Goodbye Holden

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Soldato
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The last Holden, Fittingly a V8 has rolled off the line.

Although the Holden company remains in business no-one is fooled into thinking that new Holdens will be as Aussie as a Daewoo is a Chevy.

Sad day indeed and I bet that last car has been built par excellence.

Put it in a Museum where it can remain in Pristine condition.

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http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-...well-final-car-ahead-of-plant-closure/9066328

Whilst we were living in Oz my dad had 2 holdens, both Station-wagons.

A HD and a HJ
 
Holden lost Government subsidies whilst at the same time import tariffs (duty) was reduced on imported cars........ Holden failed to recognise and adapt to the fact that Australians are buying cheaper and much smaller imported cars.

the BL car was the same size as their competitors and a similar price...........but the build quality was total rubbish, they were also hideously ugly to behold............we laugh now when we see the Marina, the Allegro, the Princess, BUT they looked just as ugly back then too.

so there's a big difference here, the build quality of Holden cars was much better than British Leyland ever were, the car was simply too large and expensive compared to the cheap imports.
 
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When I was there 20 years ago, albeit slightly out wupwup, you were either a Ford man or a Holden man and if it wasn't a V8 you were a poofter :)
 
[TW]Fox said:
Well yes they did recognise this - there is a full range of Holden badged small cars offered and has been for years.
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Quite a difference between putting a badge on a cars from other GM marques and self developed and manufactured cars though. They only made a couple of sedans and the ute, right?
I don't pretend to be an expert on the matter but I feel like a lot of Aussies had a lot of love for their Holdens, definitely sad to see it come to an end. Drove an HSV Commodore once, it was a proper beast, I can totally get behind cars like that.
 
mollymoo said:
When I was there 20 years ago, albeit slightly out wupwup, you were either a Ford man or a Holden man and if it wasn't a V8 you were a poofter :)
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Yep, that's my outsiders view of it, made a very popular sport out of pitting Falcons against Commodores. That's finished now too, V8 supercars is full of import cars and don't even have V8s any more.
 
Just think about Mad Max getting instant torque though! :p

But yeah, sadly V12, V10 (rare anyway) and V8 engines will eventually vanish, but ultimately if we get batteries and power production right, so will all ICEs.
 
Holden has always been one of my favourite car brands, giving the every day man a massive V8 to play with, whilst also able to take his kids to school and pick up the shopping, all for a very reasonable price. The demise of Holden is a very sad day indeed, but the strength of the aussie dollar meant that their cars were too expensive in foreign countries making export a tiny contributor towards their profits. I recall reading somewhere that the government stopped subsiding the aussie car industry which obviously doesn't help. The biggest problem for Holden however was the availability of imports for considerably less.

What amazes me is how the world seems to think that America is the home of the V8, when in reality I saw ten times as many in Australia as I ever did in America. They love them over there which is probably why doing burnouts is one of their biggest pastimes in motorsport.

Anyway, I took this photo when I was over there, I think this one photo very accurately describes the Aussie petrolhead scene:

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"Scuse me sir, you seem to have a bit of car stuck to your supercharger"

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I have loads more photos, let me know if you want me to post them.
 
Ryan-3 said:
Just think about Mad Max getting instant torque though! :p

But yeah, sadly V12, V10 (rare anyway) and V8 engines will eventually vanish, but ultimately if we get batteries and power production right, so will all ICEs.
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ICEs won't vanish entirely because there are places where EVs aren't an alternative, like in the middle of Africa or up a mountain range. Also millitary vehicles.

But, the fun ones will go :(
 
Years ago I used to race home from work on Saturday afternoon when the Bathurst 500 was on BBC - the sound of those Holdens going down Conrod straight before they put the wuzzi bit in at end was heart lifting - Always been a V8 man but never been able to afford one. Good old Peter Perfect or Brocky as they also called him.
 
Drag racing is huge over there too, this is interesting because the Holden is either 4th 5th or 6th on the list of top selling Aussie cars, depending where you look, but the company isn't subsidised by their governments like other car manufacturers are.

the Hyundai is of course the dreaded i30, but i dont see Honda on the list that's odd, because it's deffo for sale in New Zealand............uuuumm

  1. Toyota – 24,546 (up from 19,876 of May 2017 sales)
  2. Mazda – 12,501 (up from 9903)
  3. Hyundai – 12,251 (up from 8312)
  4. Holden – 9273 (up from 6917)
  5. Mitsubishi – 9266 (up from 6521)
  6. Ford – 8853 (up from 7617)
  7. Kia – 6737 (up from 5005)
  8. Nissan – 6690 (up from 5083)
  9. Volkswagen – 6447 (up from 5080)
  10. Subaru – 5201 (up from 4146)
 
DXP55 said:
Years ago I used to race home from work on Saturday afternoon when the Bathurst 500 was on BBC - the sound of those Holdens going down Conrod straight before they put the wuzzi bit in at end was heart lifting - Always been a V8 man but never been able to afford one. Good old Peter Perfect or Brocky as they also called him.
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Just get an LS400, it has one of the best V8s ever built and can be had for peanuts. They came fully forged from the factory afaik so will do about 600hp. If I had more room to keep it, I'd buy one. Great sleeper :P
 
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Nasher said:
Just get an LS400, it has one of the best V8s ever built and can be had for peanuts. They came fully forged from the factory afaik so will do about 600hp. If I had more room to keep it, I'd buy one. Great sleeper :p
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It's a lazy motor with pretty low output made for a luxury car application. It's hardly like you just but a cheap old barge, wave a magic wand over it and suddenly find yourself in a speed demon.

Oh and Mal X, NZ is not Australia.
 
Clarkey said:
It's a lazy motor with pretty low output made for a luxury car application. It's hardly like you just but a cheap old barge, wave a magic wand over it and suddenly find yourself in a speed demon.

Oh and Mal X, NZ is not Australia.
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It's pretty popular for drifting cars so it can't be that lazy.
 
mollymoo said:
When I was there 20 years ago, albeit slightly out wupwup, you were either a Ford man or a Holden man and if it wasn't a V8 you were a poofter :)
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Times changed, everyone drives a 4wd, almost no utes and very few saloons. Occasional XR6 or SV6. V8 quite uncommon. I rented both and they were excellent for travelling with 4 adults and luggage.

Young people usually have a focus, barina, a Subaru or some other medium sized UK car as insurance and fuel is obviously a concern for them.

The market realised there is no need to buy a V8, and the competition was making better small/medium cars for less than they would produce them for in Australia.

In the country I wouldn’t buy a saloon for fear of smacking a kangaroo and totalling the car in the evening miles from nowhere. My wife used to commute 120km a day and never had an accident but you’d tuck in behind a truck and follow it home.

In a 4wd it will just bounce off the ARB bar.
 
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