Aussie Motoring

Earlier this week General Motors announced that it would be closing four plants in the United States and Canada in a cost-cutting exercise that see a reduction in GM’s production of trucks and SUV’s. That was probably to be expected as the cost of fuel rose and the demand for big vehicles diminished.

What was not so obvious though was that General Motors also planned to close part of its plant at Fisherman’s Bend Plant in Melbourne. Reports suggest that up to 500 jobs could be lost and Holden closes the four cyclinder engine production line.

At last there’s some good news for Holden and the motor industry in South Australia. Holden has announced that it will soon be exporting two new cars for the American market from their plant in Adelaide.

Both vehicles will be marketed in America under the Pontiac brand and one of the two will be an Americanised Aussie sports ute. It seems that our poor American cousins have never really been exposed to anything quite like our Aussie sports utes so Pontiac sees it as a “niche” market.

Pontiac will be displaying both vehicles on their stand at the New York International Auto Show that starts next Wednesday.

You can read more about these two vehicles here

… not happy Jan!

The JD Power Group are well-known in the United States for their annual surveys of car buyer satisfaction. Big brand-names like Mercedes have not faired well when consumers are asked to comment on how satisfied they might, or might not be, with the car they’ve purchased and the service they have received.

Now JD Power is doing their surveys here in Australia and Holden and Ford have not faired well. In fact they have done so poorly in the survey they’re at the bottom of the list … in positions nine and ten.

The response by both manufacturers is pretty much what you would expect and you can read more about it here

A frayed fuel hose that could result in a fuel leak that could then lead to a fire has encouraged Holden to issue a recall notice for VE and WM model Holden Commodores.

This recall involves an extensive number of vehicles across a range of Vehicle Identification Numbers. Those involved fall within the following ranges:

VE Model.
6G1E######L000001 to 6G1E######L130299.
6G1E######L554668 to 6G1E######L563931.
6G1E######L814193 to 6G1E######L983864.

WM Model.
6G1M######L000080 to 6G1M######L129470.
6G1M######L550614 to 6G1M######L563928.
6G1M######L814190 to 6G1M######L983785.

Hash (#) represents an alpha or numeric character not relevant to determining affected vehicles.

Several media outlets indicated that owners should return their vehicles to the nearest Holden dealer but the official recall notice states:

Owners of the affected vehicles will be contacted by letter requesting that they contact a Holden Dealer of their choice for inspection and rectification. Further information is available from your Holden Dealer Service Department or the Holden Recall Advice Line on 1800 632 826 between 8am to 7pm EST Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm EST Saturday.

The Australian International Motor Show is on in Sydney at the moment and Holden has taken the opportunity to unveil a concept car fitted with a variable V8.

Under load it will fire on all eight cylinders but at cruising speed the engine will shut down four of its cylinders to improve fuel economy.

At the moment the variable V8 only has concept status but we may see it advance beyond the concept level quite quickly … at least we should hope so.

We’ve always been a nation of big car buyers. There was a time when you weren’t a real man unless you drove a six cylinder, a V8 or even a big 4WD and you could have been considered unpatriotic if you drove anything but a car built in Australia - unless of course you were driving that big 4WD that looked like a tank and could pull the side off a mountain.

But times change, pain in your hip pocket can cause you to make decisions that reflect on your manhood and your patriotism and now we’re beginning to see change in the buying habits of Australian motorists … and the local manufacturers have been caught flat-footed.

Sales of Imported Cars Surge
In the period January to June this year - at a time when new car sales were increasing substantially - less than 20% of cars sold were actually built in Australia. Ford and Mitsubishi were the hardest hit as Australian car buyers looked overseas for their next new car.

Sales of light and small cars continued to climb as did sales of smaller 4WDs. Sales of small 4WD models are up by over 18% while sales of big 4WDs have dropped by over 13%.

And this trend will only continue to become stronger. The strong Aussie dollar means that imports from overseas are cheaper, the rising cost of fuel - tipped to be $100 a barrel by year’s end - will reinforce the appeal of smaller cars and another rise in interest rates tipped for August will further impact on the sales of big cars.

Manufacturers’ Response
And where are the manufacturers in all of this. Toyota is doing very well with it’s Aurion and Camry models but Holden has the VE Commodore with a fuel consumption that hasn’t improved in years. Ford has a new Falcon coming out next year that is just another big car and Mitsubishi is revamping its 380 - a car that hasn’t sold well in the past and probably never will.

It seems that there’s just more pain on the horizon for the local manufacturers. Admittedly Ford has announced that it will begin production of the Ford Focus here in Australia but that won’t begin to happen till 2011 - the first smalal car to be built in Australia since 1999 - and you might be forgiven for wondering if, in today’s ever-changing world, Ford Australia can last that long.

Meanwhile more and more small cars are coming in from overseas as savvy manufacturers take advantage of the Australian car makers inability to respond to market trends and things are only set to get worse for the big car makers when Kia launches it’s new cee’d range later this year. Trendy economical small cars like the Kia cee’d hatch and cabrio will become even more appealing to Australian car buyers.

Holden and Ford have long been Australian icons and they have a very vocal following among motoring enthusiasts … but out in the real world they just plain suck … and it’s official … almost.

It seems that a comsumer website here in Australia - ProductReview.com.au asked owners to rate their vehicles in a number of categories including comfort and reliability. The score was out of five and the results were not good for the homegrown product.

Ford could only manage ninth spot while Holden did even worse coming in at number 15. Subaru topped the poll, Mitsubishi came second and even Hyundai managed a fourth spot.

I’m afraid I’m not currently feeling all warm and fuzzy about Hyundai. We finally got a price on the melted part for our Grandeur that I mentioned way back here - it’s a bit that for some obscure reason has partially melted.

It’s only about the size of a matchbox but it’s going to be a very very expensive matchbox - the part alone costs $1000.00. Yep, that’s right, it’s not a typo - it really is going to cost one thousand dollars.

So right now, from my point of view - if Holden and Falcon suck then so does Hyundai.

It might be last year’s car but it certainly remains a real eye-catcher and now it’s hit the big time in the United States.

The announcement was made today at the Automotive Hall of Fame in Dearborn Michigan that the Efijy had beaten a field of 32 other concept cars and 11 pre-production models.

The photo was taken at last year’s Brisbane Motor Show

You can read more about the award here and you can see more photos and a little bit about the Holden Efijy by following the link

Holden has announced that it will be cutting 600 jobs from its Adelaide workforce. Holden says that increased efficiency at it’s Elizabeth plant and the end of production of the VZ models has meant that 600 positions have become surplus to requirements.

Would Holden ever give fans a voice?

Earlier this week Holden’s American cousin - Pontiac - opened Pontiac Underground, a new website designed to:

“designed to tap into the “street-level” energy of fans from all its active and retired brands by uniting and introducing the hundreds of offline and online groups already in existence”

With the slogan of “Where Passion for Pontiac Is Driven By You” Pontiac is taking the brave step of opening up a site where ordinary Pontiac owners can talk about their good … and bad … experiences of the brand.

2007 Pontiac Solstice

This is something that some companies in other industries have tried with varying degrees of success. Not only do sites like this attract some positive comments but they also give disaffected owners a chance to complain loudly about their problems.

Whether it works for Pontiac or not is something that’s worth watching but it does make you wonder if Holden, or even Ford, here in Australia would be prepared to open a site like this and give their buyers a voice.

You can read more about the marketing industry’s thoughts on the site here