Holden Cruze 2009 News

Holden has announced a recall on 4236 JG Cruze vehicles imported from Korea, due to concern that a rear seatbelt retaining nut was missing. “This could lead to passengers sitting in the centre or driver’s side rear positions not being properly restrained,” Holden spokesperson Emily Perry says. “We’re advising owners that it would be better to not carry passengers in those positions until the car is checked.” Perry says the affected cars were built between November 15 2010 and January 12 2011. Holden is contacting all owners to notify them of the recall. More information is available from Holden Customer Service on 1800 632 826. Meanwhile, nearly every Cruze built in the US since Chevrolet launched the car there last September has been recalled to check the steering shaft. Nearly 150,000 of the cars - which was GM's best seller in the US last month, and played a large part in the company's recent financial turnaround - will undergo the recall because the steering shaft may have been installed incorrectly. In addition, nearly 120,000 of those will also be inspected to check that installation of the automatic transmission shift linkage is correct. However the recall doesn't impact on the Australian Cruze, which is assembled at Holden's Elizabeth plant in Adelaide. "It's just the North American Cruze," Perry says. "It doesn't impact on Cruze production in other facilities and none of the recalled cars were sold outside the US and Canada."

From the threat of global annihilation for some of the world's biggest players to redemption and the promise of a brighter future. From the release of the world's cheapest car to the latest versions of some of the world's most expensive marques. And from Green to Blue, everybody was getting on the eco bandwagon. Even in the volatile world of automotive manufacturing, 2009 has been an adrenaline-fuelled roller coaster. As the year winds down, the Carsguide team takes a look at some of the more extraordinary, exciting and promising moments and happenings that made up the year just gone. The Global Financial Crisis There was no hiding from the effects of this one. While every company across the world felt the shift it was the Big Three Americans that took centre stage. Chrysler, Ford and General Motors were all facing obliteration in the face of skyrocketing debt, poor sales and — many claim — even worse company practice. Ultimately all three have survived to fight another year with GM taking the most amazing journey into Chapter 11 bankruptcy and out the other side within weeks as a re-financed, re-organised and far more tightly-controlled business unit. One of the global sidelights was Porsche playing the markets in a brazen bid to buy the giant Volkswagen Group, before being award an honours degree in hubris when VW, tired of the silliness and bought the iconic sportscar manufacturer instead. For Australia the year started out looking like an unmitigated sales disaster but will finish higher than any of the major players had dared dream about. There is no doubt that the auto-specific benefits in the Federal Government's incentive package of tax benefits and buyer bonuses driven by local manufacturers Holden, Ford and Toyota have played a major role in the buoyancy of the local new car market. The Chinese invasion The on-again, off-again launch of Chinese cars into the Australian market was finally resolved this year with the arrival of the first Great Wall products, a pair of bargain utes. As foreshadowed by critics the utes scored a poor two-star safety rating in crash test but still sold reasonably well on their basement pricing. The first of the passenger models, an SUV based on the same platform, is also in the market and there is much more to follow. Like the Korean cars of 20 years ago the Chinese models lag way behind their competitors on many fronts but they will improve quickly and they are here to stay. Safe and Sound Not before time and with the shadow of government mandates looming the car companies that have been dragging their feet on arguably the most significant safety advance since the seatbelt, electronic stability control, are seeing the light. No longer just for the benefit of buyers of luxury cars ESP or whatever the acronym is used will be a standard component of every new car sold in Australia within a couple of years. A worthy epitaph for 2009. Show time Finally, common sense prevailed between the warring motor show factions in Australia and the decision was made to have one gala Australian International Motor Show a year alternating between Sydney and Melbourne. There is still a little tidying up needed around the edges — a common date and Sydney getting away from Darling Harbour and out to the Homebush Bay precinct would be good but the future looks bright. Shiny and New There may have been an economic crisis but that didn't stop the roll-out of another bumper crop of new models. Holden can rightly claim the biggest surprise of the year with their Korean-made Cruze sedan. The mid-sized sedan has been a runaway success, stunning even the GM marketeers who had no idea of the level of acceptance the little car would enjoy. Suzuki set a benchmark with the tiny Alto, bravely opening up the batting in the sub-micro segment where several other manufacturers are planning to venture in the coming months. The Alto's hero act came during the Global Green Challenge drive from Darwin to Adelaide when the 3-cylinder petrol car dropped into 2L/100km economy on the final city stage. There was plenty of noise during the year as well on the electric car front with Mitsubishi ploughing ahead with plans to have the i-Miev available in limited numbers in 2011. Hybrids also gained further traction with pioneers Toyota unveiling the latest generation of its Prius and rolling out the first of its locally built hybrid Camry. Honda is aiming at having its hybrid Insight available next year while Hyundai is also exploring the mild electric pathway. Globally, Indian manufacturer Tata gave the world the modern answer to the VW Beetle, the tiny Nano people's car with a price tag of around $3000. Plans are already under way for the car to be sold in Europe and possibly Australia. In the world of mainstream motoring VW's Golf has dominated the awards season with win after win around the world, while at the top of the market a couple of the world's most focussed sports car manufacturers felt the need to add some extra seats with Porsche's Panamera and Aston Martin's Rapide following Maserati into the four-door luxury sports market. Rev Me Up Mark Webber's win in the German Grand Prix at the famous Nurburgring — the first for an Australian in 28 years — saw a monkey bigger than King Kong climb off the Queanbeyan racer's back. In a scenario not unusual for any Australian overseas, Webber has not only had to overcome average teams and even more average cars but a good percentage of his home fans nay-saying his ability after 131 F1 starts without a win. Just to prove it wasn't an accident, he backed it up by winning in Brazil towards the end of the year.  

There's a two-year waiting list of 60 buyers for the $580,00 Ferrari F458 Italia, and luxury brands BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi also had strong sales months.  But its just not the high end of the car market seeing good times return.   New car sales rose 20 per cent last month compared to last November.Bargain buys and the Federal Government's small business tax break for new vehicles are driving sales.  Among the star cars last month were the Holden Cruze, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30 and Mazda Mazda3 - all with starting prices around $20,000.Toyota's workhorse HiLux ute was the best-seller for the month, clocking up 4230 sales largely because of the small business incentive package.  More than 85,000 new vehicles hit the road, up 14,000 vehicles compared to November last year.Many businesses are in a last-minute rush to take advantage of government tax incentives for utes and vans, which ends on December 31. "This is an extraordinary result that provides further evidence that the market and the broader Australian economy are showing signs of recovery," Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar said."Business sales increased an incredible 35.4 per cent during the month; spurred on by the substantial incentives available until the end of the year," he said.  The off-roader segment was one of the most popular with sales surging 44 per cent.Top 10 cars - November1 Toyota HiLux 42302 Holden Commodore 39563 Toyota Corolla 33094 Ford Falcon 28635 Mazda3 25486 Holden Cruze 22747 Mitsubishi Lancer 20238 Toyota Camry 20039 Hyundai i30 199810 Toyota Yaris 1725

The Mercedes-Benz E Class is good, the Ford Fiesta is better, but the Golf is best of all from more than 100 new cars that landed in Australia over the past year.

The new Holden compact comes from Korea but is a global design that is much more modern and impressive than the dowdy Epica or the good-value Captiva SUV.

An accelerating Korean auto industry is now within a car's length of equalling sales of our home-grown models.  According to the official car sales figures for October released last week Korean vehicle sales in Australia were up 80 per cent compared to October 2008 and up 23 per cent for the year so far compared to the same period in 2008.Sales of Korean-made cars (12,324) nearly equalled the total sales of all Australian manufacturers (12,822) for the month.  Nearly 20,000 more Korean-made cars have been sold in Australia this year than in the same time last year.  By comparison, locally-built cars are down by 24,594 units, a drop of 17 per cent.Hyundai is leading the way, recording its best-ever October result in Australia, up by 106 per cent over October 2008, and is our fourth biggest-selling carmaker behind Toyota, Holden and Ford.  It's not only Hyundai and Kia that are raising the profile of Korea.The Holden-badged models of Captiva, Cruze, Barina, Viva and Epica are made by GM-Daewoo in Korea. The Renault Koleos is made by Samsung in Korea and Ssangyong SUVs are from a Korean plant.  About 39 per cent of light cars sold in Australia, 27 per cent of small cars and 26 per cent of medium-sized SUVs - including Australia's most popular SUV, the Holden Captiva - are built in Korea.A Hyundai spokesman said: "We are now on the shopping list. There was a time when we weren't but we have won awards - such as the Carsguide Car of the Year in 2007 - which has made people really notice us.  We didn't take our foot off the accelerator when the recession started late last year.  We didn't reduce production and we didn't spend less on marketing. That worked in our favour because people saw us as being constant."Overall car sales in Australia were up in October for the first time in 16 months.  Improvements were across the board covering private, business and rental buyers.  Sales of vans and Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) were particularly strong.And the situation is set to improve when import tariffs drop 5 per cent from January 1.  Some importers, including Mazda and Subaru, have already passed on savings.

 Rebounding new vehicle sales have - for the first month in more than a year - exceeded 2008 figures.  Last month's new car and truck sales from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) totalled 80,813, up 1708 sales - a 2.2 per cent rise on October last year.The October total is the first month since June 2008 that there has been an improvement - all segments except heavy trucks contributed to the improvement.Holden's Adelaide-built Commodore remains the number one seller for the year so far with more than 36,000 sedans and wagons sold, but last month ran third to the Toyota Corolla's tally of 3724 - 269 ahead of the Commodore - and the HiLux light-commercial's total of 3707.Holden's results included Captiva topping the SUV sales charts for October and sales and marketing executive director John Elsworth said the Cruze recording its strongest sales month since it arrived in showrooms in June."We continue to be delighted with the public response to the Cruze - from a standing start it's now the third best-selling car in small car segment," he said.The year-to-date 2009 market of 762,787 vehicles is running behind the same period in 2008 by 11.7 per cent or 101,250 vehicle sales.Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Andrew McKellar said the market was boosted by sales activity in private, business and rental buyers.  "The industry is looking to round out the year on a positive note and we expect a further surge in sales as businesses move to take advantage of the successful tax break prior to the end of the year," he said.Van sales were up almost 20 per cent last month and Rick Castellan has just bought the top-selling van in the segment, a Toyota HiAce.  The 47-year-old director of Castellan Plumbing Services is on his ninth HiAce and the tax rebate sweetened the deal to buy a new one."The deals are good at the moment, one of my other old vans died after being run into the ground, and with the government tax rebate makes it a bit better financially," he said.  Mr Castellan said many of his colleagues and opposition have also updated vehicles because of the tax rebate.  "One guy I know would normally go to the government auctions and gets a two or three year-old van but he worked it out that he's better off buying the new one with the rebate," he said.TOP 10 BRANDS     Sept         (YTD 2009 +/- on 2008)Toyota                      17,888       160,786    -20.6 per centHolden                     10,737        96,404     -12.2 per centFord                           8240          78,529     -12.7 per centMazda                        5637         63,332     -6.5 per centHyundai                     6281         53,906     42.0 per centMitsubishi                 4775         44,867     -14.3 per centNissan                      4484         42,930     -15.6 per centHonda                       2984         34,771     -25.1 per centSubaru                      3302         30,527     -6.4 per centVolkswagen             2626          25,343     -2.7 per centTOP 20 VEHICLES        Sept 2009    Year to dateToyota Corolla               3724              32,200Toyota Hilux                   3707              30,096Holden Commodore     3455             36,085Ford Falcon                   2841              25,411Mazda3                          2211              29,397Hyundai Getz                2198               17,389Holden Cruze                2183               8327Mitsubishi Lancer        2066                 17,071Hyundai i30                   2041              17,913Toyota Camry              1817               16,529Nissan Navara           1689               15,013Toyota Yaris                 1613               15,990Toyota Aurion                1426               11,289Holden Colorado         1378              12,157Ford Ranger               1284               11,046Holden Captiva          1255                 9133Mitsubishi Triton         1251              14,115Holden Utility             1127                 9411Suzuki Swift               1113                 9602Volkswagen Golf         1055             10,096     

The company has also axed its Astra VXR on the back of GM-Holdens decision to can the four-cylinder pocket-rocket and concentrate on the Cruze. HSV had previously looked at introducing both the Insignia and Corsa VXR models from Europe.However, Phil Harding says a hot performance pair will now not happen because they would be too expensive. "The basic issue is we can't launch these cars here and place them in a competitive pricepoint,” he says.Harding remains a big fan of both the hot supermini Corsa VXR and mid-size Insignia, having driven the Corsa in Europe, but says he will not walk into another program that would have a high price point.Harding says the 140kW 1.6-litre turbocharged Corsa had all the attributes expected of a HSV car with a zero to 100km/h sprint time of 6.8 seconds and top speed of more than 220km/h.The company’s experience with the slow-selling $43,000 Astra VXR is also believed to have had some bearing on the decision not to go ahead with the other Euro models. Harding admits the Astra was always going to be a low-volume car.With the Corsa, Insignia and Astra out of the picture, HSV is looking at the prospects of building a HSV Cruze. "I have said previously that we are very excited about Holden's decision to make a locally built Cruze," Harding says. "We are looking at what to do as a business on this model. "Remember we have three brand pillars - performance, driving enjoyment and the look."Harding says both the Cruze sedan and hatch are being studied for HSV. “Our styling department is working on it,” Harding says. “But we have not ticked all the boxes.” Harding would not elaborate on what engine lineup could be expected but says any choice would need to meet HSV performance parameters.

The small-car line-up is being tweaked as Holden puts a greater emphasis on its compact cars following the launch of the Cruze and with Commodore sales still down from their historic highs.The Spark is almost certain to come as a sub-$13,000 benchmark for the brand, while the Astra family has been chopped because it cannot be made price competitive from Europe.The Spark - also called the Daewoo Matiz where it is built in Korea - has just been revealed as a Chevrolet hero for global sales. The design was developed from a series of three baby concepts cars that were displayed two years ago at the Frankfurt Motor Show.It has a 1-litre four-cylinder engine which should make it ideal to compete against the upcoming wave of Chinese imports, as well as growing Holden's range below the Barina. It has fuel economy of just 5.9L/100km and there are also plans for a three-cylinder diesel model in the future."There is lots of interest. We are taking a close look at it," GM Holden's product spokesperson, Kate Lonsdale, admits. "There is a lot of interest. It's not a market we currently compete in, because it's a mini car."Lonsdale says Holden is not rushing to make a decision on the Spark, which is being promoted as a Chevrolet and not a Daewoo in the GM world, because it wants to make the right choice. "Decision time? We cannot say at the moment," she says. "This is a global car. It's the Chevrolet Spark that we're looking at.It's the same as the Cruze, which was always developed as a global product and is now sold as a Holden. But there is no uncertainty on the Astra. It is out, despite a long run of solid sale, partly because Holden is putting all its small-car eggs into the Cruze basket with early sedan imports and then local production of a hatch - and perhaps a small wagon - in Adelaide from next year."We really did look at every way we could continue with the car. It's been a very tough decision, not one we've taken lightly," Lonsdale says. "It's just not viable to import the Astra any more. We wanted to keep Astra but it would not have been competitive." She also denies the Astra move was forced by the emphasis on Cruze. "The decisions weren't strictly linked," Lonsdale says.The Astra is still listed as a five-door hatch from $22,290, with the wagon from $26,090 and three-door SRi from $28,790, but Lonsdale says it is now well into runout with the final supplies already landed from Europe. "We haven't imported any for several months," she says. 

The Toyota four cylinder eclipsed the Holden Commodore by just 35 cars last month to become the biggest seller. It is the fourth time in 18 months it has turned the tables on Holden's locally built big six. The Japanese carmaker sold 3856 Corollas versus 3891 Commodores last month.The Corolla led a modest small car sales spike last month as buyers continue to chase economy purchases over large sedans. Apart from small cars, the latest VFACTS industry sales figures for July reveal that sportscars and off-roaders also recorded positive sales gains.Small car sales were up 2.7 per cent in July compared to the same month last year. Sportscars increased 10.3 per cent while medium and luxury off-roaders were up 2.4 per cent and 7.2 per cent.The FCAI's sales figures show that 75,333 vehicles were sold last month, 8643 fewer than the same month last year. Year-to-date 530,556 new vehicles have been sold, down 15 per cent or 96,115 vehicles, compared to the same period last year.Toyota continues to dominate as sales leader. It has sold 110,897 vehicles so far this year to secure a dominate overall market share of 24 per cent. Toyota's lead is almost double that of its nearest rival, Holden with 66,418 sales with Ford in third spot with 54,239 sales.The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive, Andrew McKellar, said the Federal Goverment's business tax stimulus continued to have a positive knock-on effect on sales.Despite overall sales being down 10 per cent last month compared to the same month last year, business sales remained strong, he said. There was evidence of a flow-on from the very strong June sales result with strong demand for work vehicles, he said. "Particularly from buyers accessing the business tax break on new investments," he said.Some dealers are also reporting waiting lists of several months on certain models because of a backlog of orders on work utes and light commercial vehicles.Top Ten sellers (July) 1 Toyota Corolla 38912 Holden Commodore 38563 Ford Falcon 28344. Mazda3 27855 Toyota HiLux 25636 Hyundai Getz 21477 Mitsubishi Lancer 21298 Hyundai i30 20459 Holden Cruze 198210 Toyota Camry 1717Top Ten brands (July) 1 Toyota 16,6642 Holden 10,2663 Ford 77834 Hyundai 62265 Mazda 60246 Mitsubishi 41667 Nissan 37568 Subaru 28079 Honda 265710 Volkswagen 2361