The rise and fall of Holden, Australia’s iconic car | ABC News
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- Опубліковано 27 лют 2020
- The iconic Australian car brand Holden is being axed after decades making and selling cars such as the Commodore, Astra and Barina. Jeremy Fernandez looks back on the car maker’s 164-year legacy.
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I did my part from all the way in the states, I own a 2004 GTO, I had a 2013 Caprice PPV and I had a 2016 Chevy SS. I remember begging GM for the LHD Holden products from 1997 after the death of our Impala SS and even more once I found out Holden had gotten the LS1. Your cars were always a delightful proposition and in my eyes were equivalent to the way cara would have evolved if they had never stopped making the full line of Chevelles and Malibus in the style of the 1968-1972s. Thank you for building my dream cars.
Thank you, and your welcome.
It's simple, if you wanna make Australian things, they have to be made and owned by Australians, and wanted by Australians....
everything else, including our Politicians are outsourced and unAustralian!
Exactly right, I've been preaching this for years, Australia is ruled by a Foreign power that loans us money, AT INTEREST to run our country?? Look at the countries that freed their people with their own form of currency, void of Wall street, war is forced on them??
All politicians are lackeys for the International Banksters..
We need to fight for Autonomy and Self Determination for a truly debt free Nation..
The TRUTH IS Anti-semitic!!!
Right on Dave
@Happy McJoyjoy While Scomo sniffs the coal fumes up his shitbox arse even as the country literally got burned to ashes.
@Fred Bloggs hell no
@Fred Bloggs And a REAL Aboriginal. One that can pass laws saying if you're less than a half caste, you're not entitled to indigenous funds. The Italian and Irish governments would tell me to piss off if I asked them for money because I'm 25% Irish and 25% Italian.
I'm not Australian. In my country Holden was an alternative for Chev. Almost the same. My father had two Holdens. The best! Nostalgia!
Which country?
Probs nz
Macadamia? 🤣😋
As an American, I’m saddened for my Aussie cousins . And it’s a real shame GM didn’t keep the Aussie Holden alive. At least give the Holden brand back to the Aussies and let them carry on. GM sucks. They killed Pontiac, Oldsmobile and Saturn here in the USA too. Money grubbing corporate suits with no sense of loyalty, just greed. Sad to see.
Much has been said about this. Fingers have been pointed at to the many different reasons as to why it happened. I think we all have a fair idea why by now though. It's time now to raise your beer or wine and salute the names Kingswood, Monaro, Premier, Belmont, Statesman ,Torana, Sandman and the iconic One Tonner. Farewell old friends, you served us well then and continue to give pleasure at car shows today.
Currently proudly driving my first car, a 1993 VP commodore ute. Commodore will be missed by me, such an iconic vehicle for this country
Letting G.M. in on anything is death.
Opel still exists, but its build by Europeans....
@@Arltratlo Opel is owned by PSA. GM killed Saab too, and came close to destroying Subaru.
GM is like the EA of cars. (Or EA is the GM of videogames?)
@Peter What are YOU saying? Didn't GM buy Holden in 1947?
Holden would never have got off the ground without GM.
the last holden my family brought was the Run-out model VZ SVZ brand new and we still have it today. So we will probably keep it not because it will be worth anything, but for sentimental value as all of us kids drove it or learned to drive in it. after that car my parents went to SUVs. If there was an Australian made Holden SUV they probably would have brought it. RIP holden
And THAT is exactly WHY Holden went broke...Consumers/the Market no longer wanted Commodores (and Falcons)...the Market had changed and no one wanted a big 6 cylinder rwd car anymore...realistically the Commodore didn't change in near 40 years
Never been to Australia but my parents in South Africa owned a Holden station wagon with a 4,1 L straight 6. Would fit all 7 of us with my youngest sister and I sitting in the back with the rear window wound down. Coolest feature ever when you are 6 & 7 years old. Great holiday caravaning memories.
i had a Renault who could do the same...
Badged as a Chevrolet Kommando.
Those Chevrolet badged Holdens came to NZ too mostly Statesmans those were built in OZ but never sold there
1975 The lima agreement. Start there
Don't be silly, ABC would never report such a heavy truth bomb such as that. They are owned and they follow their masters rules. And they don't want the sheep knowing about the Lima Decleration or it may turn them into foxes!
Well give back the subsidy back GM ! Gov has to stop cuddling big businesses and thus stop getting burned!
Still cuddling up to the coal companies and newscorp.
Holden hasn't been driven to extinction, Holden's driven themselves to extinction.
It was gm cutting funding and refusing to let actual Australians from buying any part of holden from them.
On the backs of Australian taxpayers... Sound like the same GM story all over the world tbh..
Packard, Rambler, Hillman, Humber, Studebaker, Austin, Morris, Pontiac etc etc. All defunct brands. Car brands have a lifetime.
I'm Australian, but I have to admit that some of my countrymen can whine a bit. Why is GMH so special?
The list of ex-marques you give is - as you know - by no means complete.
When people started treating cars like refrigerators or washing machines (as that lady from Deloittes said - just to get from A to B) - the emotional relationship with the car was broken. Perhaps an additional factor was that you could work on your own older car and build a relationship with that &^*%(*&^(* piece of *&(*& and occasionally get a sense of satisfaction from having briefly fixed it.
Every brand of car I've owned is now extinct. One was an LJ Torana.
I miss it to this day.
Morris is still going - albeit renamed as MG and now own by a Chinese company
Bad Enough ! With Chrisler ! Dodge ! And DeSoto ! , Studebaker !Duzenberg ! The Austin ! To ZEPHYR ! OF CAR BRANDS ! No longer with us ! Sadly !
I knew a woman who got laid off from Holden just before the Elizabeth plant shut down in 2017. The benefits and salaries she was boasting made it seem like the company was running at a loss.
Have watched this segment from time to time, Cant believe its approaching seven years.
Still remember the final day.
So sad for manufacturing to close in this country.
Tough news, Aussies take a lot of pride in their amazing country as they should. Holden made great cars with wonderful styling but when someone else owns you your fate is in their hands. Should the AU government placed a tariff on imported cars to protect the domestic market? I don’t quite understand how Swedish and French cars can be selling in the US but you couldn’t buy a Holden a much superior car. GM even sold German made Opel’s in America had Holden’s been available in the US they would still be in business.
Bobby Paluga I agree, though GM did recently offer a Chevrolet SS made by Holden. They only offered it for 2-3 years, and by all accounts it was an awesome car, performance-wise. Over 400 HP, great suspension. I guess it just didn’t sell. It’s styling was rather dull and unassuming.
Bobby Paluga So you’re saying, say, a 1992 holden Commodore was superior to a Volvo? Different sure - but superior? 🤪
Its too late for tarifs mate!
We had a commodore in the UK it was a vauxhall commodore but it was sackly the same as yours, sad to see Holden go not fair
@@soulsphere9242 umm we wanted them a fair bit, they had the best selling car in Australias history and were one of the best selling car up until 2010, they wouldn't have been around for 50 year's if that was the case, or are you troll and know nothing about the Australian cars or the market
Canada here...
GM has screwed us too, after taking billions in subsidies, moving whatever production we had here to Mexico,
because it is cheaper, in an effort to maximize (wait for it)
profit...
and therein lies the problem.
I do not own a car, and probably won't for the rest of my life,
I do see that there is a need for people with young families to do so.
The distances in both Australia and this country mean that in the face of declining public transport and
the growing need to take care of our only home in this solar system, the fossil fuel driven personal vehicle,
unfortunately still has a place for the next short while.
But it really doesn't have a future.
Unless there is a paradigm shift in propulsion and attitude to profit, both of which are not being evinced
by companies like GM, then the death of local car producers will continue, in the interests of profit.
Eventually, if we want to continue our existence on this planet, the personal vehicle will have to disappear.
Aussie here. I'm 52 and have never owned a car. I ride a bike on dedicated bike paths, walk or rail it. My employment, shops and restaurants are right near my home. I got a license five years ago in case i wanted to hire the latest model for a trip away occasionally. I was married for ten years to a women who also never drove. You can be carless, and married. Its how society once was.
The money I've saved has paid off my mortgage and taken me around the world several times over. I've also had a big renovation done, and am constantly updating my furniture and appliances.
@@soulsphere9242
Even in a largish regional town where all essential services are closely located within the town limits and buses run constantly, you could easily get by without cars. You learn to factor things in.
well, a company's job *is* to maximize profit, but it should be done on a level playing field.
The idea of carrying around a ton or so of metal and plastic powered by a mobile fossil fuel furnace sounded ridiculous to me even as a kid 30 years ago. I'm constantly amazed that they still exist.
@@TheSpoovy
I know what you mean. Not having one is better for you financially, mentally and physically.
I you don't need one, don't own one. The money you save is astounding.
The VE commodore motors you might as well use as boat anchors.
The lack of acknowledgement and respect for the contribution Peter(the King) Brock made to the Holden brand is astounding and telling. Peter Brock did more than anyone in cementing Holden as an Australian racing force as did Craig Lowndes later. Skaife stands in their shadow.
Not forgetting Larry Perkins. Last Bathurst winner running a Holden engine.
Truly amazing that nobody mentioned Pontiac. After all Pontiac was Holden's North American big brother who shared nearly 90% of the parts bin. Only Pontiac was shut down in 2009 making Holden show up on the radar as a money sponge in a market the size of California.
now we're all about *woman's football, soy pies, kangaroo courts and hybrid cars...*
That sums it up in a politically correct fashion, "comrade". Hope they never get you Mate. Keep up the good work, some one has too. Oh for the seventies......
Stuff hybrids, should be electric
@Dr.Science Every thing is wrong with hybrids. They are petrol cars.
The VE Commodore SS based Pontiac G8 eventually was the very last Pontiac that ever rolled off the line in 2008. I know the paramedic who owns it, it's white with a black stripe that says "Last of the Brand".
Loving how diminished consumer purchasing power was very subtly slipped in by the ex-racer. We need to become more co,mpetitive because of globalization, this creates a reason for business's to stagnate wages growth in Australia (to increase our competitiveness in our globalized world) which in turn further reduces consumer's purchasing power (in real terms as our wages don't grow against rising living costs)....Holden collapsed because of Globalisation? Yes, but I argue in a much more economically complex way than the basic text book explanations provided by Delloitte, whom may I add is a leader in an industry recently earning attention for under-paying staff due to over-working them on salaried incomes, she did get one thing right, people are increasingly having to be economical but she has failed to address the big elephant in the room, because people are earning less in real terms and are some of the highest indebted consumers in the world in terms of household debt- maxed out on credit as our earning capacity reduces and unable to purchase Australian made products....in order for Australian products to be more competitive, we need to be paid less....and so now we started to be told by our business leaders and politicians that automation to replace jobs entirely to remain competitive globally is the solution?......it seems like a cannibalistic system to me, much like the theory of negative interest rates, just some food for thought - am interested in hearing yours also.
Although multifaceted, one thing that may help is actually making a product that the world actually wants to buy. Workers in South Korea, Japan and Germany all get decent wages but aren't going through a crisis because they make world-renowned brands that people in every country in the world want to buy and they maintain the prevalence of their brand while also employing the right people to manage their business. Even in Australia, manufactures such as Mack, Kenworth and Volvo make Trucks in Australia, which is doing well with workers getting a decent wage, which demonstrates that you can have a sustainable business even if wages are high. Let's be honest though GM doesn't have this reputation and in terms of developing their products they have always been behind the eight ball and playing catch up. On top of this, GM appears to have horrible management - these are the same guys who turned up in private jets in the US crying poor and wanting a taxpayer bail-out. GM also appear to have always had little regard for the Holden brand and were very uninterested in putting money to develop cars for the Australian market - pretty much just sent over some rebagged cars and if we didn't like well then shut down Holden. If Holden was owned by a more reputable and savvy owner maybe we wouldn't be in this position regarding Holden, maybe.
@@vladthe3rd414 Some great points - However the truck manufacturing examples given have a different consumer base right? It's primarily B2B operations as opposed to retail - but great some great examples of Australian manufacturing to be appreciated none-the-less.
What is that saying again? The fish rots from the head down - you have made some great point regarding GM's management, and on that note, I also found it very ironic when I learnt from this report that Holden the car manufacturer sprung out of old fashioned business innovation to survive in a changing environment - from saddles to cars? Wow! He knew he needed to move to motor vehicles before horse transportation was dead along with his saddle business and that impressed me greatly.
- I would love to see more reports on actual case studies on Australian Business innovation to survive during changing times instead of hearing an endless drum of those blaming cost on their lack of edge in the market. America's race to be the cheapest in the market saw them give China their innovative IP away for free in this race and now complain about having to compete against counterfeits from a country whom they allege does not respect patent laws, Thereby what are the case studies of the businesses that are thriving and surviving in Australia today - what have been their innovations which have led them to survive, innovative business models, innovative products/services, innovative branding?
I argue that we should have more exposure to these kind of stories in our media - more good news and inspiring Australian business stories to balance the endless narrative of big business and big politics tirelessly beating it's the costs! it's the costs! drum?
I mean is It is really? Or is it stale leadership in Business and Politics. Look at where America's race to be cheapest have landed their innovative companies outside of software development (according their own accounts)? Look at Western Australia almost one in ten 24 - 35 year olds are moving out of the State because their is no opportunity for them - some citing lack of innovation and having to move to the states to make their innovative ideas happen - do you know what big business in WA's response to that was in Business News? - We'll import our talent into the domineering resources industry as to be innovative in leading the globe in mining operation automation technology - because relying too heavily on one resources and mining industry in WA is soooooo innovative. The industry which has been causing booms and busts periods since WA's existence under colonization?
And here is some more irony for you with regards to this latest "innovative" idea from that industry - WA's economy also relies heavily on construction including new residential development and construction....the property market has been absolutely smashed over the last 6 years and you know what all our leaders and commentators for that industry were saying late last year - there will be a rebound in Perth prices relative to the rebound in new mining projects and operations. So we are going to be innovative by importing talent to become global leader in mining and resources automation, replacing the jobs whose growth numbers correlate to the success of another industry the state is overly reliant on, whilst our rising stars migrate out of state and country to seek real innovation in the United States?....and so the irony continues, in this case study, the Holden case study and arguably with the use of the term innovation itself.
To wrap this up the highlight for me in this report was definitely the irony in that the lack of inn-ovation by the Holden of new millennium appears to have greatly lead Holden to it's demise in contrast to the innovation which gave birth to Holden the car manufacturer.
dont forget to buy British, the queen needs you, so Boris can show Europe the finger and remmber, to buy Australian its not patrioyic, buy British only...
GM should just hand over the rights to the Australian people we paid for it already after all its our iconical brand it's what made Australia great we can't just turn our backs on our history that's not the Australian way.
One thing no one on here talks about and I know it's a Aus thing. But the effect to it had on the New Zealand mind set to. Some of the Bathurst and the group A top drivers came from New Zealand driving Holdens.
Many Holdens have been restored and modified here as well as Aus.
I really wish the us would have got the ute Pontiacwas going to make a rebadged version of it before GM gave them the axe
GM Brutally assasinated SAAB AUTO aswell, as a swede that has grown up with saab it was sad seeing them go, i bet australians feel the same way with holden. its saad, its saad, but like saab the last cars became soulless and rebadged GM cars.
Tell me one car brand GM has touched and didn't drive it against the wall.
I found the advertising campaign interesting...especially considering the connection to General Motors. The jingle mentioned football, meat pies, kangaroos, and Holden Cars. Here in America the jingle was baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet. Wish someone could tell me if these ads were "invented" together.
There was a Kiwi version of that jingle in the 70s for Holdens
So sad. As a 90s kid my brother and best mate and i were all car obsessed and loved holdens. I remember a time there in the early 00s the majority of school friends parents had a VT, including mine.
GM Holden needed to design, engineer and build an equivalent LandCruiser, HiLux and RAV4 in the early days of those models if it had any chance of survival in the SUV epoch.
My opinion is GM should have rebranded GM Holden as Chevrolet Australia after Australian Holden production ended.
Cars love them, my dad’s first was a Hillman waiting for the FJ. He had every model Holden sedan, wagon, 2 door, 4 door, fast, slow some even no go, then out of the blue a V8 Valiant with a leather top and 3 Minis for spares to save W&T on the Valiant. This spurred me onto a Corona,(I was told by a salesman being more suited to a woman back then rather than look “flashy” and draw attention to myself) Corolla, Chresida then a Datsun Ladybird, a Datsun 240z, a Bugeyed Sprite, MGB and 3 Minis to save W&T on the Z, the bug and the M. When we came to our senses we opted for a Mazda each. What the hell were we thinking? Just glad we didn’t get a Leyland P76
THANK YOU PUT TOGETHER AUSTRALIA HISTORY AS DID HOLDEN ONE TIME IN MY LIFE THAT 1970 HG KINGSWOOD WITH 186 RED WITH 3 SPEED BOX WAS SECOND CAR
5:20 Sorry incorrect.....Price when new: around pound stg. 733 ($1466)
I’ll never forget back in 1984 my old man spoke to a Holden boss. At a function in Melbourne. He told the boss in 30 to 35 years there won’t be a single car made in Australia. The guy laughed and said naaa mate that will
Never happen. My dad said over seas car makers will
Slaughter us on costs by useing cheap labour etc. They said naaa that won’t ever happen to my old man. Well guess what 30 yo 35 years later. Not one car now is bulit here.
As a former GMH tech the warranty was crap the cars would turn up at the dealership with so many faults missing split pins different components not fitted directly etc I stopped owning one one
I dont see why the HQ Holden was such a huge sales success, they are a nice riding ,decent handling car ,and with the Chevrolet running gear were a great package, but most people were buying the standard six cylinder models and they had all sorts of problems, a thirsty and not very torquey motor that sometimes blew the tops off the pistons, a poor quality fibrous cam gear that could fall apart, same with the distributor drive gear, the Tri matic auto trans is one of the worst transmissions ever , the axles snapped like carrots, the Falcon and Valiant were a far better buy as far as reliability is concerned. Once the Commodore's had the Buick running gear they became an excellent car
Once Ford closed Holden was always destined to follow.
Saab went the same way, guess who was the blame of that? It's politics people, nothing else.
BonjourBrecht wake up the lineup was full of unreliable cheaply made garbage. People don’t want to spend their hard earned money on rubbish.
Hello Matt, Saab wasn't garbage, that was a classy quality car Destroyed by GM
to be fair, Saab was struggling financially before GM took over. The 08 crash just meant GM had to cut its least profitable brands, including saab
I remember reading that GM played a major part in the demise of Saab also, I think there was a court case over it.
@@matt-rw6li SAAB committed suicide through it's own arrogance.
When they were independent they were rarely profitable.
Even when they did make a profit is was small.
They didn't have the resources to invest in R & D to develop new technologies.
All of the successful luxury vehicles are subsidiaries of major producers that can afford to design and develop expensive components. Had SAAB cooperated with Opel as Volkswagen and Audi cooperate they could have made a competitive luxury car and still been in business but they insisted on using components that were too expensive for their level in the marketplace.
SAAB has never been considered an equal to a German luxury car and could not command the prices that they could.
Holden died when the vy stopped being made. Most Australians wanted a reliable 6 and once the vz and rattletech came out it was all down hill from there
Haha so true
I still have vz
In terms of Holden's death; it never really existed as a fully Australian brand anyway. Don't forget, every Commodore until the VE wasn't even an Australian design. VB to VL was a slightly modified Opel Rekord with an Opel Commodore front end, and VN until VZ were a slightly modified Opel Omega. Even the Commodore nameplate hailed from Europe.
Proud owner of HZ, Holden for 27 yrs and about to hand down to my son and I am sure it will be with him for many more. Was sad to hear this news when it was announced. True Aussie car
ทำในประเทศที่ดีที่สุดในโลก
holden GM opal GM Australian? i thought it was American?
holden GM opal GM Australian? i thought it was American?
@@adiintel1 my car is 100% Aussie.
@akbar farzin Yes agree 100% I have 253 motor in mine and I love the sound of it and the way she pick's up and go's. I do hope she will be around for a long time, I can't see why not as they are built like tank's. easy to fix and repair. But parts are getting hard to get, over the years we have got owe hand's on a few, so have lots of part.
THAT BLUE CAR at first looks just like a 1962 Chevy Nova !!
TOMAS Holden was a General Motors subsidiary. They mostly raided the GM parts bin, an manufactured in Australia. And also exported GM parts into the logistics trains.
@@casadelshed9128 COOL! THANKS , I saw that part later about G,M. I had no idea the "AUSSIES " had their own car co. !!
@blue heeler NOW THATS COOL !!
@blue heeler that sucks
I've had Holdens in the 1980s. And yes, lived in Perth, Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. At that time it was dinky di as the big Australian sky, the outback, kangas, and yes it was Strine to be drivin' or be driven in one. Well y'know , the globalists paid little attention to those sentiments. It's the almighty Dollar. At least Ford came out with the Falcon-based Territory, but the guys in the states are contend to collect the taxpayer's money. Very cynical. The economy today is skewed, with good paying blue collar jobs vanishing.
lovely stuff
No Mark, Australians weren't "gobsmacked" by the announcement...
@@markhollis362 Haha! Thanks mate. Funny how GM owned Detroit Diesel and flogged them off to Penske. GM seem to have a habit of offloading companies. Then they whinge that they're not making money 😂
Making more and more powerful and luxurious cars had to end due to cost, simple. It's a pity they couldn't have made a more basic 4 cylinder ute and stuck to that.
Because falcons and holden utes out sold hilux for years, people wanted power , the hilux was both thirsty, didn't handle and gutless, only when they were more refined and tariffs changed they became more popular. There's no profit margins in those ute, there rather agricultural and built in Thailand to start with for that reason and compition is high you need a niche, besides a falco six on lpg was far better properistion than Thai built ute in most cases and would eat miles, handle and carry a load
I've owned holdens all my life still do and always will but at end of day gotta keep up with the times Aussies can still keep the Holden strong within the Holden clubs
If you really want to know what happened to Australian industry search for the Lima declaration agreed to and signed by the so called great Gough Witlam
@@denysmith9469 if you want to know what happened to the Australian Automotive industry & much of the rest of Australian manufacturing, look at the introduction of the GST & the many freetrade agreements introduced by the John Howard government.
That billion wasted on VE should have went towards a genuine Holden SUV and twincab ute with hybrid option. These vehicles would have saved the company.
How good was the VE though
@@sampritchard3350
It was a great car......for the wrong time. Rightly or wrongly, SUV's and pickup utes were gaining momentum during the VE years, and Holden should have invested in them. Just imagine genuine Holden SUV and pickup utes built by Holden with diesel, six, V8 and hybrid options?!
I was saying this years before the closure was announced, so why didn't GM/Holden realize it?
VY series Adventra and Crewman. But no-one bought them.
@@railtrolley
Fair point, but they were quite different to the other SUV's and utes that currently sell well. They were car based, and looked like the large sixes they were based on. The Crewman was too long, too low and too cramped in the back. The Adventra looked like a Commodore wagon, not an SUV proper. Buyers could see this.
@@noelgibson5956 I just remembered another one: the Overlander. Not many built.
Own a 63 EJ special, girl isn't going anywhere now, RIP Holden, we miss ya.
ABC acknowledges here the passing of Holden ... and the immediate and surprising / amusing aspect to me is the choice of background rendering, a series of line drawings depicting one of Holden's more obscure Opel-sourced offerings ... the 2015 - 2017 Holden Insignia VXR sedan.
Overseas Workers Have Undercut Australian Made
you mean who?
Chinese
I'm British but i'm still sad and crying that Holden ended
It's no that overseas workers undercut us. it is that we priced ourselves out of the market. Thanks to the unions.
I lived in Australia in 80ties and 90ties. I remember Mark Skafe racing also remember Ansett airlines..... this young generation don't have a clue what's it like driving Holden panel van and fly Ansett. 😊
Give it a few years and they will be worth alot. It may also get exported to different countries. Seen a couple UA-camrs talk about importing one
This made me wanna throw my phone but we only have ourselves to blame because these days we always look for the cheapest items there’s nowhere near as much brand loyalty as there used to be
In all fairness Patty. Why the heck would I personally spend $55-60,000 on a Calais or Calais V when I could buy a European vehicle for the same price, personally I would rather spend my money on a 3 pointed star even if in used condition by a few years. The Cruze wasn't much better and the Captiva, let's not even start on that. The fact is the competition offered better products and still do.
I drive a HJ Kingswood, all these old classics are simply built to last, and this ABC special was Fantastic.
Hey 😆 Ya Not Taking The Kingswood....... I just spit polished the Spark plugs.
MaStrange that no one has proposed to buy such a famous brand in that country
The timing chain problem with the 3.6l engine from VZ on didn't help the situation at all.
The vz had a better chain than the series 1 VE
Owned a VZ for nearly a decade never ever had an issue with timing chains just auxillary components that cost little and quick/easy to swap out. Has been smooth, powerful, reliable and suprisingly fuel efficient. Last Holden had the Ecotec V6 and was a good car with a great engine the alloytec is in a different league
@@sutherlandA1 It comes down to maintenance and luck of the draw. Some people like yourself have been fortunate but so many others have either sold them to get rid of them or spent a lot of money on repairs.
The original engines in the VZ {First 6 months of production} had chain problems. It was fixed. However due to the SAAB/GM design it had a very poor PCV system and extremely low tension piston ring packs. For the extended service intervals required in todays market those engines required a very particular oil blend that was often not adhered to because of expense and misunderstanding. Many blends of oil claimed comparability yet didn't comply with the standard. That and the increased work required to replace the filter {Thanks SAAB } meant that nearly every engine was being serviced at the maximum interval or beyond and when filled with the wrong oil causing solids to form inside the engine. These would sometimes get into the hydraulic tensioner system causing eventual or immediate failure. GM used these engines all over the world in different guises and they all suffered the same fate due to the same reasons. Even today if you walk into Supercheap Auto maybe 1 in 4 oils deemed suitable have the correct additive package that will emulsify the blow by well enough and long enough to meet the recommended service interval. Those oils are always top dollar and rarely discounted.
@silverbird58 Are we talking about the same engine? The Root cause was the design not being tested properly. Ford OHC V8's have also suffered from problems that can be traced back to this type of problem.
"Australia, what's your favourite animal?" It's the trouser snake! 2:29
nice content
At 5:32, I think he means to say Pounds, not Dollars, but hey it's the ABC.Not a bad effort for a half hour program, but any analysis of the changes in the Australian motor industry, should mention the Button car plan which was designed to rationalise a highly subsidised industry. The plan certainly worked!
Would've loved to own a Commodore in Europe, even If it was branded as an Opel. But they never even tried, even though they made the VF LHD.
Go buy it in Dubai.
The Australian government has a duty to bring back car manufacturing to our country ASAP !!!!
When so many Australians struggle to even afford a home anymore, there may be very little care for nostalgia parked in the driveway that costs more than $100 a week to fill the tank.
I don't know, I have 4 ageing GM cars in my driveway, and I quite like this video, maybe you came in the wrong door, love.
As the legends say it
Let’s go there
Moving forward: Other than panels (which are easily remade or formed by skilled craftsman) almost every part was used in another GM product somewhere in the world. Classic car owners - don't panic. Our cars will live on forever!
you completely ignore the well documented history of protectionist tarrifs that they had to get rid of due to wto rules, australia is too small a market to sustain its own auto manufacutfing
thanks, I just asked a question and your post explains a lot of it.
Well said. This is what kill it.
They said my holden torana was too hungry and so they modelled future medium sized cars on the Japanese model. Sadly two generations have missed out on one of the joys of the road, in my humble opinion.
I owned three LX Toranas, the first was only six years old when I bought it and already starting to rust. A friend bought a '77 Toyota Corona around the same time and the features and build quality made the Torana look like a real poverty pack.
Australians would be wise to set up projects to create electric/solar driven cars, given the weather of Australia there is every chance that they could develop electric cars with built in recharging on board.....i mean imagine driving the Nulabour taking your time and stopping for a few nights on the way to recharge or driving up through the center from Adelaide to Darwin stopping at a few places on the way. it would sure beat driving on red eye speed and coffee and would help communities in the out back to survive.
From Pontiac to SAAB, from Opel to Holden. Whats wrong with you, GM🤔
Taxpayers $ can't bail them out enough... They are sinking... No one wants their sub-par products and inflated prices due to union activity. Its a shame really... And this isn't a slag on the unions per se, but stock prices rule the roost and thats what you get when dealing with an american publicly traded company....
NO WONDER it went out of business !! THE steering wheel is on the wrong side !!
The right side is the right side
@@GrimReaper-ly8zk correct
@@kevintango6567 Righto
@@GrimReaper-ly8zk You got that right mate
As non-Australian very much curious as to why at some point in the past when there were far fewer imports of cars, why there was not just a series of taxes or duties put into place that would have so hamstrung those import brands that it would not have been profitable for them to continue shipping to Australia/New Zealand.
Yes it would have limited choice to a large degree so I suppose the general public would not have stood for it (its not like you still couldn't have got imports just very expensive) but it also would have, perhaps, saved an industry. Not that politicians are known for long term thinking.
As example though perhaps not by intention or an identical situation, the varying rates of road taxes etc. paid by Japanese gave rise to the Kei car but also almost completely eliminated vehicles manufactured in Detroit from gaining a foothold.
There used to be tariffs to protect the local industries. Free Trade agreement killed it all.
A show about the rise and fall of Holden brought to you someone of Indian descent. A little bit disrespectful.
Why? Do you know how many people of "Indian or Vietnamese descent" actually worked on the production lines all the way up to management?
Not just at Holden, but at Ford and Toyota as well.
@@gjw45 Oh....in my time, about 95%
@@hkmonaro8153 I think you might be out a little bit with your comment. Population of India is about 1.3 billion, Australia is around 24.5 million.
Anyway...nothing wrong with Indians. Don't cause trouble, never heard of them being in gangs and most are good workers.
@@hkmonaro8153 No shit Sherlock?
I think my response showed that you were exaggerating, don't you? Oh well...nothing like highlighting the obvious that is obvious.
Yes, we have lots of different nationalities living in Oz. Depending on where you live, the influx from one country can appear larger than another. We are multicultural, so nothing is going to change. Complaining on UA-cam will make no difference at all, voting Labor or Liberal will still get you the same results, regardless of what they say. Yes...we will stop the boats said the Libs, as they doubled immigration.
We would all love our country to stay the way it was, I understand what you are saying, I really do. But we are so small and none of our businesses can survive with our tiny population. Nothing we can do or say is going to change it.
But, I've only had good experiences with Vietnamese and Indians, so I refuse to put them down. They were great to work with at Toyota.
I have also been over to India a few times on business. It was an eye opener. Nicest people I have ever dealt with. I swore I would never go there, but had no choice. So glad I did, it opened my eyes. Now, I was staying at a 5star hotel. The people working 12 to 16hr days ALL had some sort of professional degree, but couldn't get jobs and were trying to immigrate to another country. Doctors, Engineers & Dentists were the main degrees. If Australia youth's don't take their education seriously, they are also going to be losing out on professional jobs. It's the way of the world now, sadly.
Commodores & Falcons were replaced in the market by BMW's, Merc's, Audi's & Mustangs. The European luxury cars were effectively cheaper once GST was introduced & import tax removed, Mustangs became the only available V8. Those that think it was due to being heavy on fuel, have a look at how many very large American pickups with big block V8's there are on the road. There have been many comparison tests between the Chev SS (VF Commodore SS) & the BMW M5, they were much closer in performance & comfort than they were in price.
Holden was great ....and so was Ford ..I hate it when people say they weren't , that they were overseas owned ..THE FORD FALCON , HOLDEN COMMODORE /KINGSWOOD/TORANA etc were as Australian as you can get .. Matter of fact about Falcon .. After the U.S . dropped the Falcon in 1970 , Australia picked up the ball and from the XA right through to the FGX were designed and developed in this country .Another fact is that most if not all of the inline 6's including the mighty Barra are entirely Austalian and are regarded so highly..Funny thing is that the North Americans are going gaga over our 6's these days ..The VF Commodore was a beautiful and high quality car and deserves all the credit it gets ...
Missed a big point: by mid 2010’s Aussie buyer valued the image of owning an import as a mark of affluence, style & taste, distancing themselves from the bogan set. ‘Experts’ on this show seem ignorant of this or feel it would be rude to mention.
Bought a brand new Holden in 2012. Most unreliable vehicle I have ever owned and the back up from the dealership was just as bad. If it weren't for the government prop up they would have gone under years ago doing us all a favour by not supplying second rate vehicles.
What model holden are talking about, the vf commodore was a realitvly fast reliable and good handling car. The ironic thing about the above story is Toyota and Holden used to swap badges in 88-91 era of cars, don't you remember the Holden apollo and Toyota lexan
@@hamishfullerton7309 Only in OZ nobody else saw those rebadge cars, Kiwis laugh about the idea
Excellent presentation ABC (Long live the HQ!) LoL
first love for holden standing at fathers work shop in sydney hearing A9x torana race car roll down the drive way the ground rumbled under my feet and never looked back , i owned 1 ford to see why people liked them that car was never sold instead chose to crush the box of shit and bought a VE which i still own today
EH special is my all time favourite Holden...
Unfortunately neither holden and Ford were keeping up with the times of the rest of the world. Technology was Sooo far advanced in other countries
Your going to make me cry 😫
Like for Holden to come back!! ❤️
When you allow companies such as GMH or other overseas companies to set up manufacturing, in low cost of living low income counties and then import them into high cost of living countries to compete against our own manufacturing and workers it comes as no surprise that there is more profit in building them overseas. The big problem with this business model is that by effectively destroying our local manufacturing and allowing this to happen what we are seeing is the destruction of our own way of life as there is very little money in the hands of our own workers. The flow on effect of this is very quickly becoming clear. We have record borrowing and declining economic prosperity particularly in the retail sector as it really exposed to lack of discretionary spending due to low wage growth, employment opportunity and I would wager that this is only the tip of the ice berg there will most certainly be worse to come. But you have to congratulate all those executives and governments and shrewd corporations for exploiting our once diverse and self sufficient country and making obscene fortunes out of doing so only to leave the rest of us behind in a very uncertain environment and future cheers to them all.
Donald Sayers the Lima declaration signed in the seventies by PM Gough has eventually destroyed all Australian industry....it was predicted back then and has finally arrived
This crazy over loaded market of just about every manufacturer represented from the world’s auto industry available to choose from became the hammer just waiting to fall on Ford Falcon, Holden Commodore, and Toyota Camry built here. The modern break-even number of a single model requires a build run of 300,000 plus to be economically viable, the total market in Straya is in the order of a million plus vehicles annually; shared amongst the worlds producers. This fact alone was the elephant in the room, in justifying all local marques to cease building here. Also, we drive on the left, majority of the countries around the globe drive on the right; the volume of cars built for right hand operation is exceedingly small. Commodore ended up being world class, however the market had been shifting to SUV’s since the year 2000, and there was no case to invest another billion dollars in a new model, purely for Australia. GM in America had huge issues, selling off all its international divisions including Holden, as it did with 3 of its own divisions in the US. So one can blame the market more or less for the shutting down of ALL motor manufacturing in Australia, the numbers are just not there. The buyers were no longer there and Holden became increasingly irrelevant.
The demise of the Aussie car manufacturing industry (not just Holden) started in 1984 with the Button Car Plan that gave is “badge engineering” but worse, the progressive lowering of import tariffs, when other countries were keeping theirs or increasing them. It was, and still is utter stupidity.
The fact Julia Gillard touched it explains everything.
I wish they would have separated the assets and try to find new buyers back in 2017, instead of thinking they can just turn it into a re-badging factory, then dumping it entirely once GM sold off Opel. Holden deserved the option to be sold the same as they did with Opel.
Opel is European/German engineering.... i doubt you can compare that to a local made car on an island somewhere in the ocean, how many Holdens got sold in foreign countries? and how many German car brands are sold in Australia? 1 or maybe 2?
GM: Going from a major global player to a minor blip (and shrinking) well inside a generation. Geez they're going well.
Watch the race Sunday, drive away Monday hasn't been the case for years!!
Not since they stopped racing cars your could actually buy!
Exactly right. I can't believe he even said it.....l
Beautiful cars, atrocious customer service.I had nothing but trouble when it came to warranty work.
Need a lil x16 anti aliasing on those renders tho hey
What I want to know is what happened to the 'Holden' component of the relationship? Was GM simply allowed to consume the investment that was the original Australian body producing company?
Holden was a Coach-builder. GM supplied the original mechanicals (Engine,Gearbox ETC..) at first. By 1964 with the EH Holden a new Australian produced 149 & 179 "Red Motor" came along followed by local Gearboxes, Differentials & other Components. 1969 saw the first 253 & 308 V8 Engines, The 308 won a lot of Motor races including Bathurst (so did the red motor in a Locally designed & built Torana) against the might of the imported Ford V8s). Through the entire history though, it was all done the financial and technical backing of GM in Detroit. So...if GM want's to pull the plug on a tiny righthand drive market on the other side of the World, they will. Be PROUD of what Australians did off their own bat during those memorable times!!!!!!
The Holden company had value which should have been protected as part of the deal. Hopeless
@@CrRodney1 Amen
Saddlery company the took on body building after GM bought them
Sad but Holden made one mistake!
Joining GM!!!
the comment that "there is not a car industry in the world is not subsidised by government is totally wrong" and shows the lack of knowledge of the observer. Ferrari is not subsidies and the margin per car for the company is EUR100,000, hence I own Ferrari shares in my super fund.
I want to know what will happen to the branding copy rights and all the intellectual property. Anyone know?
It remains with GM.
Holden Best cars I have owned 👍👍👍
GM thinks putting random badges on rubbish to mediocre cars that look alike will mean profit.
Even Saturn which tried to stand up as a unique car got eaten over by GM’s greed and forced them to lose their uniqueness.
So when times got tough, they just put brands on the chopping block. Like Olds, Pontiac, Saturn, Saab, Holden. Opel was lucky to be bought by Stellantis (Chrysler, Peugeot and company).
Where would Pontiac be without the Monaro base for their GTO?
Oh, they've gone as well.
The free trade agreements ruined the local car industry flooding the market with imports. The car dealers and over promotion of 4 wheel drive SUVs are another factor and that Australian Manufacturers were far too slow in adapting . We should have had our own 4 wheel drive vehicles produced back in the 1960s and should have gone to front wheel drive standard vehicles a lot earlier inline with the Americans and British. We made the mistake of making too many body variants of a similar size large car such as Commodore and we should have made more medium and smaller cars and SUVs .
after watching the old Holden adverts i suddenly have a craving for meat pies!
I mean smaller has been outselling those big cars. Go figure why
22:20 Bollocks: Toyaro/Subota ToyZ4 BMWota