Holden Captiva News

ONE of Holden's top selling family cars has unwittingly been disadvantaged by special conditions in the Free Trade Agreement with South Korea that were intended to help the struggling company -- in effect adding up $1500 to the cost of one of its most popular vehicles.Under the proposal, the removal of the 5 per cent import tariff will initially not apply to vehicles with six-cylinder engines -- a move the Federal Government says is designed to protect local car makers as they wind-down their manufacturing facilities.But Holden is the biggest importer of V6 cars from South Korea. Last year Holden sold more than 10,000 V6-powered Captiva SUVs and it was the company's third-biggest selling model behind the locally-made Commodore and Cruze.The policy faux-pas is likely to hurt Holden more than the South Korean brands. Hyundai no longer imports a V6 car and its sister company Kia sells only a small number of V6 versions of its Sorento SUV and Carnival people mover.The Captiva V6 typically sells for between $30,000 and $40,000 and the 5 per cent import tariff added to the wholesale cost of the car is estimated to be up to $1500 on dearer models.Despite the unexpected setback Holden insists it is happy with the Free Trade Agreement; seven of its 11 vehicles come from South Korea and two of the 11 come from Thailand, which has had a Free Trade Agreement with Australia since 2010.A statement from Holden said: "Holden imports several car models and various parts from (South) Korea and exports engines from our Port Melbourne plant. While we have only just started analysing the details of the FTA, our first look suggests it will be good for our business."While the removal of the 5 per cent import tariff on cars from South Korea is expected to start from next year, six-cylinder and V8 cars will be excluded from the free trade deal for a further three years until Toyota, Holden and Ford shut their Australian factories.All three local manufacturers currently produce six-cylinder cars, although Toyota, Ford and Holden also produce four-cylinder vehicles and Ford and Holden also produce V8s. However, the exemption of V8 vehicles in the Free Trade Agreement is unusual given that there are no V8 cars made in South Korea for right-hand-drive markets such as Australia.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

Holden has rolled out the 2014 five-seat Captiva 5 and seven-seat Captiva 7 SUVs with restyling touches, extra equipment and price cuts across the range. Every Captiva 7 is now $2500 cheaper -- with the entry level LS now the only seven-seater coming in  under $30,000 -- while the entry level Captiva 5 drops $2000 and its higher-level siblings are trimmed by $1800.Trim levels names for the Captiva 7 have been made uniform with the Captiva 5 and the rest of the Holden SUV family, with the former SX, CX and LX now called LS, LT and LTZ.Restyling for the Captiva 7 includes a new grille design, front and rear bumpers, LED tail-light clusters and chrome exhaust tips. The LTZ and LT get new integrated side steps, while the Captiva 5 LTZ gets chrome door handles and both the 5 and 7 LT get new 18-inch alloy wheels.Smart key technology with push-button start has been added to across the Captiva 7 line-up as standard.The Captiva has been a popular seller for Holden, with the seven-seat model up 16 per cent last year with 13,282 sales, although the five-seater was down close to 5 per cent at 6751.Holden Captiva 5 prices:Holden Captiva 5 LT petrol manual – $25,990 (-$2000)Holden Captiva 5 LT petrol auto – $28,190 (-$1800)Holden Captiva 5 LT AWD diesel auto – $32,190 (-$1800)Holden Captiva 5 LTZ petrol auto – $31,190 (-$1800)Holden Captiva 5 LTZ AWD diesel auto – $35,190 (-$1800)Holden Captiva 7 prices:Holden Captiva 5 LS 4-cyl petrol – $29,990 (-$2500)Holden Captiva 5 LS diesel – $32,990 (-$2500)Holden Captiva 5 LT AWD V6 petrol – $35,990 (-$2500)Holden Captiva 5 LT AWD diesel – $36,990 (-$2500)Holden Captiva 5 LTZ AWD V6 petrol – $39,990 (-$2500)Holden Captiva 5 LTZ AWD diesel – $40,990 (-$2500)This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott  

Hamilton Holden dealer principal Sally Hamilton says it's "business as usual" at her dealership, despite the car maker's decision to close its Elizabeth manufacturing plant.While the locally made Commodore continued to be popular, the dealership had been recording strong sales of Colarado and Captiva SUVs, both built overseas. "People are buying big, truck-style utes these days," she said. "They are buying luxury levels of utility vehicles." Ms Hamilton said while the Holden decision was a blow to the local community, its 10 Adelaide dealers were focused on a positive future."It's business as usual and it's not going to affect the number of staff we employ," she said. "We will still offer the same quality of service to the clients." She expected sales of cars to continue to rise at her dealership, as well as demand for its service department and sales of Holden parts."I think Holden is an icon, not just in Adelaide, but Australia-wide" she said. "Holden started in Adelaide and there are a lot of families in Adelaide who have been tied up with the plant." Since taking over Hamilton Holden from her father, David Hamilton in mid-2007, Ms Hamilton had maintained annual turnover of more than $50 million. 

Holden has issued a safety recall on the diesel CG Captiva for a production line fault that has seen vehicles built with their fuel feed hose touching the airconditioning suction pipe. The carmaker says that over time the fuel hose could rub against the pipe, creating a hole and the risk of a fuel leak that could catch fire.The recall notice affects 14,230 diesel Captiva 5 and Captiva 7 built February 5 2011 and November 2 2012, powered by the 2.2-litre diesel. The recall is a global one, with the two Captivas built in South Korea and sold in other markets as the Opel Antara and Chevrolet Captiva respectively.Over the recall period, Holden has sold about 20,000 Captiva 7 and 10,000 Captiva 5 models with both diesel and petrol engines.Holden says there have been some field reports related to the recall in Australia. "There have been four reported cases across Australia of a fuel smell related to the problem, but no fires or accidents," Holden spokesperson Kate Lonsdale told CarsGuide. "This is just a precautionary recall."Lonsdale said the fix would take about an hour. "We just recommend that at their earliest possible convenience owners have their vehicles inspected. The dealers are aware of the recall and will certainly prioritise those vehicles as they're brought in," she said.Holden is contacting customers, who can take their vehicles to their nearest dealer for inspection and replacement of the fuel hose if needed.This reporter is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott

That might sound like a silly answer to a serious question, but it's the best solution for optimum shopping in the back end of 2013. You see, Korea now makes better Japanese cars than the Japanese. And that's a fact.There are some exceptions, and some categories where the Koreans are still getting a foothold, but a Hyundai i30 or a Kia Cerato is a far better choice than a Mitsubishi Lancer, a Kia Sportage makes more sense than a Honda CR-V, and a Hyundai Santa Fe is much better buying than a Toyota Kluger.This Korean tide has been rising for a while, but it's now filled showrooms with quality cars that are backed by industry-leading five-year warranties with capped-price servicing costs. The two Korean juggernauts are also serious about tuning their cars for Australian drivers and roads, which is becoming a serious selling point and also a battlefield for bragging rights between Hyundai and Kia.Even Daewoo, which was absorbed into the Holden empire to provide cut-price cars such as the Barina and Captiva, is now doing a better job as the engineering and design expertise from Fishermans Bend is absorbed deeply into the Korean content on the cars. And don't forget that the Aussie-made Cruze compact, despite its local tweaking and assembly in Adelaide, began its life at the GM Daewoo division in Korea.Without getting into a history lesson, the seismic shift between Japan and Korea comes down to three things. First is the deep-seated rivalry between the two countries, second is the well-lit path to success blazed by Japanese makers including Honda and Toyota, and third is the Global Financial Crisis. How's that?Well, nothing makes a Korean businessman happier than beating a Japanese rival, even though the Japanese were the first Asian companies to achieve success in motoring thanks to cars like the Toyota Corolla, Honda Civic and the classy machines that followed. These days, the Nissan GT-R is a legend and the Toyota LandCruiser is an icon.So the Koreans assimilated the Japanese business model for cheap, reliable and sensible cars - think of the Hyundai Elantra and Kia Rio - and then found a way to build them with similar quality at a lower price. There was a time when the cabins of Korean cars stank - because of the 'release agent' applied to plastic parts - and the assembly was slipshod and downmarket, but not today. They also have aircon with Japanese efficiency, always a pointer to intelligent engineering in Australian weather.But it's the GFC which has made the biggest difference. While the Japanese brands panicked, cutting costs and stretching the lifetimes of their cars, the Koreans accelerated their development plans, brought new models, and invested in their dealerships in Australia.The results are obvious now as many Japanese cars - we're talking about the Honda Civic and Subaru Impreza - have lost their previous edge, while others - think Mitsubishi Pajero and Subaru WRX - are way overdue for a remake.In the meantime, Hyundai is now plotting a move upmarket with its luxury Genesis models and Kia is setting a global standard for quality styling thanks to its recruiting of design genius Peter Schreyer. Best of all, when you're buying, it's the driveaway pricing that's been a Korean signature since Hyundai blazed that trail in the 1990s to get nervous shoppers over the line.This reporter is on Twitter: @paulwardgover 

Building Holden Captivas in Elizabeth instead of South Korea is among union suggestions aimed at safeguarding SA car-manufacturing jobs. AWU state secretary John Camillo said Holden sold about 14,000 Captivas in Australia each year and moving production of the 4WD to Elizabeth might help make the factory more sustainable.Holden is in talks with the union about cutting costs at the factory and is asking workers to consider a pay cut. Mr Camillo said: “Our focus is to protect the manufacturing industry in this country. Obviously some people will be happy and some won't be, but we need to lay everything on the table and come up with ideas to help save money without relying on wage cuts.“We have lots of ideas as to ways that could cut costs and building the Captiva here is just one of them.” He said other union ideas included shift changes, less entitlements, such as lease cars, and improving efficiency on the production line.Mr Camillo said Toyota was working on a deal with the Federal Government to secure co-investment to build its RAV4 model in Victoria. But Holden SA corporate affairs manager Sean Poppitt said the move was unlikely because of the “huge capital investment required to input a third model line into Elizabeth”.Holden boss Mike Devereux said this week cutting costs at Elizabeth was vital to maintaining Holden production. “If we (don't have pay cuts in August) it is highly likely we will not make cars in this country,” he said. Unions have planned a meeting for Friday.

The Holden Captiva 5 LTZ comes as standard with 19-inch alloy wheels, leather-appointed trim, eight-way electrically adjustable driver’s seat, heated front seats, and automatic wipers.Just as importantly, the Captiva LTZ has a new design of six-speed Gen II automatic transmission replacing the six-speed unit that was introduced in 2011.The new transmission is aimed at reducing fuel consumption and providing very smooth shifts to exactly match driving conditions and Australian drivers’ desires.  This new automatic transmission is installed not only in the five-seat Holden Captiva 5, but also in the Captiva 7 models.Holden Executive Director of Sales and Marketing Philip Brook said the upgrades are aimed at increasing Captiva’s appeal, and pointed out that, “SUV buyer expectations are changing. More and more customers are looking for a richer equipment list and expect their SUV to have all the convenience features normally reserved for more premium models.“The upgrades give us a great opportunity to increase Holden’s presence in the booming SUV market, particularly at the smaller end of the market.”Holden Captiva is built in South Korea by GM Korea and has a lot of Australian design and engineering work included in it. This gives it an advantage over many other SUVs from Asia and Europe as the engineers are intimately aware of Australian driving conditions and the likes, and dislikes, of typical Aussie SUV owners.

So much for the push towards greener cars. In automotive terms Australia is about to become the 51st state of the USA.Australians are moving closer to North Americans in their taste in vehicles. For the first time ever there is now almost an exact 50:50 split between the sales of passenger cars – and utes and SUVs. The same ratio seen for decades in pick-up and SUV-loving USA. Twenty years ago passenger cars accounted for more than 70 per cent of all new vehicles sold in Australia.Official figures released today confirm January 2013 was the strongest start to a year in Australian automotive history, eclipsing 85,000 deliveries for the first time – and the previous January record set in 2008 before the Global Financial Crisis.The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reports 41,957 passenger cars were delivered in January compared to 41,595 utes, vans and SUVs – a slim gap of 362 sales, or the equivalent of just three days of deliveries for the top-selling car, the Mazda3.“The trend towards SUVs and away from classic passenger cars is all to do with their style and versatility and mass-acceptability,” says David Chalke, a cultural change analyst with AustraliaScan. “Everybody’s doing it, there’s now a fear of being left out.”Chalke says SUVs are no longer the heathens of the road thanks to their new levels of fuel-efficiency. “The new ones use comparatively so little fuel most people don’t think they’re driving a 4WD,” he said. “In fact in many cases they’re not. They are often two-wheel-drive with the appearance of a 4WD.”FCAI chief executive Tony Weber says the mining boom is also driving ute and SUV sales. “Part of is the mining boom, part of it is private buyers seeking new levels of flexibility and cars that better suit their needs.”Australia’s three local car makers – Toyota, Holden and Ford – failed to cash-in. January is typically a slow month for sales of locally-made cars but they dropped by 28 per cent to an all-new low.Just 2722 Australian made cars were delivered in January – which means the combined sales of the Holden Commodore, Ford Falcon, Ford Territory, Toyota Camry and Toyota Aurion ranked third -- an unprecedented status. Mazda3 was the top-selling car (3345 sales), followed by the Toyota Corolla (2960), the Toyota Hilux (2747), and the Nissan Navara (2474).The Ford Focus (2364) had its best month ever -- and helped drive Ford to a 33 per cent sales increase – but it outsold the Falcon by three-to-one. The Falcon (778 deliveries) is now selling at the same rate as the Mitsubishi 380 in the year before the factory closed. Ford’s Broadmeadows throughput is topped up by the production of Territory (up 44 per cent) and ute (down 22 per cent), but sales of both models are well down from their peaks.Holden says it has scaled back production of the Commodore (1650 deliveries) ahead of a new model due in showrooms in June. Toyota sold just 557 Camrys and 227 Aurion V6 sedans (down 57 and 77 per cent respectively). The FCAI’s Weber dismissed the weak sales of locally mades cars as “just one bad month, let’ see where it goes”. “We’re going to continue to see more and more market segmentation,” Weber said. “We won’t see just one car reach the massive volumes of years past.”In other highlights:Toyota was down 5 per cent but is set to lead the market for the 11th year in a row;Mazda outsold Holden to be second in the market for the fourth time ever (previous monthly second-placings: April, September and Dec 2012);Nissan is closing-in on Ford, less than 500 sales behind, threatening to push the Blue Oval brand to sixth;Honda had a blinder month, up 141 per cent from a low base – but still well down on its best year;Audi outsold BMW for the fourth January (previous wins were in ’09, ’11, ’12) and the sixth time ever (after previous wins in Feb ’11, Oct ’11) but Mercedes was top luxury brand;Sales of passenger cars fell by 1 per cent in a market that grew 11 per cent driven by surges in utes (up 43 per cent) and SUVs (up 20 per cent);The delivery of 1878 heavy trucks (up 10 per cent) takes January tally to 85,430.Top selling cars in January 2013Mazda3 3345Toyota Corolla 2960Toyota HiLux 2747Nissan Navara 2474Ford Focus 2364Hyundai i30 2006Holden Captiva 2155Mazda2 1665Holden Commodore 1650Holden Cruze 1630Mazda CX5 1625Top selling brands in January 2013Toyota 13,375 down 4.9pcMazda 8912 up 5.1pcHolden 8811 down 2.8pcFord 7721 up 32.3pcNissan 7248 up 35 pcHyundai 6816 up 4.7pcMitsubishi 4449 down 2.6pcVolkswagen 3824 up 13.6pcHonda 3816 up 141pcSubaru 3104 down 3.2pcThis reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

The company is recalling 51,387 of its imported Korean-built Captiva, Barina, Epica and Viva models after the Korean arm of GM found corrosion issues in the brake control unit, one of the larger recalls in the company's history.The recall notice said General Motors identified a condition where, in some instances, these vehicles may experience a reduced brake performance and or a spongy low brake pedal due to a sticky valve within the electronic brake control module (EBCM).The recall covers 8195 model-year (MY) 2009 and 2010 Barina hatches and sedans built between 2009-2010, 27,778  MY2007-2010 Series I Captiva SUVs, 3723 Epica sedans (MY2008-2010) and 11,691 MY2007-2008 Vivas. GM Holden spokesperson Kate Lonsdale said there have been no incidents of this occurring in Australia. "It has come from a GM Korea initiated recall, we've not actually picked up the condition here - one of the reasons is the brake fluid that we use, or if you get it serviced at Holden dealer, the recommended brake fluid has not been found to cause the condition," she said.Ms Lonsdale said the company was erring on the side of caution as other types of brake fluid might have been used. 'We haven't seen the condition here, but there is still the potential so we want to bring the cars in to double-check as a precautionary measure," she said.Owners are advised to contact Holden to organise a free check on their vehicle. "The check can take two hours for the inspection and they will also do a brake bleed, it will take longer if there is any corrosion found they will also have to replace the (EBCM).""There are no cases here in Australia, we're just making sure and erring on the side of caution, and secondly there's no brake failure, it's a slight reduction and progressive reduction in brake performance and the pedal will become spongy," Ms Lonsdale said.In early 2008 Holden had to recall 88,000 VE Commodore (and WM long-wheelbase models) to fix a fuel lines in the engine compartment that might have rubbed against a fuel vapor hose clip and leaked fuel into the engine bay. The company also recalled more than 90,000 (120,000 if you include exports) examples of the VY Commodore and long-wheelbase WK and WM models after issues relating to unintentional deployment of the side airbag. In late 1996 Holden recalled 75,000 Commodores after automatic transmission problem led to several cars catching fire. Holden will be contacting registered owners by mail but owners are advised to contact a Holden dealer or call the Holden Recall and Rework Assistance Line on 1800 632 826 for more information. 

New car buyers have turned to Sport Utility Vehicles in record numbers, according to the official sales figures released yesterday by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.So far this year the small SUV brigade – including such popular vehicles as the Nissan Dualis, Mitsubishi ASX, Volkswagen's Tiguan and Hyundai ix35 – has grown at an unprecedented rate of 31 per cent. Australians bought 23,845 SUVs of all types last month.Small SUV sales have not come at the expense of the larger models - the medium, large and upper large SUVs all continue to record twenty-plus per cent growth.SUVs have sold 177,100 units this year – or just 20,000 vehicles short of the SUV tally for 2007, which was the record year for vehicle sales. The segment is on track to top 305,000 sales.The FCAI also says SUVs are being bought by both private and business customers. Diesel engines are the powerplant of choice.The sales data shows a 59.9 per cent growth in private diesel SUVs and a 36.3 per cent in non-private sales.One brand that has strong SUV sales to thank is Toyota - Australia's executive director sales and marketing Matthew Callachor said strong performances from Toyota's SUVs helped lift Toyota's sales tally by 26.2 per cent this year."Toyota SUVs sales rose by a massive 58 per cent July-on-July, led by Prado which more than doubled its year-ago result,'' he says.