It was announced today on the news and confirmed by Holden that Australia's number one selling car, the Holden Commodore, will very likely be no longer manufactured or designed from 2014 here down under.
Can I say that I am not surprised despite being the owner of a Holden car?
The reason I say this is because there has been an enormous shift from buyers into smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles.
Can I say that I am not surprised despite being the owner of a Holden car?
The reason I say this is because there has been an enormous shift from buyers into smaller and more fuel efficient vehicles.
As living costs continue to rise and family sizes shrink to a 3, 2 or 1 person household, the market for a large 5 seat, 4 door sedan becomes smaller.
Holden Commodore is Australia's number one selling car as a result of the large volume of cars purchased by business or government fleets. This means that a large proportion of cars sold by Holden are subsidised and funded by tax payers.
Sadly, private buyers of the Holden Commodore are in the minority these days.
Like Qantas, Holden plans to shift jobs overseas to compete globally and to reduce their product cost. I understand that for any business to survive, they must build products that consumers want at a price that they can afford to buy.
The extremes of this issue being - (a) you either have a job, but the car is too expensive or (b) you don't have a job, yet the car is very affordable.
Neither outcomes are favourable. There has to be balance and it exists somewhere in the middle.
How much profit is enough for any big business? $2 billion? $4 billion? $8 billion?
The truth is that for such companies, it is never enough, and that needs to change for society to progress.
NB - I am also tired of Holden being referred to as Australian!! Yes it used to be Australian owned but it is in fact, owned and run by General Motors, Detroit, N.America. It WAS an Australian brand, key word being WAS.
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