Holden have made substandard cars since the start. Heck the Kingswood was a controversial car at the time for being woefully basic, shoddy brakes and poor build quality. The Japanese cars at the time were leagues better.
The Commodores since gen 1 was seen as a downgrade. The Camira is now a meme. The first Calais’ suffered from quality control problems. GM thought they could go it alone with designing infotainments in their later models that proved to age poorly.
In the end Australia’s RHD market is too small and not profitable. As Holden had just finished the prototype of the HSV V8 Colorado, they pulled the pin and shut down Holden.
In foresight, you could argue that’s just what the market demanded. If GM at Detroit didn’t say it, COVID would’ve pushed them off the edge anyways. People can now get big American trucks that cost 4 Commodores. Ford Rangers equate to 80% of Ford’s sales.
Holden have made substandard cars since the start. Heck the Kingswood was a controversial car at the time for being woefully basic, shoddy brakes and poor build quality. The Japanese cars at the time were leagues better.
The Commodores since gen 1 was seen as a downgrade. The Camira is now a meme. The first Calais’ suffered from quality control problems. GM thought they could go it alone with designing infotainments in their later models that proved to age poorly.
In the end Australia’s RHD market is too small and not profitable. As Holden had just finished the prototype of the HSV V8 Colorado, they pulled the pin and shut down Holden.
In foresight, you could argue that’s just what the market demanded. If GM at Detroit didn’t say it, COVID would’ve pushed them off the edge anyways. People can now get big American trucks that cost 4 Commodores. Ford Rangers equate to 80% of Ford’s sales.