Holden Astra News

Holden has fallen out of the top 10 most popular car brands in Australia for the first time, as September sales figures revealed, slipping to 11th place last month with just 2863 new registrations.Compared to the same month last year, Holden's sales are d

Some of General Motor (GM)'s global vehicles will carry more of an Australian flavour thanks to the strong localisation and tuning talents of the Holden engineering team.Speaking to CarsGuide, Holden vehicle development manager Jeremy Tassone said the loc

Once a dominate force in Australia’s automotive landscape, Holden has since slipped to out of favour with many buyers since the cessation of local car manufacturing in 2017.

The Holden Astra hatchback range has seen the addition of a new limited-run Black Edition model, based on the RS variant.

Holden has condensed its three-body-style Astra line-up to just one, the hatchback, by dropping the wagon and sedan versions due to low volume and supply issues respectively.

The Holden Astra 2019 range has been reworked, with changes to the model line-up and car’s equipment, and the six-speed manual gearbox option no longer offered on mid-level R+ and RS models.Still priced from $21,490 plus on-road costs - though currently available for $20,990 drive-away - the 2019 Astra range has seen the deletion of the R+ manual and RS manual, but the R and RS-V manuals remain available. Typically manual models are kept to the base variant, often teamed to a lower-output engine, as is the case with the Astra. In R and R+ guise, it runs a 1.4-litre turbo-petrol four-cylinder, while the higher-spec RS and RS-V models have a more potent 1.6-litre turbo.  But Holden says it will retain the base manual R model, and offer a high-grade RS-V manual to appeal to enthusiasts."The rationale of sticking with a manual transmission in the RS-V was to cater for the ‘purist’ element of driving enthusiasts," said Holden spokesperson, Daniel Cotterill.There aren't many aesthetic changes, but R and R+ variants feature redesigned 17-inch alloy wheels and a slightly redesigned front bumper. Aside from the transmission offer adjustments, the 2019 Astra range continues unchanged in terms of mechanicals. The 110kW/240Nm (auto)/245Nm (manual) 1.4-litre turbo-petrol engine continues to be offered in the R and R+, while the 147kW/280Nm 1.6-litre turbo-petrol is offered in the upper-spec RS and RS-V models. The 1.4-litre donk is rated at 5.8L/100km on a combined cycle, with the larger 1.6-litre engine rated at between 6.3L and 6.5L/100km.Standard equipment continues as before, with the base $21,490 (all prices below plus on-road costs) Astra R offering 17-inch alloy wheels, rear parking sensors with a reversing camera, automatic headlights with LED daytime running lights, a 7.0-inch multimedia screen with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, and DAB+ digital radio.The $23,740 R+ then adds a leather-wrapped steering wheel, rain-sensing wipers, an auto-dimming rear view mirror and Holden Eye, which includes autonomous emergency braking with forward collision warning, lane departure warning with lane keep assist and a following distance indicator.The $27,240 RS adds the larger engine, as well as different 17-inch wheels, blind-spot monitoring, keyless entry and start, automatic parking with front parking sensors and heated and electric-folding mirrors.The top of the Astra range is the $30,740 RS-V, which has 18-inch alloy wheels, leather upholstery, heated front seats, a heated steering wheel, LED tail-lights, a larger 8.0-inch touchscreen with inbuilt satellite navigation, dual-zone climate control, remote start for the automatic and LED ambient lighting. Available optionally on the RS-V is a $1990 Touring Pack with adaptive cruise control, high speed AEB and a sunroof. The previously available Matrix LED headlights have been shelved for 2019.So far in 2019, Holden Astra sales are up by 1.3 per cent to 1,845 units, commanding 7.0 per cent and seventh place in the small car segment. The small car segment has sold 26,302 units so far in 2019, which is down 20.2 per cent compared with this time last year. 2019 Holden Astra pricing (plus on-road costs):R manual: $21,490R auto: $22,490R+ auto: $23,740RS auto: $27,240RS-V manual: $30,740RS-V auto: $31,740

The Holden Commodore and Holden Astra model lines are here to stay, according to General Motors Holden chairman and managing director, Dave Buttner.

Holden recorded its lowest monthly market share yet last month, dipping to 4.9 per cent while it transitioned to its new model line-up, including the imported ZB Commodore and Equinox mid-size SUV.The Red Lion, a one-time market leader, claimed eighth position for the first time ever in last month’s VFACTS national sales rankings, trailing Mitsubishi, Ford, Honda and Nissan but just ahead of Volkswagen and Kia.Managing only 4689 units in February, Holden sales were down 18.1 per cent on the same month last year, despite the overall Australian new-vehicle market improving by 7.8 per cent to 95,999 vehicles – the second best February return yet following 2016’s 96,443 units.Holden product and brand communications senior manager Mark Flintoft said the brand had anticipated a slower start to the New Year, but expected to return to form soon.“It’s always our aim to sell more vehicles, and our current market share is not where we want it to be,” he said. “That said, February’s result is unnatural in that new Commodore is only just reaching dealerships, and while Equinox inquiry and test drives are growing, we are still establishing the nameplate.“We’re also waiting on the diesel Equinox which arrives at the end of the month. We’ve got our strongest product line-up ever with more in the pipeline, so we expect to bounce back quickly.”Holden sold only 737 Commodores during the month, representing less than half the total of February last year when 1566 examples of the locally built model were sold.It was also the second month in a row that Holden’s sales took a significant hit, with its January tally down 20 per cent, partly due to a lack of Commodore stock and a flood of ‘demonstrator’ Astras registered in dealerships in December. The newly-minted Equinox amassed just 364 sales last month, good enough for 11th in the evergreen mid-size-SUV segment that was again led by the Mazda CX-5 (2181). While light-commercial vehicles were booming in other showrooms, Colorado sales dipped about 20 per cent, to 1039 vehicles – around a quarter of the Toyota HiLux’s volume.Overall, Holden’s sales are down 19 per cent year-to-date – or 2500 units – while its market share sits at 5.6 per cent, which is well behind its full-year effort of 7.6 per cent in 2017.SUVs and light-commercial vehicles again drove the market last month, up 12.1 and 13.3 per cent respectively year-to-date, while passenger cars slid once more (down 0.7 per cent).Toyota took advantage of the thriving market conditions, increasing its sales by 12.1 per cent, to 18,281 units, which allowed it to again claim first place.Similarly, the HiLux utility was the most popular model in February, tallying 4426 sales – its best-ever return for the month and an improvement of more than 1000 units over last year – to outpace the Ford Ranger (3544) which assumed second place.Mazda totalled 9913 sales last month – down 0.1 per cent – to take second spot on the sales chart ahead of Hyundai which sold 8001 vehicles – up 14.3 per cent – for third position.Mitsubishi and Honda were two of the bolters in February, with the former increasing sales by 24 per cent to 7142 units and fourth spot, while the latter improved 55.3 per cent to 4962 vehicles and sixth place.Strong Ranger sales – up more than 20 per cent – and better performances from its SUVs helped Ford lift its sales by 6.9 per cent to 6059 units and fifth position.Nissan’s Navara utility – which was recently updated – and X-Trail mid-size SUV were central to the seventh-placed Japanese brand’s increased sales, up 9.9 per cent to 4863 vehicles.Volkswagen came within striking distance of Holden for the first time, finishing in ninth spot with 4671 sales. However, it was ahead of Kia (4664, up 11.7 per cent) and Subaru (3901, up four per cent).

Holden Australia has announced pricing and specification details for the Astra sedan, which will kick off from $20,490 before on-road costs (BOC) for the manual LS when the range goes on sale in July.

Holden's new Astra sedan and the imminent Subaru XV crossover have both been awarded five stars from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) in the latest round of crash testing.In handing down the latest scores, the crash safety watchdog took a swipe at Subaru for not offering autonomous emergency braking (AEB) as standard on the base variant, and Holden for not making the technology available on any Astra sedan.ANCAP chief executive officer James Goodwin warned that if car makers want a five-star rating for their cars, they must be fitted with AEB as standard from January 1 next year as the organisation brings its test protocols into line with Euro ANCAP."It is disappointing autonomous emergency braking is not available across the board on two new models, and we continue to encourage consumers to ask for, and brands to offer, this potentially life-saving technology," he said."As our requirements become more stringent next year, it will not be possible for new models to achieve a five-star ANCAP safety rating without an effective AEB system fitted as standard."While the Astra sedan is not offered with AEB, even as an option, the hatch comes with AEB for city driving on all but the base R variant.The South Korean-built Astra sedan goes on sale next month and is based on the Chevrolet Cruze, but Holden has elected to dub it Astra to keep it in line with its new small hatch that was launched in December last year.Despite sharing the same GM Delta II platform as the hatch, ANCAP determined that the two models were different enough in structure, specification and manufacturing source to warrant a separate crash test for the sedan.The Astra sedan achieved an overall score of 34.94 points out of 37, with lower leg protection and driver chest protection rated as 'acceptable', as well as front-seat passenger chest protection. The pedestrian protection rating was also 'acceptable'.The Astra sedan performed better than its hatch stablemate that scored 32.86 points for adult protection – losing points for chest and lower leg impact – to also nab a five-star rating.While the Astra sedan is not offered with AEB, even as an option, the hatch comes with AEB for city driving on all but the base R variant.Lane support systems (LSS) which will also be mandatory come next year is offered as an option on the Astra sedan.The Subaru XV has AEB and LSS on higher-spec variants as options or standard equipment, but the base model has neither.ANCAP gave the Subaru XV its five-star rating based on the crash performance of its hatch and sedan twin under the skin, the Impreza, which was launched in December last year and shares the same underpinnings and sourcing.The Impreza achieved a five-star rating last November, scoring 35.8 points out of a possible 37 for adult occupant protection, only losing 1.2 points for 'acceptable' lower leg and driver chest protection in the frontal offset crash test. Pedestrian protection was rated as 'good'.All of the scores were carried over for the XV which rolls into showrooms in Australia next month.