Stinger sales in Aust

[Manaz]

The badge belongs to Holden, a once proud home grown Aussie car manufacturer that became a subsidiary of General Motors and has been on the downward spiral since they announced they were stopping production in Australia.

They haven’t built a car or engine in Australia since October 2017, and their sales are reflecting it. They replaced the home grown Commodore (which you would know as Chevy SS in the US) with a model from Opel but made the mistake of still naming it Commodore which has blown up in their face as Australian buyers have begun looking to other manufacturers, predominantly Kia & Hyundai as an alternative.

The bulk of their sales now comes from the Colorado which is built in Thailand. They sell some Chevy products, namely the Silverado and Camaro 2SS & ZL1, both of which are massively over priced for the Australian market mainly as they are factory built LHD and converted to RHD by HSV (Holden Special Vehicles).

Sad as it is to say this once great Australian company is on its last legs, and eventually I think GM will cut them loose which will ultimately see them shut down all together.

That's the crux of it, but it's actually worse.

Holden have probably the worst dealership service aside from Ford (who had the fun of the PowerShift transmission debarkle, and now it turns out Ford themselves knew about it before they even out it on sale).

Holden also took a lot of money from the Australian government to support local manufacturing and then GM in the US just brought it back there to prop themselves up and cancelled local manufacturing anyway (Ford did the same).

There is an active (and at least partially justified) hatred of the brand across much of Australia. The last RWD Commodore was a genuinely good car (the VE was a great car, they called it the "billion dollar baby", and that spawned VE2, VF and VF2, and they improved as they went. Holden have made bad decision after bad decision, treating their customers with contempt.

I nearly bought a VF2 SS-V Redline - they are a genuinely good car, but in the end, could not bring myself to put money into Holden's pockets and rely on their terrible dealership support for years to come.

 

[DCBStingerGT]

Holden also took a lot of money from the Australian government to support local manufacturing and then GM in the US just brought it back there to prop themselves up and cancelled local manufacturing anyway (Ford did the same).

I have mentioned this in the past, but I am a former GM Holden employee, whom worked in their Engine Operations in Port Melbourne, Victoria, the factory that built the V6 Alloytec engine, which is in my 2004 VZ Commodore, and the first to have the Alloytec engine, the last V6 Alloytec we built was for the VFII Commodore, but with SIDI meaning ( Spark Ignition Direct Injection ), the factory closed end of November 2016, and of course, I lost my job.
Earlier in 2016, we had the opportunity to purchase an Employee Only version of the VFII Commodore in either V6 or V8 SS / Redline, but I passed on that. It was badged as the " Reserve Edition ".

 

[westcoastGT]

If they can justify the K900 ..................................

 

[Manaz]

The other thing I didn't mention was the damned awful cars that Holden imported and foisted on the Australian market.

The European Astra was good, as was the Corsa (called the Barina here - you should see what auto-correct called that). But when General Motors bought Daewoo, they replaced the Corsa with a piece of shit - the Kalos.

We also got the Viva (mid-sized hatch), the Epica (mid-sized sedan), the Cruze (twice - once as a sedan, another time the nameplate was used for a pathetic micro SUV), the Captiva (an SUV) and the Trax (a small urban SUV - it replaced the Cruze).

And every car I've mentioned in this post is a steaming pile of shit, with horrid build quality and reliability issues.

Holden tried to tell us that where the cars came from wasn't an issue - and they were right. Korea is clearly capable of producing good cars - but Holden only brought in poorly built shitters, backed by an aggressive, arrogant and self-centred dealer support network and Holden themselves were the same. Their customers never stood a chance.

Holden as a manufacturer could have been saved - both as a full vehicle manufacturer, and certainly as an engine builder. But General Motors ripped cash out of it and threw it away trying to save their own arses. I don't believe Opel needed to be sold either, had General Motors managed themselves more effectively.

 

[crg]

Must have been a sudden uptick in sales. My wife says she saw 4 or 5 yesterday: ceramic grey parked in our suburb, red, couple of whites and maybe one other driving near her work in the neighbouring suburb.

 

[dddd]

Must have been a sudden uptick in sales. My wife says she saw 4 or 5 yesterday: ceramic grey parked in our suburb, red, couple of whites and maybe one other driving near her work in the neighbouring suburb.

Entirely possible, I think there was a lot of people waiting on the G70 but instantly got turned off when Genesis AU revealed the ridiculous pricing on it and immediately bought Stinger GT instead, trust me I should know

 

[Flameangel]

Must have been a sudden uptick in sales. My wife says she saw 4 or 5 yesterday: ceramic grey parked in our suburb, red, couple of whites and maybe one other driving near her work in the neighbouring suburb.

Jeeze, that's a lot in one day, I hardly see any where I live. Iv'e seen 4 in about a year.

 

[Manaz]

I'm starting to see multiple Stingers per day (I often forget to report them in the "Spotto" thread). Two or three isn't uncommon, and I'm not exactly travelling a long distance (~30 minute commute each way on the motorway) or driving in really built-up areas around Sydney.

Flame - if memory serves, you're not exactly living in a bustling metropolis either.

 

[Sime]

Since I’ve owned mine from late feb, I’ve prolly come across another one about 20 times or close to it.

 

[Flameangel]

I'm starting to see multiple Stingers per day (I often forget to report them in the "Spotto" thread). Two or three isn't uncommon, and I'm not exactly travelling a long distance (~30 minute commute each way on the motorway) or driving in really built-up areas around Sydney.

Flame - if memory serves, you're not exactly living in a bustling metropolis either.

Very true makes Sonic unique and head turning