Commodore exports failing - Carsguide

[prydey]

http://www.carsguide.com.au/news-and...id_east_market

THE troubled Holden Commodore is being withdrawn from showrooms in the Middle East ...

... as exports of Australia's favourite car continue to collapse.


Overseas sales of the Commodore this year are likely drop to around one-tenth of their recent record, 60,518 cars in 2005, because of falling support since then in the Middle East, Brazil and the USA. Last year's total was just 7817 cars. The only bright spots are relatively strong demand for the long- wheelbase Caprice in the Middle East and the growth of police car sales in America.

The export slide has also seen output from Holden's factory at Elizabeth in South Australia fall from 165,000 cars in 2004 to 66,061 last year, although the company hopes local production of the compact Cruze alongside the Commodore will eventually rebuild its total to around 100,000 a year.

"This is why we are doing Cruze. For a plant of our size, on a two- shift operation and depending on what you're building, a good target is around 100,000 cars," Holden spokesperson, Emily Perry, said yesterday. "From an operational point of view, it's not necessarily a bad thing for us."

The Middle East retreat came as this year's sales total for the Commodore, badged as a Chevrolet Lumina, inches toward an insignificant 160 cars. Holden is also likely to soon end a Brazilian export program, despite promising sales of 600 cars in 2010, after the recent imposition of a massive import tariff to protect locally-made cars in the South American country.

"The Lumina is being wound up in the Middle East. We haven't made a decision on Brazil," said Perry. "We said we were going to sell 600 cars there and we've certainly done that. The short-term impact is from the tariff they have put in ... that has added 25-30 per cent to the price of the vehicle."

Holden admitted its overseas sales have been hurt over the past two years by the strength of the Australian dollar, but the company was hit hardest by the end of its G8 export program to the USA when General Motors shut down its Pontiac division.

"The Australian dollar doesn't help," Perry said.

Holden's efforts with the American police car program are improving but the company refuses to give production numbers, waiting for confirmation of deliveries in the USA.

"It's 614 cars his year, and that's in the six-month period since March. They only started being recorded as sales in June," Perry said. "The patrol cars are starting to be delivered. Of course it's gaining momentum."

The export defeats come at a time when there are more and more questions about the future of the Commodore, particularly beyond the VF model that is now confirmed for showrooms in the second half of 2013. But Perry said Holden's efforts, and particularly its production for Australian buyers, needs to be measured against the two other local carmakers, Ford and Toyota.

"If you think that we've sold twice or three times as many locally- made cars as our local volume competitors, that speaks volumes about what we've done. We're nearly double Ford and triple Toyota," she said.

i see they are still talking up their PPV program to the US. 100 sales a month and its 'gaining momentum'!!

as for losing sales brazil, it mentions apart from the strong aussie dollar, the main reason is the 25-30% import tariff the govt has added to protect their local industry. why is it that other govt's around the world do this, to protect their own, and yet our govt REDUCES or ABOLISHES import tariffs on cars!! it just doesn't make sense to me.

seems commodore is no longer immune to bad press.