LHD GM Vehicles around Melbourne

[chevypower]

So just got back home here after 12 years of living in the States. Just a few days before GM announced it was closing Holden, I saw two brand new 2020 RHD Chevy Silverado 1500s driving around Yarra Valley, and today I saw a brand new LHD GMC Canyon and a Cadillac CT6 on the Napean Hwy. Not sure what GM is planning for its future in Australia, but it seems like something might be in the works.

[xxx000]

Possibly testing new US models here for their market

Or yeah maybe for ours

[383hq]

HSV do the Silverado, (no idea about the Canyon).
C8 corvette coming next year
Blackwing Caddie may supplement this? (I'd buy one at the right price)
There is such potential given Ford have announced no pax cars, and theres a fair gap between a Kia Stinger and your V8 euro sedans now...
Up until exit Oz was used for global year round summer (heat testing) where it suited

[au2000]

Tbh means nothing, they will have already had these here for testing at lang lang, if these are still about melbourne in 18 months time come talk to us then re gm and future plans, their only plan is to get out of oz faster than tourists from china

[roddy1960]

Did anyone see the interview with Tom Walkinshaw during the Adelaide Supercars ? Was hinting that they will have a new manufacturer to race under next year subject to current negotiations ..They asked him if that included GM and he said it was one they were speaking to. They had no plans to continue racing a brand that no longer existed he said outright ...By that he meant Holden of course.

I guess though the vehicle has to actually be sold here to a certain number doesn't it ? Either the manufacturer/s they were talking to are already here or GM is back in the market pretty quick if Walkinshaw's comments are to be believed because they have to sell a certain number of the car shape they race don't they ?

Interesting times in that regard for the Supercars side of things either with or without Holden/GM but it's probably more likely that it'll be BMW for Walkinshaw's team I bet .

Totally joking but imagine if Ferrari came in...Then there really would be "Ford versus Ferrari" movies every week ...

If BMW do come in it'll really shake up pit lane because they have a big DNA in tin top racing .

[roddy1960]

Ryan Walkinshaw of course not bloody old Tom that I typed..brain fade on my part on my last post..apologies ..

[bungarra]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

D
Interesting times in that regard for the Supercars side of things either with or without Holden/GM but it's probably more likely that it'll be BMW for Walkinshaw's team I bet .


If BMW do come in it'll really shake up pit lane because they have a big DNA in tin top racing .

Still remember the 635 JPS cars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RQ8m6DWiMM

[Hulsty]

Nothing unusual, my work currently has a LHD Jeep and Ranger we are using on the roads.

[Bossxr8]

They have vehicles for testing at Lang Lang. They were doing things like transmission calibration etc.

Now that GM have announced they are closing Lang Lang and Holden's R&D operation, the sightings of these LHD vehicles will soon stop.

[383hq]

Not necessecarily,

NZ hosts winter testing for manufacturers, without local manufacturing.
Hot weather testing is typically USA, Australia (Mexico, South Africa have increased social risk) so it might be more unlikely, but not impossible, as great expanses of unpopulated, high probability hot weather make all year round testing for project planning possible.
Costing on an as needed basis probably saves compared to overhead cost recovery of permanent ops too...

[Yellow_Festiva]

HSV nearing new deal with GM!

Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) is about to undergo its biggest change yet, with a new joint-venture with Holden’s parent company, General Motors (GM), to be announced within the next six weeks.

Speaking to journalists at the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 media launch in Melbourne today, HSV boss Tim Jackson said it’s currently “business as usual” for the company following the announcement of Holden’s departure from Australia and New Zealand by 2021.

“We are working with (GM) on what the new world might look like,” he said. “We don’t have any specific news on that today, but when we do have news, we’ll share it with you.

“As you could imagine, we’re making good progress on those discussions.”

Asked if the HSV brand will retired in favour of GM Speciality Vehicles (GMSV), as suggested by GM when it announced the Holden exit, Mr Jackson said: “We are in lots of different discussions, so you could make that assumption if you want, but I wouldn’t be confirming it, denying it, or suggesting otherwise.”

Short of indicating “there’s opportunities”, he was also unable to confirm what GM models HSV is hoping to add to its locally remanufactured range, which already consists of the Chevrolet Camaro sports car and Silverado full-size pick-up.

Mr Jackson added: “We’ll be able to share more in the next four to six weeks, something like that.”

He was also unable to comment on the impact on HSV’s network of 65 dealers, which is also up in the air as the GMSV deal looms.

That said, the Chevrolet C8 Corvette supercar is expected to form part of HSV/GMSV’s line-up, most likely as a factory right-hand-drive vehicle.

The Silverado-based Tahoe and Suburban upper-large SUVs are also on the radar, according to Mr Jackson.

“All future products are in that bucket of ‘we’re working through what that might look like with GM’,” he said. “It’s all in discussion.”

Either way, HSV parent company Walkinshaw Group’s production facility in Clayton South, Victoria, is capable of producing up to 10,000 units per year, with this number also accounting for its American Special Vehicles (ASV) business, which converts Ram models from left- to right-hand drive.

Despite its renewed focus on remanufacturing following the pending discontinuation of the Holden Colorado-based SportsCat ute, HSV might not be getting out of the enhancement game, with Mr Jackson leaving the door open for more locally tweaked GM models.

“I wouldn’t rule it in or out,” he said. “We like making cars better, on certain performance parameters – it’s a lot of fun.

“Performance is a space we’ll continue to look to operate in, so when an opportunity comes up that we think makes sense, we’ll definitely look at it.”

https://www.msn.com/en-au/motoring/o...id=mailsignout

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by 383hq

Not necessecarily,

NZ hosts winter testing for manufacturers, without local manufacturing.
Hot weather testing is typically USA, Australia (Mexico, South Africa have increased social risk) so it might be more unlikely, but not impossible, as great expanses of unpopulated, high probability hot weather make all year round testing for project planning possible.
Costing on an as needed basis probably saves compared to overhead cost recovery of permanent ops too...

GM have their proving ground in arizona for hot weather testing. They don’t need to come here. It’s finished here for holden. It costs about 20-30k to airfreight a car to the us from here. So just think how much it would cost to send a number of variants here and back.

[383hq]

I didn't mention Holden? I agree with your point though

regarding cost and year round testing. How much do you think it costs Euro companies to ship cars to NZ?

moving cars for year round heat testing is cheap considering the costs involved in instrumented test vehicles and development costs. A frontal impact crash test costs 7 figures, USD or AUD....

All I'm saying is that APG and MPG, (including Death Valley test routes) may well need to be supplemented should time to market not be jepordised.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by 383hq

I didn't mention Holden? I agree with your point though

regarding cost and year round testing. How much do you think it costs Euro companies to ship cars to NZ?

moving cars for year round heat testing is cheap considering the costs involved in instrumented test vehicles and development costs. A frontal impact crash test costs 7 figures, USD or AUD....

All I'm saying is that APG and MPG, (including Death Valley test routes) may well need to be supplemented should time to market not be jepordised.

Europe is cold most of the year though. Death valley is hot most of the time. There is no need for gm to send cars here for hot weather testing. Ford do not send cars here for it, they also have a proving ground in arizona.

Japanese and european manufacturers have to send cars overseas. GM and Ford do not.

[383hq]

So the Bronco hasn't done any testing in Australia, they were definately not Instrumented test vehicles.
and the C8 Corvette won't come to Australia, it is definately not RHD,
and the original poster hasn't seen any GM products in Aus.

Got it. Out.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by 383hq

So the Bronco hasn't done any testing in Australia, they were definately not Instrumented test vehicles.
and the C8 Corvette won't come to Australia, it is definately not RHD,
and the original poster hasn't seen any GM products in Aus.

Got it. Out.

The bronco is doing some development work here, i’ve worked on it. Not hot weather testing though.

What’s that got to do with GM though? They are shutting their r&d operations here. Hence will have no reason to test here anymore. The rhd vettes are 100% developed in the us.

[Abzzilla]

GM / Holden usually test LHD cars here in Australia, it may be possible that they are doing suspension tuning, or selling them in the aussie market in the future.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Abzzilla

GM / Holden usually test LHD cars here in Australia, it may be possible that they are doing suspension tuning, or selling them in the aussie market in the future.

Not anymore. The proving ground is up for sale now and there will be no future testing done by GM here. The last engineers on site finish up in August.

[CobraJet351]

I've seen LHD Lincoln's testing here also. They look amazing. Continental and Navigator.

[383hq]

Is there life after Holden? GM trademarks Cadillac for Australia.

https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-new...ustralia-80949

[MITCHAY]

I like them but GM can get ****ed for what they did to Holden. Never buying anything from them ever.

[FPV8U]

Originally Posted by 383hq

Is there life after Holden? GM trademarks Cadillac for Australia.

https://www.carsguide.com.au/car-new...ustralia-80949

Are the Cadillac range built in RHD currently or would this potentially be something like another Walkinshaw conversion program?

There’s been a few whispers in racing circles of Cadillac being the new manufacturer for a very high profile team in 2022 so this would line up with those rumours.

[Franco Cozzo]

Remember like 13 years ago when Cadillac was coming to Australia?

Then it didn't?

Typical bull**** from GM all talk and no action *masturbatory gesture*

Given they've pulled out of RHD globally it'll be something HSV/Walkinshaw would be doing, as such it'll have Nissan R35 GTR pricing with half the performance.

[chevypower]

You would think they would offer their loyal Holden franchisees the right of first refusal for any new GM dealerships. I just noticed typing www.cadillac.com.au into the web browser redirects to the GMSV website.

[MITCHAY]

Originally Posted by chevypower

You would think they would offer their loyal Holden franchisees the right of first refusal for any new GM dealerships. I just noticed typing www.cadillac.com.au into the web browser redirects to the GMSV website.

They have no more loyal Holden base. GM is a bad smell around here.

[hayseed]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

They have no more loyal Holden base. GM is a bad smell around here.

^^^^^^^What He said^^^^^^^^

[XR Martin]

Originally Posted by roddy1960

If BMW do come in it'll really shake up pit lane because they have a big DNA in tin top racing .

Hmm, they said that about Mercedes didn't they?
Granted it wasn't factory backed, but AMG engineers still worked with Erebus.
Apparently they also couldn't understand how a 2 valve pushrod engine could make so much power and torque compared to their 4valve dohc engine.

[chevypower]

Originally Posted by MITCHAY

They have no more loyal Holden base. GM is a bad smell around here.

Yeah I get that, I just meant they should offer the business opportunities to the Holden dealer franchisees who really got screwed with the whole deal.

[au2000]

Originally Posted by chevypower

Yeah I get that, I just meant they should offer the business opportunities to the Holden dealer franchisees who really got screwed with the whole deal.

i doubt there would be a former holden dealer who would want to be a part of it given how it all ended & the compo given to them.