GM wants Holden fans to 'come on the journey'

**DFB FGXR6** · 14-12-2021, 09:07 PM

GM Australia wants Holden fans to 'come on the journey', as Chevy sales spike -
https://www.carexpert.com.au/car-new...vy-sales-spike

“Do we want our legions of passionate Holden fans, customers, employees, to come on the journey with us? Of course we do, that’s our dream,” Mr Ebolo said, when we suggested some V8 Holden fans must surely have fallen well out of love with GM."

Yes, because $100,000+ giant pickups and a $150,000 sports car are going to appeal to the same customers who bought $40,000 sedans. Morons!

pottery beige · 14-12-2021, 09:12 PM

would bang 'vette

fgpsi · 14-12-2021, 09:12 PM

**Fordman1** · 14-12-2021, 09:55 PM

Hey suckers, come and buy more expensive stuff from us.

BTW: we don’t guarantee anything we say is true.

jpd80 · 14-12-2021, 10:09 PM

Remind me again why most Holden fans don’t want a bar of anything GM…….

Yeah, good luck with that…..

Adamz Ghia · 14-12-2021, 10:28 PM

2100 Silverados in a year isn’t bad at all. F Series is a much bigger, well known name and would more than likely do much better than that.

Get it over here!

prktkljokr · 14-12-2021, 10:21 PM

Wont catch me lining up for any of their offerings, and from the way the US head office of both brands have treated the Australian motor industry, they can both go get F#@%ed.

Dr Smith · 15-12-2021, 10:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

Wont catch me lining up for any of their offerings, and from the way the US head office of both brands have treated the Australian motor industry, they can both go get F#@%ed.

I understand your thoughts as I have some personal involvement....yes here is the "however".... Ford Australia employs more people in Aus now then the last few years of running the manufacturing plant....

Now back to the incredible hypocrisy of GM....if it was a financial institute do you think it would have been allowed to shaft it's dealers and then shut down ,come back under a "different" name, alter it's agreement about servicing past Holden owners vehicles ....and ask us all to buy their new GM products.

prktkljokr · 15-12-2021, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Smith

I understand your thoughts as I have some personal involvement....yes here is the "however".... Ford Australia employs more people in Aus now then the last few years of running the manufacturing plant....

But slowly culled off employees in the years leading up to the end of Ford in Australia, then all the little manufacturing companies in Australia that depended on Ford and their employees were not taken under Fords wing?, im sure the people who worked for these smaller companies would have the same view as I do.

Unfortunately there was a bigger picture than just Ford and Holden in the decisions that were made, there were more jobs lost and more smaller suppliers that were let down by both companies, you may be able to forgive, but there are plenty that cant and wont.

Franco Cozzo · 15-12-2021, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

But slowly culled off employees in the years leading up to the end of Ford in Australia, then all the little manufacturing companies in Australia that depended on Ford and their employees were not taken under Fords wing?, im sure the people who worked for these smaller companies would have the same view as I do.

Unfortunately there was a bigger picture than just Ford and Holden in the decisions that were made, there were more jobs lost and more smaller suppliers that were let down by both companies, you may be able to forgive, but there are plenty that cant and wont.

We used to employ 700 people in Victoria alone across two of our production plants, that was just manufacturing staff.

Now we employ 40 people nationally, about 7 of which who are production staff.

Thailand FTA was the final nail in the coffin for one of our divisions.

Vesper Martini · 15-12-2021, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

But slowly culled off employees in the years leading up to the end of Ford in Australia, then all the little manufacturing companies in Australia that depended on Ford and their employees were not taken under Fords wing?, im sure the people who worked for these smaller companies would have the same view as I do.

Unfortunately there was a bigger picture than just Ford and Holden in the decisions that were made, there were more jobs lost and more smaller suppliers that were let down by both companies, you may be able to forgive, but there are plenty that cant and wont.

Most supplying companies and employees to Ford knew the inevitable end, there were programs and government assistance to those affected.

At least Ford are still operational in Australia with the development of new Vehicles, employing more staff as Mr Smith advised above.

Holden not so, and did you forget about Toyota.

either way I don't understand holding such a grudge, should Kodak employees still be angry that they were let down?

Bossxr8 · 15-12-2021, 01:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by prktkljokr

But slowly culled off employees in the years leading up to the end of Ford in Australia, then all the little manufacturing companies in Australia that depended on Ford and their employees were not taken under Fords wing?, im sure the people who worked for these smaller companies would have the same view as I do.

Unfortunately there was a bigger picture than just Ford and Holden in the decisions that were made, there were more jobs lost and more smaller suppliers that were let down by both companies, you may be able to forgive, but there are plenty that cant and wont.

Ford still does business with a lot of those suppliers, and helped a few of them get business with Ford internationally.

The Ford Australia connection with Carbon Revolution (who employ a number of ex-ford employees) helped them get the supply deal for the carbon fibre wheels on the Ford GT, Shelby GT350 and GT500.

The comments at the bottom of the story are well worth a read

GM are corporate scum, and always have been. Asking Holden fans to "come along for the journey" is like a wife beater telling his victim to get over it.

Junkyard-Dog · 14-12-2021, 10:33 PM

Am helping dad restore his 67 Holden HR. That's about as close as I'll be getting to GM's 'journey' I'm afraid.

**DJM83** · 15-12-2021, 08:05 AM

Sell me a new SS and i might.
New range of cars does nothing for me in many ways. Price most certainly one of em.

Big_Daz · 15-12-2021, 10:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DFB FGXR6

“Do we want our legions of passionate Holden fans, customers, employees, to come on the journey with us? Of course we do, that’s our dream,” Mr Ebolo said, when we suggested some V8 Holden fans must surely have fallen well out of love with GM."

Considering the contempt with which GM treated Holden Owners and Dealers upon Australian Manufacturing ceasing Its not that hard to believe Fans/Owners have fallen out of love with the brand...

As a Holden Owner (one of the last SSV Redline's) and a Fan (im a fan of both Ford and Holden's performance range, for different reasons) GM has lost me.. its that bloody simple. I adore my SSVR, its an epic thing and a car I will never sell but GM can, as far as im concerned, f(*k right off...

Yes, because $100,000+ giant pickups and a $150,000 sports car are going to appeal to the same customers who bought $40,000 sedans. Morons!

Agreed mate, V8 Holdens, at the end, went from mid $40k's for the base SS to $60k for the SSV Redline/Calais V, compared to the $100k plus Silverado and $150 -$200k on the road Corvette they are talking a completely different breed of buyer. Hell, Im not afraid to admit that even at $150k on the road, a Corvette is out of my range...

Where GM COULD have proven they gave even the smallest toss about our market, and the V8 Commodore fans they seem to think will follow them, would have been to do a "FOrd" and build the Camaro in RHD in the factory, which would of allowed the SS to be priced at Mustang money, and the epic ZL1 to be ALOT better priced than it was.. The Camaro is every bit as good as the Mustang, but was priced out of the market due to the conversion...

GM in Aus will only ever be a VERY small operation (GMSV) which will only attract completely different buyers to Holden of old... They need to stop kidding themselves and deal with this fact...

minheim · 15-12-2021, 11:46 AM

Join GM on the road to nowhere. Yea sure!

wodahs · 15-12-2021, 11:50 AM

https://youtu.be/OFgayzZ5KTM

Junkyard-Dog · 15-12-2021, 03:11 PM

Damn, that analogy at the end was brutal Bossxr8... sometimes the truth is brutal though.

xb74_black · 15-12-2021, 03:15 PM

GM set fire to a huge valuable brand in this country - crazy.

fgpsi · 15-12-2021, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xb74_black

GM set fire to a huge valuable brand in this country - crazy.

those chinese mg's are selling like hotcakes, gm should have tried to slap a holden badge onto one of them lol wouldve sold better than the zb

Citroënbender · 15-12-2021, 11:10 PM

“Come on the journey”?

It sounds better than “GM wants to take Aussies for a ride”. But the net effect is likely similar.

**DJM83** · 15-12-2021, 03:18 PM

Wasnt their Kentucky plant sadly hit by the massive tornadoes in that area? Wonder if that'll have an impact.

Bossxr8 · 15-12-2021, 04:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJM83

Wasnt their Kentucky plant sadly hit by the massive tornadoes in that area? Wonder if that'll have an impact.

Didn't do that much damage though.

burnz · 15-12-2021, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJM83

Wasnt their Kentucky plant sadly hit by the massive tornadoes in that area? Wonder if that'll have an impact.

ford trucks is in Kentucky.. no GM.

any way both ford and gm are 3billion in dept, in fact the big three wont see march, from what i'm told.

Adamz Ghia · 15-12-2021, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burnz

ford trucks is in Kentucky.. no GM.

any way both ford and gm are 3billion in dept, in fact the big three wont see march, from what i'm told.

The second bit is not correct.

**DJM83** · 15-12-2021, 06:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burnz

ford trucks is in Kentucky.. no GM.

any way both ford and gm are 3billion in dept, in fact the big three wont see march, from what i'm told.

Really?
https://media.gm.com/media/us/en/gm/...linggreen.html

Dr Smith · 15-12-2021, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by burnz

ford trucks is in Kentucky.. no GM.

any way both ford and gm are 3billion in dept, in fact the big three wont see march, from what i'm told.

Not sure where you got your info, however GM's total debt is closer to $110Billion USD...and about $23Billion in cash offsetting this so about $87BillUSD...if it was only 3 Billion their accountants wouldn't have any work...

...and Ford has about $53Billion USD debt after excluding it's cash on hand and this is a debt drop of 9% from a year ago...
...
so you're 0 from 2 on your facts.

jpd80 · 15-12-2021, 10:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dr Smith

Not sure where you got your info, however GM's total debt is closer to $110Billion USD...and about $23Billion in cash offsetting this so about $87BillUSD...if it was only 3 Billion their accountants wouldn't have any work...

...and Ford has about $53Billion USD debt after excluding it's cash on hand and this is a debt drop of 9% from a year ago...
...
so you're 0 from 2 on your facts.

Correct, many comentators wrongly conclude that Ford has around $150 billion in debt
but neatly omit that most of it is attributed to Ford Credit lending to customers which
actually brings in about $1 billion each quarter in earnings for Ford which is on track
for about $10 billion in income before tax, that’s after paying all current costs.
That’s not bad considering the expenditure committed to new infrastructure and BEVs.

MITCHAY · 15-12-2021, 10:25 PM

While this new business model may stack up and sure some HSV and Holden owners may buy them, they are purely delusional to think it is in anyway comparable to what we had. That is before you get to how they burned the brand too.

As I have said before, GM can get ****ed and no way I'll be sending any of my coin their way

bb_zetec · 15-12-2021, 11:19 PM

Does anybody remember when GM tried to launch the "Opel" brand in Australia??
Lets see how successful that was.

As soon as GM/Holden lost focus they failed in Australia...firstly by sending rebadged Daewoos as Holdens and then Opel, then the Imported ZB.

Now they try again with GMSV? That will proably end up the same way Opel did.

People are too scorned to touch anything from them.

We offloaded our VF Commodore Wagon recently. Yes it may have been the most "advanced" built Australian Car around...but when you cant get support in the future then its pointless. Our local "ex" dealer wants nothing to do with it anymore even though they have a "Holden Certified Service" sign on it...certified to shell out more of their crap.

It was the 3rd GM Product we ever owned in our Family and will be the last.

Yes Ford ended manufacturing, but we can still get support for the Fords we have to a point, and with a big aftermarket following i think they will keep around for some time...we have nothing to replace our Falcons/Utes with, and there will never be any replacement really, perhaps we will all get to 1,000,000Klms?