Does HSV understand its Market?

[sjhugh]

Quite a few do, especially the ones wanting to keep their customers. At the hight of the civil boom in south east qld between 3 reps we were hitting budgets of 700-1 mil per month each. During that time you still go out tickling balls, dropping off hats/stubby coolers, cartons of beer etc.

Your perception of anything outside of your little office is blurred by your own ignorance.

I'm done with this. Laters

I totally agree, this is the norm in many sales departments for big ticketed product which is what I would class the purchase of a car as.

Hardly blurred. The car industry doesn't make enough to go out of your way regularly offering to swallow a previous customers load, just to give their low morale an ego boost...:

Well maybe they should, then Aussies may start buying Commodore and Falcon instead of keeping them in business by propping them up with taxes.

When it does happen in retail environments, it more likely a generated email with your name inserted, offering you a deal on something...sound familiar in this thread at all?

I don’t think he was referring to retail environments but if that’s the only argument you have it is already well documented they are suffering greatly because consumers see their customer service as poor to say the least.

Again you are out of your depth when it comes to understanding real business principals, that’s why you are only middle management, if that. It’s not about the value of the product, it’s about the level of service for the price outlaid and the fuzzy warm feeling customers crave. Businesses that address that have a licence to print money.

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[csv rulz]

I have read several road tests over the last year or so, where the likes of
6L Calais V & Senator have been compared with BMW/Benz.....On each occasion the Aussie product has been shaded by the Euro product,.....BUT, NOT BY AN OVERWHELMING MARGIN, the comment being made, in every instance, that the Aussie product represented great value.
Cheers, Pickles.

I think Zorro & Peters comments were not based on the value of aussie built cars but on the after sales service provided. I think that comes down more to the dealer than holden/hsv themselves.

Someone I worked with bought an Astra brand new and was wrapped with the after sales service, getting free gifts etc. She has recently bought a brand new top of the line VW Tiguan with every option conceivable and said the service has been rubbish. 12 months later her satnav and bluetooth still do not work properly. so its not just holden and ford!

[Toddler78]

I think Zorro & Peters comments were not based on the value of aussie built cars but on the after sales service provided. I think that comes down more to the dealer than holden/hsv themselves.

Someone I worked with bought an Astra brand new and was wrapped with the after sales service, getting free gifts etc. She has recently bought a brand new top of the line VW Tiguan with every option conceivable and said the service has been rubbish. 12 months later her satnav and bluetooth still do not work properly. so its not just holden and ford!

Ill play devils adovate here as I do agree with what you, zorro and pater have written but your last paragraph has summed it up perfectly. Your work colleague was happy with the after sales provided, however still jumped shit to a perceived premium brand. No amount of ass licking was going to get them back into a holden after their astra by the sounds of it

[csv rulz]

Ill play devils adovate here as I do agree with what you, zorro and pater have written but your last paragraph has summed it up perfectly. Your work colleague was happy with the after sales provided, however still jumped shit to a perceived premium brand. No amount of ass licking was going to get them back into a holden after their astra by the sounds of it

Her words:

I'd never been able to afford a luxury car before, this was the first time so I test drove the BMW X3 and found the sales people to be very arrogant and it felt like a tractor to drive. Then someone suggest the VW Tiguan and I loved it. However after sales service was much better with the Holden.

[dvscv8]

I think HSV is selling to its current market, not old or long term market.

For example, a mate was told his calais was going to run into dramas soon so he drove to port macquari and went to the holden dealer (this was the same day and port is 7 hours away). He tossed up between the maloo and the ssv. He has no love of cars, does not know about hsv, holden, fpv engine/suspension/gearbox BUT has enough coin to walk into a delearship and sign up for any hsv/holden he wants. I think there are alot of new hsvs being sold like this and as long as they keep selling, HSV will keep pumping them out as its an easy sale. The new style of owners dont love the cars, so HSV dont have to love what they are making/selling.

I dont think these current buyers will last forever but after the bubble bust HSV will pick up their game and bring back some old style value and service.

I was tossing up between a new vess ute and a VU maloo. I asked around on the forum thinking people would hold the maloo in higher standards BUT got no love with some people being jerks. To me, HSV pre VY onwards are awesome. When i was 18, i'd drive out to the hsv dealer at 12am to see the GTS... now, I wait long enough at the lights, and one comes past. I dont own a hsv because i couldnt handle pulling it apart to do what I wanted but one day i will buy a coupe4!

[jai]

There's no greater satisfaction than stripping the engine bay down on a brand new GTS and dropping another 30k on engine mods to make it what it should be. I expect the oem should be able to do the same for 20 there you have it. Haters gunna hate, and modders gunna mod!


iPhone

[dazzrael]

It is one way to do deals. Doesn't always mean the buyer gets the best deal at the end of the day though...

it was the only reason we chose a toyota, we really wanted a suzuki swift or a cruze, but the interest was a killer. thats how they shift cars in the states, low or no interest loans are what has kept what remains of the big 4 in business. If I were a big shot at Holden/HSV I would be seriously looking into something like it

[701let]

I think HSV is selling to its current market, not old or long term market.

For example, a mate was told his calais was going to run into dramas soon so he drove to port macquari and went to the holden dealer (this was the same day and port is 7 hours away). He tossed up between the maloo and the ssv. He has no love of cars, does not know about hsv, holden, fpv engine/suspension/gearbox BUT has enough coin to walk into a delearship and sign up for any hsv/holden he wants. I think there are alot of new hsvs being sold like this and as long as they keep selling, HSV will keep pumping them out as its an easy sale. The new style of owners dont love the cars, so HSV dont have to love what they are making/selling.

I dont think these current buyers will last forever but after the bubble bust HSV will pick up their game and bring back some old style value and service.

I was tossing up between a new vess ute and a VU maloo. I asked around on the forum thinking people would hold the maloo in higher standards BUT got no love with some people being jerks. To me, HSV pre VY onwards are awesome. When i was 18, i'd drive out to the hsv dealer at 12am to see the GTS... now, I wait long enough at the lights, and one comes past. I dont own a hsv because i couldnt handle pulling it apart to do what I wanted but one day i will buy a coupe4!

I really dont understand how you can say that 'the new style of owners don't love the car so hsv don't have to either' are you kidding yourself? Isn't the Ve by far and away the best series HSV have produced?? Not to mention that they happen to look better than any vt/x/y/z put there IMO ...

I don't know what more people like you want from them, they are a great looking an performing car hence alot of people buy them... Isn't that the whole point???

[Pickles]

701.I agree with everything you say, but I would explain the comment "New style of owners don't love their cars" simply because,....some of them don't.....they just buy the car as a
"business" item, a tax deduction,..sure, they like the car, but that's all it is to them..just a car..a method of getting from A to B. This also applies to the market HSV compete with. This is different to the "old days" when we drove our Brock HDT Commodores...we all thought we were pretty special, because we were driving "a bit of Brocky"! It's not HSV's fault,..it's just the way the market is.
Cheers, Pickles.

[Smitty]

I really dont understand how you can say that 'the new style of owners don't love the car so hsv don't have to either' are you kidding yourself? Isn't the Ve by far and away the best series HSV have produced??

yes and no...E1 sales were good very good E2 and E3 not so and really its only the long run of the VE that has continued to give HSV a kick along

Not to mention that they happen to look better than any vt/x/y/z put there IMO ...

the latest look like Disneyland compared to E1 or earlier...even VX models look better than the current in my opinion
who wants fake scoops fake nostrils and fairy lights on a muscle car?

I don't know what more people like you want from them, they are a great looking an performing car hence alot of people buy them... Isn't that the whole point???

hmmm.. appearance is questionable (as I mentioned above) and their performance has been shaded by Fords offerings

maybe if HSV spent more time making the bloody things perform better than sticking fake stuff all over it
less people would complain.....

[VYSHSV8]

701.I agree with everything you say, but I would explain the comment "New style of owners don't love their cars" simply because,....some of them don't.....they just buy the car as a
"business" item, a tax deduction,..sure, they like the car, but that's all it is to them..just a car..a method of getting from A to B. This also applies to the market HSV compete with. This is different to the "old days" when we drove our Brock HDT Commodores...we all thought we were pretty special, because we were driving "a bit of Brocky"! It's not HSV's fault,..it's just the way the market is.
Cheers, Pickles.

I agree I remember when I knew a few people that had the old school cars, you hoped in a Blue meanie and you felt lucky/special as it was closer to the cars that were raced, same can be said for the old Falcon Coupes etc etc, they were taken from the showroom floor and modified

[sjhugh]

I agree with Pickles, people into cars used to buy HSV’s but the demographic has since changed and now they are a mainstream item.

Even one of my neighbours has a new E3 and he has no interest in cars and knows nothing about them. I went over and checked it out when it arrived in his driveway and he told me for a fraction of the cost, his new HSV could scare the pants off a new Ferrari. As I said, no interest in or understanding of cars but he is a modern day HSV purchaser and the HSV plan must be working to some extent to snare fellows like him.

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[planetdavo]

I don’t think he was referring to retail environments but if that’s the only argument you have it is already well documented they are suffering greatly because consumers see their customer service as poor to say the least.

Again you are out of your depth when it comes to understanding real business principals, that’s why you are only middle management, if that. It’s not about the value of the product, it’s about the level of service for the price outlaid and the fuzzy warm feeling customers crave. Businesses that address that have a licence to print money.

.

Yes you may be right.....or you might be one of those minority that demands a regular milking, and I've just offended you with my post...
Maybe you think you've bought a Bentley or a Rolls with your expectations.
MOST buyers "expect" good aftersales service in the maintainence area, rather than the ego massaging manufacturer contact area. They are less likely to buy another one because the car has been a piece of crap, or the service department gave them terrible service, than whether the manufacturer sent them a little chinese made toy once a year or whatever it is you want to get from them for "free". Nothing is free in life, so how much do you spend giving handjobs to previous customers? How many would buy another one whether they get their cheap little chinese toy or not anyway? One thing you definitely SHOULD understand with your self proclaimed understanding of "real business principals" is that you will NEVER please everyone, and if you try, you will either send yourself mad...or more likely, broke.
And one thing you definitely DON'T do is spend your whole life listening to everything the often hardcore nutter types that join internet forums claim is necessary!
Clearly you wont agree with that by your post, but at the end of the day, opinions are like @rseholes...everybody's got one.

[planetdavo]

it was the only reason we chose a toyota, we really wanted a suzuki swift or a cruze, but the interest was a killer. thats how they shift cars in the states, low or no interest loans are what has kept what remains of the big 4 in business. If I were a big shot at Holden/HSV I would be seriously looking into something like it

What my point was that you don't always get the best deal with these ultra low interest rate offers. If you are able to negotiate the best possible purchase price THEN get your 1.9% it's a bargain deal. Better off keeping your cash invested for a much higher return.
However, if you are locked into RRP or a slightly lower "fixed" sale price to get the 1.9%, it's often a sh!thouse deal that has the manufacturer/dealer laughing all the way to the bank.

[Pickles]

What my point was that you don't always get the best deal with these ultra low interest rate offers. If you are able to negotiate the best possible purchase price THEN get your 1.9% it's a bargain deal. Better off keeping your cash invested for a much higher return.
However, if you are locked into RRP or a slightly lower "fixed" sale price to get the 1.9%, it's often a sh!thouse deal that has the manufacturer/dealer laughing all the way to the bank.

Exactly.....If ya getting 1.9%, or for that matter, ZERO %, good luck to you.....BUT, just be aware, NO-ONE GETS ANYTHING FOR NOTHING, so, be aware!!.... the cost of any interest rate "concession" or whatever, will be "built in" to the price of ANY car or whatever.....so let me tell ya, FOR SURE....it'll be there...... somewhere.
Cheers, Pickles.