Holden Cruze News

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

You have to admire any chairman of GM Holden who lands from the USA wearing an HSV lapel pin and then parks a 48-215 in his garage, before upgrading his private ride to a restoration job on an FC Holden.But that is personal opinion and Reuss deserves admiration for what he has done in just 18 months at Fishermans Bend. It's no stretch at all to say he has saved Holden.Reuss rationalised and reorganised the Red Lion brand locally and, crucially, won approval and finance to begin small car production in Australia. The introduction of the Holden Cruze is the key to the company surviving the massive downturn in large car sales in Australia and building a viable future as the Commodore declines.He also cemented the financial plan that allowed the company to survive the global shake-out triggered by GM's move into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. He might be an engineer but the son of former GM president Lloyd Reuss also has a keen ability on finances.Rivals say he can also be a tiger in a meeting.Reuss is succeeded as Holden's chairman by the livewire sales chief Alan Batey, who also began in engineering. He knows what the company needs and what his boss has in place.The only question to be answered now is what Mark Reuss will be doing in the 'new GM' organisation. He heads back to a top-20 job at the company, but his exact post will not be revealed until later today. 

Mark Reuss, the chairman and managing director of the red team, is being recalled to the USA to take up a senior post in the 'new GM'organisation.His successor is Alan Batey, formerly the sales and marketing director at Fishermans Bend.Reuss is the man who drove through the Cruze program for Australia, making a major switch in local manufacturing back to small cars, and also cemented the financial plan which allowed the company to survive the global shake-out triggered by GM's move into Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.He arrived in February 2008 with big shoes to fill, coming in as the successor to Denny Mooney.But Ruess, the son of a one-time president of GM global, was another engineering guru who balanced his ability on that side of the business with a keen ability on finances.Most importantly, he was a fan of Holden who knew the company well from the time he used Holden Special Vehicles as a business model for a high-performance division at Cadillac.He also bought a 48-215 for personal use soon after his arrival in Australia, although he recently upgraded to an FC Holden.Batey arrived at Holden in January 2006 after starting his GM career as an engineering apprentice, although he quickly moved into sales and marketing and was fresh from integrating GM Daewoo into the GM world.

A dying Sydney newspaper this week rather cleverly headlined their coverage of the GM humiliation as “Government Motors Holden”.Not bad that. A flash of the old cleverness.Except, of course, taxpayers forking out to subsidise the building of cars they themselves don’t want is not exactly news in this country.Yeah, yeah, yeah - everyone’s cock-a-hoop that Holden’s remaining 6500 workers, its dealer network, and the thousands whose livelihoods are contingent on this brand, are not going to be out of work. For now at least …The manufacture of cars badged Holden – whether it’s an essentially 20th century six cylinder sedan bought mainly by fleets or a re-badged Daewoo – means the marque remains as firmly clamped to the breast of subsidy as a newborn to its mummy.The federal Government has committed $6.2 billion of your and my money to succouring local car makers. It’s paying Holden to build the globally-engineered, four-cylinder car (and already endlessly spruiked) Cruze here from next year.So it had better be bloody good.It had, in fact – given that Holden has lost $300 million in recent years – be better than the Mazda3.That’s the benchmark for sub-$30K car quality. As the May sales figures showed yet again, it’s the car on which Australians spend their own moneyYes, the ever declining Commodore sold 3683 to the 3’s 3038 – but not one of the Mazda’s sales was to fleets, without which Holden’s scarcely overtaxed production lines would be barely ticking over. Nor can Holden continue to rely on the approximately 75 per cent of bung ’em at out a bargain price fleet orders - not given the haste with which they shed value.So the only question is if Holden is to justify the continued injection of funds from people who really don’t want to buy them, is this: will the Cruze be good enough to trouble the Mazda3?Because if it’s just another anodyne re-badge job – if it’s just another Barina, Viva or Epica – you can officially remove that “i” from icon.

And that’s also a big tick for GM Holden's small-car future.The Commodore's baby brother, the compact Cruze — which goes on sale on June 1 with a sub-$25,000 starting price and into local production next year in Adelaide — earned the top ranking from the Australian New-Car Assessment Program following a series of local crash tests.It joins the locally-made Commodore and Ford Falcon with a five-star rating.The Cruze is the first Korean-made member of the Holden family to gain five stars, as the baby Barina is still only a four-star car despite recent safety updating and the larger Viva also gets four stars. The Captiva SUV, also a four-star performer, is built in Thailand.Development of the Cruze is part of a global program which will spawn a range of mid-sized models around the world. The Cruze is already selling in Europe with a Chevrolet badge and a similar car is sold in Britain as the Vauxhall Insignia.The crash result confirms the Cruze's safety package ahead of its local launch, although pricing is still secret. Even the basic model comes with six airbags, ESP stability control and anti-skid brakes.

There were a couple of late arrivals including the gorgeous new BMW Z4 sportster, as well as more details on everything from the fuel miser Suzuki Alto to the Honda Insight which was shown as a left-hand-drive concept but will soon be sold as a $30,000-something hybrid hero.One of the genuine surprises was on the GM Holden stand, but it was not the Cruze.The unexpected news was details of a couple of limited-edition showroom specials to keep the Commodore ticking along.The International pack for the Commodore sedan and Sportswagon was not a shock, because dollar deals on Australia's favourite car always go well, but the arrival of a limited-edition Senator from Holden Special Vehicles was completely unexpected.The car is priced from $69,990, which doesn't look like much of a bargain until you clock the regular Senator at $80,500.Stripping the price means dumping some stuff, including the excellent 'magnetic ride' suspension, but the mechanical package is based on the latest Clubsport and that will be more than enough for most people."Today's release of the E-Series Senator is designed to appeal to customers seeking the performance our company is renowned for in a subtle - yet identifiably HSV - package, with a very attractive price point," says the managing director of HSV, Phil Harding.Only 89 cars will be built and it still gets 317 kiloWatts and 19-inch alloy wheels. In the style of every limited-edition model the car comes with a special logo, in this case on the headrests."We think it's a good time to put some extra value into the range and the Senator should do well," says Harding.Find out more on the 2009 Melbourne Motor Show

But don't go looking for a flashy futuristic concept car at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre as a pointer down the road at GM Holden.The red team's new hero is surprisingly suburban and normal.The car currently called the Cruze - although it will get a new name for showrooms, and it will not be Torana - is the smaller, greener, export-focussed future machine that Holden desperately needs alongside the Commodore as we all drive deeper into the 21st century.Project Cruze is approved for production in 2010, and could also spark a new four-cylinder engine program for the Holden factory which currently produces the Commodore V6 for local use and export sales.So now Holden is looking to spread the message with ordinary Australians and the motor show appearance is the first step towards a successful sales program.Holden staff on the show stand have been thoroughly briefed on the Cruze concept car which will star for the red team, and they will be able to talk about everything from its fuel economy to cabin space and - probably most import - how it fits into GM's global plans.The new Holden is part of a global mid-sized development program which, as we have already seen with classy cars like the Astra and Vectra, is based in Europe. But it has also been tweaked for cost-effective construction by the GM people at Daewoo in Korea.But, probably most importantly for local buyers, the Cruze will not be just a Viva-style price fighter.It is already being comprehensively tweaked for Australian buyers by the classy engineering team at GM Holden, who are looking at everything from the suspension tuning and steering feel to the shape and support of the seats.We expect more news from Holden today on Project Cruze and will bring it to you as soon as we can.

Holden has accelerated its small-car attack with an early introduction of the Korean-made Cruze.The global compact will be in local showrooms within six months before going into production alongside the Commodore in Adelaide in the back end of 2010.News of the Cruze attack came as Holden chief, Mark Reuss, announced another value-driven effort with the Commodore, which will be re-packaged as the ‘International’ sedan and sportwagon, in March.But Reuss will not confirm any details of the twin-edged effort with the Cruze, which is being put through a major engineering program ahead of local production next year.“This is an imported version. I cannot really reveal our strategy,” Reuss said after introducing the Cruze at the Melbourne Motor Show.“This is an addition to Viva and Astra. It presents us with a new-generation car, a new design and a new way of thinking.”Reuss also talked at the show of the unfolding plan for a Holden version of the GM Volt, even though it will not arrive downunder until 2012.“We could have easily shown you a wild concept or show car, but this is not the show for that. Today it’s about providing real solutions.” The 2009 Melbourne International Motor Show...