[rustynutz]

DECEMBER 14, 2013

THE Holden Commodore of the future will be as Australian as the shirts on our backs: it will likely be made in China.

To gain approval to develop a new Commodore, General Motors did a top-secret deal with Holden to pair the next generation sedan with a Buick that was originally exclusive to the Chinese market.

Holden won the contract to design the car, which was then due to be built in Australia and China.

But now that Holden has decided to shut its Elizabeth car assembly line in 2017, China is poised to become the sole producer of the vehicle.

Documents obtained by News Corp Australia confirm every Holden fan's worst nightmare: the next generation Commodore will be a front-wheel-drive car powered by a four-cylinder engine.

Every top-selling Holden since the birth of the company in 1948 has been a six-cylinder, rear-wheel-drive sedan.

The last time Holden sold a four-cylinder Commodore in the early 1980s, sales tanked.

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[beerman]

It will be interesting....

With no Australian made content, I don't know how many Holdens (or whatever they are called) will sell in Australia. Would you buy a Chinese made Holden (assuming they don't pack it full of asbestos) when you can have an Aussie Camray, or a Korean I40? So far the Chinese made cars have been fairly average, so there is nothing there to inspire confidence.

Most of Holdens imported line up trails the market leaders by a considerable margin and that's without a potential protest vote for them leaving. Without 20k of Commodore sales and who knows how many Cruze sales they will lose when it is not Australian assembled (only 25% of the car is Australian content) They suddenly won't be a force in the market...

 

Tongue in cheek comment:

Aussies aren't buying Australian made Commodores in great numbers so why would they buy Chinese made Commodes Commodores.   

[Dazzler]

Wow that makes their latest announcement less of a shock (obviously in the wind for a while!) 

[Phil №❶]

The Chinese are very fast learners. Anyone remember the 1st transistor radios out of China, they were pretty bad. Now they are major producers of multilayer mobile phone circuits.

The Cholden will most likely be quite good, but they will never get any of my money, out of protest.

[beerman]

What about all the Chinese cars that were certified Asbestos free....Until they looked at them and there was Asbestos everywhere....

[rustynutz]

Country of origin means bugger all these days...It's more to do with the actual company building the product....

Oh, and you're probably using a Chinese built computer right now so I wouldn't be too critical... 

[Phil №❶]

Yes, quite right, but when a company leaves a country for purely economic reasons with no consideration of the many loyal workers and the ramifications of unemployment, then tries to market their product back in this country, that's an insult IMO.

[rustynutz]

Wow that makes their latest announcement less of a shock (obviously in the wind for a while!) 

Maybe, maybe not, Daz....As the story says:

Holden won the contract to design the car, which was then due to be built in Australia and China.

But now that Holden has decided to shut its Elizabeth car assembly line in 2017, China is poised to become the sole producer of the vehicle.

[rustynutz]

Yes, quite right, but when a company leaves a country for purely economic reasons with no consideration of the many loyal workers and the ramifications of unemployment, then tries to market their product back in this country, that's an insult IMO.

No different to the likes of Mitsubishi, surely? 

[Phil №❶]

One of the reasons why I don't own one.

[Dazzler]

One of the reasons why I don't own one.

Remind me not to upset Phil! 

[rustynutz]

 

[Phil №❶]

 

[Just Rick]

Much Like anything you will purhase this Christmas(other than booze)very little if any,will be grown,manufactured or even produced in Australia,like someone said a while ago we have become a country of consumers not manufacturers.

We have turned into a lazy,greedy lot

[Doggie 1]

We have turned into a lazy,greedy lot

Speak for yourself!
I'm not greedy.