Holden boss says it will return to number one by 2020

THE new boss of Holden, Gerry Dorizas, has boldly claimed the company will be the top-selling car brand by 2020 -- just three years after shutting its factories. He also declared “the Holden brand is here to stay”, ending speculation about a switch to the Chevrolet nameplate.

Holden’s target is regarded as a big call because Holden hasn’t been at the top of the sales charts for 11 years and last year posted its lowest annual result in 20 years. So far this year Holden has even been pushed back to third in the sales race behind Toyota and Mazda.

“The strategy, or the point where we want to go, is to go back to number one,” Mr Dorizas said in his first meeting with Australian media in Melbourne on Thursday evening. “In a boxing match there is 12 rounds … I think we’ve gone through the eighth round and there are still some rounds to go, and we’ll be back.”

When asked how quickly Holden could perform such a dramatic turnaround, he said: “We’re saying 2020”, adding later “and by the way we will always be an Australian brand”. The former Volkswagen executive also believes the current level of record-low new-car prices across the Australian market are “not sustainable”.

Mr Dorizas believes the sales of the market leaders in Australia will diminish in the coming years and their share of the business “will start to come closer together”. Mr Dorizas said better quality imported vehicles in more model segments -- and better customer retention levels -- would help drive Holden’s sales growth.

Mr Dorizas has only been in Australia five weeks but he has already sized-up the competition and even mystery-shopped his own dealer network, using his anonymity to pose as a customer in at least half a dozen showrooms. “At one particular time we wanted to save the factory, now the situation (has changed) so we have to refocus,” he said. “We just need a little bit of time to focus, to reposition our brand, and we will get there.”

Mr Dorizas said Holden had friends in high places in the General Motors world and would be able to get more models that Australians want to buy. The newly appointed president of General Motors Daniel Ammann is originally from New Zealand but now running the company based in Detroit. Former Holden boss Mike Devereux is based in Singapore, responsible for sales in the region.

And the boss of General Motors’ international operations, Stefan Jacoby, is a former colleague of Mr Dorizas when the pair worked at Volkswagen earlier in their careers. Mr Dorizas, formerly of Volkswagen in India, is believed to be the first person in memory to be hired from outside General Motors to run Holden.

In his former roles Mr Dorizas has worked in the computer industry, was once a door-to-door salesman and, before then, a truck driver. Mr Dorizas had worked for Volkswagen in India since 2007, and Mercedes-Benz, Fiat and Hyundai prior to that appointment.

The last eight Holden bosses have come from General Motors’ operations in North America, Britain and Germany and, in most cases, were being groomed for bigger roles within the GM world. The last Australian to run Holden (from 1987 to 1990) was the late John Bagshaw, the son of a Holden dealership sales manager.

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling