Holden's $200m Subsidy from the Government

[poita]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hZqkZ05PCg

http://media.smh.com.au/news/national-news/holden-gets-200m-subsidy-3153249.html?&exc_from=strap

[Mr & Mrs Vectra]

I couldn't watch past 5 1/2mins.

50,000 jobs? If only the govt could've shown the Ansett group the same love.

What a waste of taxpayer money given the state of our hospitals and schools. :mad5:

[poita]

More info

http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/commodore-dead--or-is-it-20120322-1vmb4.html



The Australian Commodore is dead, but there will likely be Holden's fingerprints on the car that replaces it - which could be called Commodore.

Confused? Good, that's what Holden wants - for now, at least - so its competitors don't get a whiff of the crucial new model that will form the basis for the company's local operations out to at least 2022.

Yesterday's announcement that General Motors Holden will commit at least $1 billion to its local operations - on top of a generous $275 million government subsidy - prompted a barrage of questions to chairman and managing director Mike Devereux about what it means for the iconic large car.

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It's understandable for a car with such a rich heritage. The Commodore has been produced locally since 1978, replacing a nameplate just as iconic - Kingswood. Until last year it was the best seller for 15 straight years.

And it's been sold in countries as diverse as the United States, the Middle East, China and Brazil. Everyone in Australia has heard of the Commodore.

Devereux batted down every question, giving few clues as to what the next all new car may look - or feel - like, and, indeed, whether there will be a future Commodore.

"What the car looks like [has not] even been finalised, nor will it be for a couple of years," he said.

All he is saying is that Holden has committed to developing "well in excess of" $1 billion into two next generation models that will be produced alongside each other at the company's Elizabeth production line in South Australia.

He has all but confirmed that one of those cars will be the next generation Cruze small car and confirmed Holden's "extremely talented" design and engineering team "have been doing a lot of work on the next generation [small car architecture] Delta in our Port Melbourne studios."

As for the Commodore? That's another question, and Devereux is far more guarded about giving clues to what the replacement for the large car will be called, which almost certainly will the second architecture that will be built in Australia - among other countries.

"I'm not going to tell you," was the response when pushed on the Commodore's future, pointing to the secrecy within electronics giant Apple, even among its employees. "We're not going to talk ... about things that are commercially sensitive."

However, he reaffirmed his commitment to large cars, giving the strongest hint yet that a sizeable sedan of some sort will long term continue to be produced in Australia.

"I wouldn't be investing hundreds of millions of dollars in the [2013 VF] Commodore if I didn't believe in the large car segment," said Devereux. "I absolutely believe in it. Having the number two [selling] car in the country is a good thing."

However, there were also clues that the next generation Commodore could shrink; since 1978 every new generation Commodore has grown in size.

"Do I think there's a market for cars bigger than Cruzes and Corollas? Absolutely. Figuring out what vehicles larger than Cruze or Corolla or Mazda3 for Australia is is part of the magic of the car industry."

When pressed if that meant the locally-produced car could be a medium car, he said: "I'm not going to go down that path".

Another big unknown is whether the Commodore replacement - assuming that's the car that will be produced here - will drive the rear wheels, as most Australian-made large sedans have. Rear-wheel-drive is seen as a must for high-powered performance cars, including the V8-powered Commodores that in many ways define the Commodore brand and these days account for about one in four sales.

But the world has been trending to front-drive cars for decades, largely thanks to advantages with packaging (leading to more interior space) and reduced weight, which reduces fuel use.

Devereux wouldn't answer a specific question about front- or rear-wheel-drive, although he has previously said that rear-drive is a crucial part of the Commodore's DNA.

"I think [rear-wheel-drive] it's absolutely critical," Devereux told Drive last year. "It's a critical part of the DNA."

Devereux also said the new architectures would potentially use alternative fuels, including - possibly - diesel or even partially electric or hybrid drivetrains.

"We definitely have some ideas around all sorts of different powertrains, be they diesel powertrains ... or e-assist [partially electric] that are pretty popular. We haven't made decisions on those sorts of things."

As for the Australian-ness of the Commodore - a car initially spawned from a European Opel - it's likely to be further diluted. Although, again, there were few clues.

While he didn't repeat the words of one reporter asking if "the Australian Holden ... is dead?", he didn't disagree with the notion.

"Those are your words," he said.

[Hoss]

Very true about the better use of taxpayer funds, but you need to factor in the the politics behind these decisions.

[CORZZA]

I couldn't watch past 5 1/2mins.

50,000 jobs? If only the govt could've shown the Ansett group the same love.

What a waste of taxpayer money given the state of our hospitals and schools. :mad5:

Yip im with you on this one

[gmonkey]

Soo with my job one of my clients was a gm designer in team for commodore '14. He confirmed it is rearwheel drive, the platform is smaller than the VE series and the V8 is still there. Oh and he agreed chev badges are shithouse. And thinks opel will make a good impact on aussie market..

Sent from my R800i using Tapatalk

[rjastra]

Soo with my job one of my clients was a gm designer in team for commodore '14. He confirmed it is rearwheel drive, the platform is smaller than the VE series and the V8 is still there.

Really? That's not what everyone else is saying. The next commodore (VF) is just a major facelift/enhancement of the current platform (Zeta).
It's not until the next major platform change that the Zeta may be replaced.

[gmonkey]

he went on about how panel voted that the commodore was just getting too big of a car in size. i chatted to him for like 15min about it not that i was meant to hahah