still have all of our SS's.

 

[jat63]

Good article.

As it says GM needs to hurry if they plan to have a vehicle in place for the stated 2017 Oz plant closings.

They don't say it in the article, but GM would have to produce the SS with other (smaller) engine combinations. In order to make this whole thing feasible GM needs find a way to raise the production numbers (economy of scale) To help meet CAFE numbers they will need to offers higher mpg models. The higher mpg models will appeal to a broader spectrum of buyers resulting in higher sales.

GM needs to forecast sales figures of at least 100,000 units to make it feasible to set up production alongside an existing car line (Oshawa perhaps). To have its own plant GM needs to forecast sales of well over 250,000 units per year. These numbers are based WAGs using my 20 years of GM plant experience.

My SS is a great ultra high performance large sedan, but will Joe Sixpack pay $30,000 for a de-contented 4 cylnder tubo SS Jr?

That is the real question...

those production numbers shows why Holden always charged more for each car, it was the only way a business case could be made with sub 100k numbers, we paid more for our cars but the plus side was we could justify multiple body styles, Holden needed to make a lot more per car than the NA plants to pay the start up cost.

The down side of this plan was we didn't go into recession when the rest of the world did, they made their cars cheaper, we could not compete.

 

[Navy Lifer]

those production numbers shows why Holden always charged more for each car, it was the only way a business case could be made with sub 100k numbers, we paid more for our cars but the plus side was we could justify multiple body styles, Holden needed to make a lot more per car than the NA plants to pay the start up cost.

How does that square with the price reductions VE >>> VF? Is the increased export volume of Chevy SS enough to let the domestic (Oz/NZ) price of a VF Commodore suddenly be $10K less than it was as VE--and an improved car, to boot?

And we'll gladly take some of those additional body styles here.....

 

[jat63]

Fighting for survival and selling close to cost, selling at the reduced price would have left them short for the next gen development cost

Holden's were sold with a Cadillac cost plan
Low volume / high return versus Chevys plan high volume / low return
If commodore doesn't pick up its numbers it has no future.

The Cadillac style plan gave Holden the revenue they need to built the current range, under the new chev plan (less $ per unit) they need much bigger numbers to continue.

 

[Aus GTS]

And another report hope these are true

Cadillac keen to share rear-drive platforms, could spawn Chevrolet SS successor | CarAdvice

 

[RCBVFSSVR]

Hi guys. As the owner of a VF SSV Redline and GEN-F GTS, the past owner of a number of Holden Commodore V8's including the old 304 EFI and LS3 there is just no way Holden will stop making a RWD V8 5 door family sedan

BUT

It will take all of us to do this! It will take all Australian's, Kiwi's, North American's, and those from the Middle East to tell their local Holden/Chevrolet dealerships to keep these cars coming.

Holden/GM will commit suicide should they go FWD Commodore and that's a fact! Look at the sales of the Barina (where do I fit the AAA batteries) Cruze (Daewoo), Captiva (Craptiva), Trax and Malibu in Australia and these have terrible sales figures because they are FWD. There are more VF Commodores being sold than these 5 models put together. Why? Because Australian's are clearly saying "We want RWD".

Classic example is Nissan now making the all new RWD Silvia! How many Nissan's in the past 10yrs have been RWD small cars?????? None that I know of now it is finally listening to the public.

How much of a cult car was the good old Holden Gemini in Australia before they screwed with it and made it FWD for the RG then sales were terrible and shortly after its demise, and sold as the "Chevet" in South America. It was sold as the "baby Commodore"

Before Christmas I sent a very strong worded email to Mike Devereux. To my surprise I received a phone call a week later his PR person. I told him as a 3 generation Holden owner, and someone who needed family sized RWD 5 door vehicles for my business what was I suppose to do now??? The PR person told me not to listen to the hype, that Holden and GM both knew that the Commodore was the most popular selling vehicle in Australia's history and there was a reason for that, with that being it was RWD family sedan/station wagon/ute with a V8 too and you just don't go over night and change that and expect the public to except it. The PR person also admitted the public had voted in regards to the FWD other 5 models I spoke of earlier as to why they had terrible sales figures.

As much as it hurts me to say this, Holden closing down building cars here had to happen. We, Australian's are a greedy bunch. We want to be paid top dollar to do nothing. But we are not just to blame either. The federal government needs to share that blame by allowing this cheap Great Wall Motors crap into this country and not taxing it apprpopriately. What business owner or family man wouldn't pay $28g for a 4d 4wd Ute from GWM when the Holden Colorado is $48g. I personally know one business owner who had 2 Toyota Hi-Lux's and sold both and purchased 4 GWM 4WD utes as he needed to expand his business but didn't have the money for more vehicles.

There is no doubt the performance car world are calling for RWD vehicles in both small and large cars and now manufacturers are starting to listen, we just need to hope Holden/GM/Chevrolet do too

 

[z51vett]

Hi guys. As the owner of a VF SSV Redline and GEN-F GTS, the past owner of a number of Holden Commodore V8's including the old 304 EFI and LS3 there is just no way Holden will stop making a RWD V8 5 door family sedan

BUT

It will take all of us to do this! It will take all Australian's, Kiwi's, North American's, and those from the Middle East to tell their local Holden/Chevrolet dealerships to keep these cars coming.

Holden/GM will commit suicide should they go FWD Commodore and that's a fact! Look at the sales of the Barina (where do I fit the AAA batteries) Cruze (Daewoo), Captiva (Craptiva), Trax and Malibu in Australia and these have terrible sales figures because they are FWD. There are more VF Commodores being sold than these 5 models put together. Why? Because Australian's are clearly saying "We want RWD".

Classic example is Nissan now making the all new RWD Silvia! How many Nissan's in the past 10yrs have been RWD small cars?????? None that I know of now it is finally listening to the public.

How much of a cult car was the good old Holden Gemini in Australia before they screwed with it and made it FWD for the RG then sales were terrible and shortly after its demise, and sold as the "Chevet" in South America. It was sold as the "baby Commodore"

Before Christmas I sent a very strong worded email to Mike Devereux. To my surprise I received a phone call a week later his PR person. I told him as a 3 generation Holden owner, and someone who needed family sized RWD 5 door vehicles for my business what was I suppose to do now??? The PR person told me not to listen to the hype, that Holden and GM both knew that the Commodore was the most popular selling vehicle in Australia's history and there was a reason for that, with that being it was RWD family sedan/station wagon/ute with a V8 too and you just don't go over night and change that and expect the public to except it. The PR person also admitted the public had voted in regards to the FWD other 5 models I spoke of earlier as to why they had terrible sales figures.

As much as it hurts me to say this, Holden closing down building cars here had to happen. We, Australian's are a greedy bunch. We want to be paid top dollar to do nothing. But we are not just to blame either. The federal government needs to share that blame by allowing this cheap Great Wall Motors crap into this country and not taxing it apprpopriately. What business owner or family man wouldn't pay $28g for a 4d 4wd Ute from GWM when the Holden Colorado is $48g. I personally know one business owner who had 2 Toyota Hi-Lux's and sold both and purchased 4 GWM 4WD utes as he needed to expand his business but didn't have the money for more vehicles.

There is no doubt the performance car world are calling for RWD vehicles in both small and large cars and now manufacturers are starting to listen, we just need to hope Holden/GM/Chevrolet do too

Cheap is nice but if you don't have jobs because of it what good is cheap. Japan protects it's car market with all kinds of stop gap measures inspections and tariff's. You can by Toyota's cheaper here than Japan they prop up overseas sales that will put other mfgs out of business then they can raise prices.
z51vett
Doug