SUVs key to saving Holden
The Aussie brand intends to play dirty to win back customers, writes Richard Bosselman.
Four SUVs and a ring-in are being charged with lifting Holden out of its brandbogging sales rut. The brand has conceded it must change consumer mindset. It plans to do so by putting the spotlight on its adventure-capable models.
That also means convincing buyers that one candidate – the elevated Commodore Tourer wagon – can run with the Trax, Equinox, Acadia and Trailblazer, even though it’s categorised as a car.
On top of this, Holden finds itself fending off speculation about the lion badge’s future.
Nonetheless there’s optimism a big dollar ‘‘this is how we SUV’’ campaign, centred around a television ad shot in New Zealand, will reap results simply because SUVs and crossovers have market leadership.
A poor 2018 showing for Holden, more so across the Tasman than in New Zealand, has clearly rattled the company.
On top of this, this brand is striving to defuse speculation about its future and also if the embattled Commodore and Astra could be lost to a distribution change apparently orchestrated by Opel’s new owner, Peugeot.
Holden’s home turf volume dropped 32.7 per cent last year, causing a far larger market share slump than the 9.4 per cent decline felt here – a humbling experience for a brand born in 1949 that until 2015 was a top three performer in Australia.
ZB Commodore was one of the big losers in the first year since Holden ended vehicle production.
Backlash against this big car becoming an import was harsh across the Tasman, with a 62 per cent sales decrease.
Holden is not saying road cars are dead, yet it feels the best immediate remedy to recapture lost ground comes from raising SUV sales.
It intends Acadia and Equinox, from North America’s GMC and Chevrolet, the Thailand-sourced Trailblazer, a city-centric Trax small car out of South Korea and close to retirement, plus the Tourer – a Calais-spec four-wheeldrive wagon with 20mm extra travel and extended wheel arches – to raise their game.
Their job now is to cumulatively account for more than one third of all sales. It’s an all-talk campaign, unsupported by pricing or specification tweaks.
Chairman and managing director Dave Buttner, who took over last year after retiring as Toyota Australia’s president, won’t reveal sales targets.
He and Kristian Aquilina – who stepped down as Holden NZ’s boss to oversee the brand’s marketing – are unequivocal: Holden can and will battle back.
What of eroded consumer confidence?
Speculation about Opel being returned to sale in Australia and perhaps New Zealand under a distributor tied to Peugeot owner, PSA, is hardly helping.
The
claims GM in Detroit has been pitched about reallocating Opel-made product from Holden control to Inchcape, which distributes Subaru in Australia and New Zealand, as well as Peugeot and Citroen cars in Australia.
That scenario would be another body blow to Commodore, whose life span is already expected to be cut short.
Apart from badges and sixcylinder engines, the ZB Commodore is the same car as the Opel/Vauxhall Insignia, on a common GM platform and using GM drivetrains. It’s thought PSA has made it a priority to redeliver what might still be called an Opel Insignia on Peugeot underpinnings, this happening as early as 2022.
Were that to occur, Holden will conceivably be closed out. It would then have to either find another car to attach the Commodore name to or simply drop it.
Opel has previously represented in New Zealand and Australia, the last time – during the 1980s – under Holden control.
Buttner says the contract Opel has to build the ZB and Astra as Holden product is a GM matter, but doubts it is endangered.
‘‘The product we get out of Opel is still under the umbrella of GM, anyway . . . they might be different ownership, but the product is still theirs.’’
Speculation about Holden is nothing new – ‘‘over the years we’ve heard a lot of talk about Holden and where it’s going’’ – and is probably unavoidable given last year’s performance, he says.
However, Holden has relevance and he has no reason to think GM doesn’t still back it fully.
‘‘We’re not for sale. I didn’t come in to sell the company down. I came out of retirement . . . to rebuild this fantastic brand.’’
Intent to look to a better future compelled Holden to take media to the Lang Lang proving ground, the brand’s development zone for 60 years and active finessing imports it sells.
Aquilina says Lang Lang’s work preparing vehicles for Australasian conditions separates Holden from every other brand representing in our country.
‘‘We’re the only brand that wakes up every morning to make the drive better for Australia and New Zealand.’’
Acadia’s the latest poster child. Driving the large seven-seater in its original US suspension highlighted the improvement Holden has made to the model.
Seeing two undisguised Cadillac sedans and a US-market Colorado pickup on the motorway as we headed to Lang Lang reminded us it has an active international role.
The Colorado utility – the only Holden selling here to achieve increased year-on-year registrations in 2018 – is also indirectly involved in the SUV campaign.
A restyle likely to occur this year will be its final update before 2022, when it becomes a totally GM vehicle, current development partner Isuzu having divorced to form an association with Mazda.