It’s been a sad week for the car industry, with the announcement of the Holden brand being retired.
There’s been a lot of talk about Holden’s past and present. But what about the future? There is still one of sorts, with 1.6 million Holdens on the road in Australasia.
The company has guaranteed aftersales support for a decade, so the Holden brand will continue to appear around service outlets, likely derived from the base of dealerships (31 in New Zealand).
In the longer term, niche models might keep a small General Motors presence in NZ and Australia.
In an official statement, Holden said: “GM intends to focus its growth strategy in Australia and NZ on the specialty vehicles business and plans to immediately work with its partner on developing these plans.”
HSV already re-engineers the Chevrolet Camaro coupe and Silverado pickup truck for right-hand drive in Melbourne. HSV’s parent company Walkinshaw Performance is also a partner in American Special Vehicles with Ateco Automotive,
re-manufacturing the Ram pickup truck in right-hand drive; so it knows about this stuff.
First point of GM-discussion is surely the new mid-engined Chevrolet Corvette that has already been engineered for RHD by the factory and was originally destined for Kiwi Holden showrooms. In the wake of the Holden announcement, Chevrolet told US publication Autoblog that the RHD Corvette was still green-lit thanks to other eager RHD markets like the UK and Japan.
If HSV gets involved, it opens to the door to other RHD versions of high-end GM models — GMC Yukon Denali or Hummer EV (to be revealed in May ) anyone?
“We are also saddened by GM’s recent announcement,” said HSV NZ regional manager Andrew Lamb. “[But] at this stage it’s too early to tell the full impact on HSV’s successful RHD re-engineering business.”