gm was un-Australian and treated dealers with disrespect when Holden closed

[Frosty]

Interesting article from the Guardian. I'm interested in what Fitzy and Kiwi have to say about this.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/mar/19/general-motors-was-un-australian-and-treated-dealers-with-disrespect-when-holden-closed

 

[Fitzy]

The loss of Holden, Ford, Mitsubishi & Toyota's manufacturing operations in Australia was sad, but inevitable. Holden in particular had a following that spanned generations and it & Ford had an enviable reputation as far as local ingenuity & depth of talent were concerned. The last Commodores & Falcons were truly world class cars and were worthy of export. However, large rear wheel drive sedans were considered dinosaurs with the unexpected mass uptake of so-called SUVs. The writing was on the wall years ago concerning the direction that the type of car people would want in the future was taking, but neither local manufacturer took it seriously, choosing to localise imported models rather than engineer them from here. Also, it was often stated that our large country with it's small population was always spoilt for choice with over 60 brands available to us - obviously unsustainable. And - people stopped buying Holdens & Falcons.

Corporate decisions will always seem unfair - after all, businesses exist in order to make money and GM could have approached their decision with some humanity, and simply dropping the local dealer hot potato and walking away smarts of indifference.

The Guardian article was correct in stating that the business model has changed forever and the notion of dealers may become as extinct as those big mile gobbling comfortable powerful cars we used to love. If Australia could engineer exports to left hand drive countries, surely GM could have plugged the local gap with a similar exercise?

And you know what - I was one of those punters who didn't own a Falcon or Commodore sedan for decades because they just weren't practical. I bought a succession of Japanese utes and now own a Subaru Outback wagon because it's so damn useful. If any country could use an AWD wagon that is stylish, powerful, economical, reliable and can go most places a regular 4WD can go, it's us!

[64 kiwi boni]

I JustA bout completely agree with What Fitzy has said.

Here in nz i noticed over ten years ago the holden dealerships where diversifying into other brands as they must have clearly seen the writing on the wall from a brand that didn't cater for all the wants and needs of the motorists! Holden didn't have a van, a suv or a 4x4 10-15 years ago 

All they really had that sold was the commodore !  

 i dont agree with fitzy comment about practical ... i had my first holden at age 16, it was a fe model with 161 ci straight six and 3 on the tree. i rebuilt it my self and from there on in, i had a love for this ozzy car, i had 2 x vn, ( one was a ss)  vr- ss, vs-ss, vt senator  commodore's and finally my gto monaro, think that's your guys r8, with its super tricked ls2 ( see it in my garage) was a very cool car. Practical hell yeah!  quality built..... hmmmm not so, bits fell off, things worn out to quick, diffs where weak, the first ls1 had issues with engine oil consumption. but hay fords where no better. 

yeah ok you could go buy a nice jap 4x4 with all the bells and whistle's, but did it sound like or go like a 304 injected holden engine??? hell no. as seen at Bathurst 

And dont forget the 1 million plus "hq holdens that where made and i have a green one in my garage that i will never sell as its justA way to cool and its a ute, just like justA6 street !!! hahaha

yes gm did what they did, but the market shifted, gm didnt.

Edited March 23, 2021 by 64 kiwi boni

[Frosty]

11 hours ago, 64 kiwi boni said:

yes gm did what they did, but the market shifted, gm didnt.

You could make the same argument that is what happened to GM in North America too. A lot of people lost their jobs because they didn't adapt to the times particularly well.

The sad thing is, we all drank the tea. We all believed that we were a model or two away from turning gm around, only to be dashed again by recession, currency manipulation, foreign competition, an anti-business government, emphasis on short gains vs the long term, indifference, and a lack of vision by corporate leadership.

[Fitzy]

The FE Holden was practical? I had an FC. Drum brakes, marshmallow suspension, non synchro first with 3 on the tree, gutless 138 motor, low geared so it was revving it's nuts off at 50 mph, vinyl bench seats and the piece de resistance: vacuum operated wipers! Of course, back then (1957) Australians needed a strong, simple car that would seat 6, carry their luggage and put up with atrocious dirt roads, searing heat, dust & suicidal wildlife and admittedly Holdens did just that so I guess it was practical for that application. The '3 box format' continued on with the last Commodore, a great car but when a more economical wagonoid contraption with 64 cup holders and elevated ride height (so the chicks can see what they're hitting in the supermarket car park) is available, inexplicably that's what the punters wanted. 

I remember when hip hop & SUVs both became a thing. I remember thinking "this won't last - it's just a silly trend." Hip hop has been around for 40 years now. And SUVs? Now you can buy a tiddler SUV about the size of a Mini but high riding so you can pretend it's a Hummer. When aliens finally visit Earth, they'll be scratching their heads as they survey our civilisation and will wonder where they've landed!

[Fitzy]

2 hours ago, Frosty said:

You could make the same argument that is what happened to GM in North America too. A lot of people lost their jobs because they didn't adapt to the times particularly well.

The sad thing is, we all drank the tea. We all believed that we were a model or two away from turning gm around, only to be dashed again by recession, currency manipulation, foreign competition, an anti-business government, emphasis on short gains vs the long term, indifference, and a lack of vision by corporate leadership.

So Frosty, this where the elected government (you know, the one that the people elected) needs to step in and protect the local industry. Australia's car industry was protected for years but how can you fight competition when the overseas product was so damn good. In the 70s, the Japanese cars showed us just how good you could build a car and make it affordable. It should have forced local manufacturing to sit up and take notice but they just basked in the continuing protected environment and kept churning out dinosaurs. Government fleets were exclusively local product which helped a lot. I read somewhere recently that the Crown Victoria will no longer be the default US police car. Australia uses Camrys now. At any rate, in order to protect jobs I'm sure that a car manufacturing facility could be repurposed for manufacturing something. Americans have always been innovators but without government backing, not a lot happens.

As an aside, remember when the GFC hit and the Big 3 had to attend a meeting to see how to stabilise the industry? The Ford bloke flew there in his private jet! Gold.

[64 kiwi boni]

9 hours ago, Fitzy said:

and the piece de resistance: vacuum operated wipers!

yeah i forgot about the vacuum wipers!! my fe had them and where useless, 

my fe had a 161 out of a eh or ej, not sure, and i had it rebuilt by my uncle, it went really well and i remember racing a ht monaro with a 186 back in the day and while i didnt beat him, i didnt get walked over too !

i do remember smashing second cog in the gear box, and finding a spare at the dump and rebuilding it myself... ( rebuild meaning) i pulled the broken lay shaft out and dropping all the ball bearings, then spending the next 2 hours finding all the balls and repacking them back into the shaft...it worked so i was happy..

i also remember my first experience with window glass in that car... the track had come off the bottom of the glass so in my non wisdom way i put the glass in the vise so i could fit the channel back on it, only to find that glass doesnt like vises!!! 

boy did i learn quick!! hahaha.

On this fe holden i did all the body prep myself, my dad primed it with what he had and when it came time to paint it he had arranged for me to take it too his mates paint shop... i remember it rained all the way there and once i got to the paint shop, the guy told me to bring it in and wipe it down, air it off and he painted it there and then.... funny enough the paint job came out ok!  

[Fitzy]

The good ole days. That's a reference we'll be seeing a lot on this site. Importantly, we were there and indeed they were great times. I guess it's important to keep things in perspective. We can all moan about how screwed up everything is right now, but fighting it is a waste of energy. By all means, keep the faith but you gotta move on, too. Discussing the demise of GM and the car industry as a whole is immensely interesting, but we can't be mired in it's effects. The past is exactly that, it's past and there's no going back. Think of how cranky we're all going to be as we are whizzed about here & there in our Uber autonomous plastic bubbles. Brewing your own gasoline might become as popular as home brewed beer.