Photo: Holden
Dear Australian motorists, it saddens us to inform you that Holden will phase out the Commodore nameplate by 2017, when General Motors intends to move vehicle production away from the Land Down Under.
We remind you that GM announced in late 2013 that Holden's fate may boil down to two worst case scenarios – either a Chevrolet rebranding to homogenize global marketing campaigns or rebadged sedans assembled in China to cut production-related costs. Oh deary us...
After Mike Devereux declared to the local media that "I can categorically tell you we have already begun working on the Commodore that comes after this one,” the former Holden managing director told motoring publication Cars Guide the opposite – specifically, the Commodore nameplate will be axed by 2017, and will be presumably replaced by a front-wheel drive sedan underpinned by an Opel platform... which will be built by the Chinese.
More worringly, all 233 Holden dealers will have to come up with anything between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Australian dollars to take up the Chevrolet name. Blimey! That's not quite the rebranding job intended to save GM some money, with all fairness... Further more, shutting down Australian production facilities is another operation that requires a considerable amount of dough. All in all, this is pretty bad short-term management from GM.
Out of the longest running Australian vehicle nameplates, we're on the brink of losing the Falcon and, in the near future, the Commodore will also join the annals of history along with the Holden lion and stone wheel logo.
After Mike Devereux declared to the local media that "I can categorically tell you we have already begun working on the Commodore that comes after this one,” the former Holden managing director told motoring publication Cars Guide the opposite – specifically, the Commodore nameplate will be axed by 2017, and will be presumably replaced by a front-wheel drive sedan underpinned by an Opel platform... which will be built by the Chinese.
More worringly, all 233 Holden dealers will have to come up with anything between 500,000 and 1,000,000 Australian dollars to take up the Chevrolet name. Blimey! That's not quite the rebranding job intended to save GM some money, with all fairness... Further more, shutting down Australian production facilities is another operation that requires a considerable amount of dough. All in all, this is pretty bad short-term management from GM.
Out of the longest running Australian vehicle nameplates, we're on the brink of losing the Falcon and, in the near future, the Commodore will also join the annals of history along with the Holden lion and stone wheel logo.
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