End of Holden...

[Spktyr]

Originally Posted by PimTac
That's true. It didn't make any sense to have multiple brands under one roof when those brands were the same car except for minor differences and the badge on the hood. It really became apparent in the 70's.


And the buying public began rejecting it in a big way starting in the late 80s, after which GM started trying to make them look more distinct from each other and mostly failing.

This was the rule of thumb from that late 80s - early 90s era (and yes, this is an oversimplification):

Chevy = base car
Pontiac = Chevy with vinyl siding glued to the side and orange lighting
Buick = Chevy with more options standard aimed at older people and the hood opens backwards
Olds = Chevy with a different mousefur interior than the Buick, also aimed at older people
Caddy = Chevy in a party dress with more gadgets.

With the exception of the Caddy, they barely even bothered making them look different from each other. And lest we forget...

Saturn = We tried to clone the 1985 Corolla, left out the long term quality, then we stuck swoopy bodywork on it and shipped it in 1990 when there were far better cars available.

 

[Lapham3]

I figured the end was a few years ago when Ford and GM stopped production. As to some GM Aussie cars not aging well, my '06 GTO is doing OK. For me the negatives are that the diff appears weak and difficult to deal with when it fails and the 'smart' ignition key/remote with a sealed case, soldered in battery and 'one time' programing, is a mess. We see quite a number of friendly and good folks come to the US each summer to visit and also enjoy our car shows-maybe buying some American iron and into a container for shipment home.

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted by Lapham3
I figured the end was a few years ago when Ford and GM stopped production. As to some GM Aussie cars not aging well, my '06 GTO is doing OK. For me the negatives are that the diff appears weak and difficult to deal with when it fails and the 'smart' ignition key/remote with a sealed case, soldered in battery and 'one time' programing, is a mess. We see quite a number of friendly and good folks come to the US each summer to visit and also enjoy our car shows-maybe buying some American iron and into a container for shipment home.

Yeah two comments on here I have lots of questions about.

GTO not aging wheel. I disagree, as you know I travel in LS circles and now a few US Holden clubs, plenty trouble free ones running around with high miles. The diff was certainly a weak point, but the more power you make the more likely you are to break something.

The 6.0 being junk is a flat out lie. Probably one of it not the best small blocks ever produced. I think most here will agree and the amount running with over 400,000 miles in trucks is pretty amazing.

 

[WyrTwister]

If we purchase another car , there is a good chance ( new or used ) it will be GM . Failing that , a Ford .

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted by WyrTwister
If we purchase another car , there is a good chance ( new or used ) it will be GM . Failing that , a Ford .


GM is dumping the bulk of car business coming years in USA so it will be used or a new CUV/SUV/Truck or speciality car.

 

[super20dan]

I disagree about the original Saturn desighn. it was a very good car. we had one for 9 years and had very little trouble in 165k. gm did ruin the Saturn division eventually with more badge swapping using 0pel and others.

 

[super20dan]

the only problem with the 6.0 is the afm

 

[clinebarger]

Originally Posted by super20dan
the only problem with the 6.0 is the afm


Only the Aluminum 6.0L's put in Holden chassis had AFM, Which is the G8 GT & Caprice PPV in the US. A thimble full compared to overall 6.0L production.

 

[nthach]

Originally Posted by pbm
Japanese CEOs seem to have more honor and allegiance to their companies (except Ghosn of course).

Not quite - the C-suite of Hyundai and Samsung found themselves in hot water by the Korean government, the populist movement in Korea helped elect a PM/president when the corruption case involving the chaebols was all the fervor in Seoul. She rode an anti-Samsung, anti-chaebol wave into government.

Mitsubishi Motors covered up a lot of safety issues and Nissan was screwed up before Ghosn took over. Once the Toyoda family loosened the belt around Toyota after Eiji Toyoda stepped down, the last non-family members made Toyota focus on expansion over their core values. Sure, Fujio Cho was at the helm and he was heavily involved with Lexus before the CEO role(the Prius was also conceived when Cho was CEO) but Katsuaki Watanabe was CEO when Toyota started to be the way they are now - and during the quality/safety issues of the 2010s.

Originally Posted by Spktyr
One result of the Obama-Express-Bankruptcy-N-Bailout sham was that with the exception of Rick Wagoner and a few others, everyone else at GM was allowed to stay, so GM's running into the same problems they did before and the leadership isn't any more able to cope with it than before.

Dubya was at the helm over the bailouts of GM, Chrysler and the banks in 2007-mid 2008. I remember that day when the Dow was at an all time low in the summer of 2008 quite well. Ed Whitacre who ran AT&T was the new GM CEO at the time. Daimler broke off their marriage to Chrysler around that time and it was now called Chrysler Group LLC. The former CEO of Home Depot was installed by Cerebus Capital to run Chrysler LLC, after he almost destroyed them.

Obama started Cash 4 Clunkers to help stimulate American auto sales but that ended up helping Toyota, Honda and Hyundai - Toyota saw a very big swell in Prius sales thanks to C4C. I worked at the local Honda dealer at the time, we saw a lot of C4Cs in exchange for Fits, Civics and CR-Vs.

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted by clinebarger
Originally Posted by super20dan
the only problem with the 6.0 is the afm


Only the Aluminum 6.0L's put in Holden chassis had AFM, Which is the G8 GT & Caprice PPV in the US. A thimble full compared to overall 6.0L production.

You beat me to it and not all of those fail. Lots of G8 and PPVs with high miles and idle time with the stock AFM parts.

 

[ls1mike]

Originally Posted by Falcon_LS
Shame, they made some great cars. Just like they're handing over the sedan market to imports in the United States, they're doing the same in Australia.

Originally Posted by ls1mike
I am sorry to see it go. My Caprice has been the best car I have ever owned.
People who own them in the states love them. GTO, Chevy SS, G8, Caprice.
A good portion of us like to badge them properly. Here is mine with a buddies.

That's been a huge thing in the Middle East as well, people go as far as ordering new driver's side airbags with Holden logos on them.

Yep guys here do the complete conversion. Airbag and all!

 

[Spktyr]

Originally Posted by nthach
Originally Posted by Spktyr
One result of the Obama-Express-Bankruptcy-N-Bailout sham was that with the exception of Rick Wagoner and a few others, everyone else at GM was allowed to stay, so GM's running into the same problems they did before and the leadership isn't any more able to cope with it than before.

Dubya was at the helm over the bailouts of GM, Chrysler and the banks in 2007-mid 2008. I remember that day when the Dow was at an all time low in the summer of 2008 quite well. Ed Whitacre who ran AT&T was the new GM CEO at the time.



You have an interestingly counterfactual view of the events, and you don't remember it very well at all.

The bailout (and others) was at Obama's request.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bush-agrees-to-obama-bailout-request/

Further, the GM bailout was NOT in 2007, but December 2008. And again, it was at Obama's request as President-Elect. Plenty of news cites for all of that.

Whitacre was named to run GM *after* Obama took office, forced Wagoner out and Henderson took over.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Whitacre_Jr.

Quote
On June 9, 2009, General Motors named Whitacre as chairman.[16] He took the position when the automaker emerged from bankruptcy proceedings on July 10, 2009.[17] On December 1, 2009, Whitacre became interim CEO following Fritz Henderson's resignation.[18] Since taking the helms, he has been dubbed the GM Reaper by many in blogs, noted for his strong desire to "kill off" brands and projects, such as Saab and a sub-Volt Toyota Prius competitor planned for Chevrolet. In January 2010, chairman Whitacre was appointed permanent CEO after serving in the post in an interim capacity. On September 1, 2010 he relinquished the CEO position to Daniel Akerson but agreed to continue on as GM Chairman to the end of the year.[19]


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Wagoner

Quote
Wagoner resigned as chairman and CEO at General Motors on March 29, 2009, at the request of the White House.


Multiple cites at the Wikipedia links.