Holden Press Conference tomorrow

[Jag530G]

According to a Wheels Mag post on facebook, holden will conduct a press conference tomorrow and announce three new cars for 2015. What could they be. I'd say it will be the Opel Cascada convertible and the Astra, both badged as Holdens and the third car, probably the new Captiva or Zafira. I don't think the next model Camaro is released in the US until late 2015 at the earliest, so I doubt it will be that.

The Cascada convertible is a very nice looking car. Holden seemed to have done well in the past with sales of the Astra convertible, so they could do with a sub $50K convertible.

Cheers, Matthew

[offshore]

Im hoping for Corvette C7 and Camaro be about time we got some of these cars over here.

[mjrandom]

The Holden SS imported direct from the US 4 door saloon with LS3 only available in automatic...

[heavychevy]

http://www.autoguide.com/auto-news/2...ic-shocks.html

[offshore]

No cars from the US unfortunately

[Jag530G]

MELBOURNE, May 1 AAP - Holden has for decades billed itself as Australia's own, but
from next year the company will turn to Europe for a new generation of cars.
Holden has unveiled three new models it will sell in Australia from 2015 - the
four-cylinder Astra hatch and Cascada convertible and the V6 Insignia performance sedan.
The model launch at Holden's national headquarters in Melbourne comes two years ahead
of the end of local production in 2017, the end of the road for its Australian-designed
Commodore, Statesman and Caprice cars and smaller Holden Cruze.
The company will also retain a design and engineering role in General Motors through
its GM Australia Design Centre and its Lang Lang proving ground in Victoria.

SO good news for the designers and some engineering capacity will be retained. Interresting the V6 Insignia is returning. The Malibu is 4cyl only although both are based on the same platform. Maybe we won't end up getting the Impala and Holden will fight the mid/large scetor post 2017 with the Insignia, although the next model is in dire need of more rear legroom...

[Toddler78]

hmmm and how well did opel fair in their 12 months on this fair continent?

[Jamolad]

Good to hear they are keeping Lang Lang and some engineers.

I liked this bit: "...the facility will remain operational to ensure future imported vehicles sold by Holden will maintain an "Australian accent" and that its primary role will be to tune cars specifically for local conditions."

[Jag530G]

hmmm and how well did opel fair in their 12 months on this fair continent?

But when Opels were sold with Holden badges on them, they did very well. If Holden offered the Astra for Cruze-ish money instead of pricing it up to compete with VW Golf like Opel tried then I expect the Astra to do very well. Same story with the old Vectra, when Holden sold it with Holden pricing it did well, it only went wrong with the last Vectra when they jacked up the pricing. The Astra badge still has pretty good brand recognition and support by-and-large, better than Ford's Focus although not as good as Corolla or Mazda 3. I don't think they will sell many Insignias whilst the Commodore is still around, but after 2017 the sales of the Insignia wont be cannbalised.

The Cascada should do well for what it is, the old Astra convertible dominated the sub $50K convertible market and the Cascada is a great looking car and would sell at pretty good margins. I'm sure the Holden dealers would be looking for something with a bit of margin in it.

Cheers, Matthew

[korrupt]

The Insignia sounds like a nice bit of kit. TTV6 and AWD. Which competitors is that aimed at ?

[Jag530G]

Something else that was interesting in the Wheelsmag online article is that the Astra and Insignia VXR models will be sold as Holdens, not HSVs. The artcle states that Holden discussed this issue with HSV (TBH, this sounds like Holden doesn't think HSV has much of a future):

http://motoring.ninemsn.com.au/cars/...en-mines-opels

Holden remained tight-lipped regarding prices of the new Opel products, but revealed that talks have already been held with HSV about the performance-focused VXR Astra and Insignia variants.

"Talks have taken place, but I don't think these new products will tread on HSV's toes," said Svigos. "HSV makes its own products and has its own plans."

Cheers, Matthew

[jc_sv8]

Let HSV bring in Corvette's, Camaro's and Cadillac CTS-V's...

[VNV8]

Yeah, I read 'HSV makes its own products and has its own plans' as 'HSV said no'. Let's hope they do bring in some interesting stuff. The insignia seems to be a nice car, Opel did sell a few in the 5mins they were here. The rest though, meh.

[macca_779]

Ok so where are the performance cars coming. Ford has already announced the Mustang is coming. Camaro, CTS-V please, and stop wasting our time on these ricer pieces of junk

[offshore]

He did mention there were further announcements to come. I reckon we're likely to get the Camaro first since it should be a bit easier to convert to RHD. Makes sence and its a simple thing for HSV to modify to just like Lingenfelter in the US.