Time to keep your Holden. Gm pull the pin in Holden in aus.

[Micks]

Very sad Rod, makes you wonder if Holden will stick to the 10yr support promise, I don't think so!!

[whitels1ss]

I remember when Eddie Lapaglia, the father of Anthony Lapaglia the famous actor used to own that place back in the 1980's.
(He had it as a car yard then rented it out as an investment later.)

Eddie was a used car dealer / wholesaler in Adelaide & "young Tony" as he was known back then used to tag around the trade with him.

They were always immaculately dressed and really nice people.

[BLACK 346]

I remember when Eddie Lapaglia, the father of Anthony Lapaglia the famous actor used to own that place back in the 1980's.
(He had it as a car yard then rented it out as an investment later.)

Eddie was a used car dealer / wholesaler in Adelaide & "young Tony" as he was known back then used to tag around the trade with him.

They were always immaculately dressed and really nice people.

Slightly off topic, but we finally got to watch the 4 part series City Of Evil last week. Anthony Lapaglia is the compare/narrator for the series. I did not know that he was a Crow Eater until then.

[whitels1ss]

Slightly off topic, but we finally got to watch the 4 part series City Of Evil last week. Anthony Lapaglia is the compare/narrator for the series. I did not know that he was a Crow Eater until then.

When he was in his late teens, early twenties he also worked part time selling shoes in Rundle Mall
& he was a male model in catalogue advertising for menswear for places like Harris Scarfe.

[Micks]

GENERAL Motors has squandered its opportunity to depart Australia in an orderly manner by low-balling by a country mile its compensation for its 220 Australasian dealers.

In doing so, it has brought down upon itself a legal and political firestorm that could include public cross examination and humiliation of key Holden executives past and present in a Senate inquiry and most likely in the legal proceedings that are sure to follow if GM does not change its stance on compensation.

Shocked dealers say their compensation packages are being offered on a blank sheet of paper with no Holden letterhead and no name or signature.

The sudden impact of the withdrawal on dealers is only just hitting home with only enough stock on hand to keep their showrooms open until mid-April or early May. And dealers say they are being told that they will not be able to keep their service departments open unless they apply to Holden and sign a new service and parts agreement.

Dealers say that such a move would be held over them and would be designed to keep dealers complicit and cave in on the GM offers because keeping Holden service operations is so vital to tiding them over until they can make plans for their Holden facilities.

It would also appear to go against statements made by GM at its recent press conference that Holden owners would be able to get their cars serviced at their Holden dealership for another 10 years.

Right now ‘town hall’ meetings are being held across Australia with dealers and with forensic accounting and legal teams which are outlining how far apart GM is from providing truly equitable compensation.

Dealers are signing on to an initiative that will inevitably lead to those dealers taking part in a class action if GM does not settle on a fair result. It is estimated that 150 dealers will join the joint action by the end of this process.

Dealers are saying that Holden’s offers are at least one fifth of what is reasonable in the circumstances, and in some cases one tenth. Calculations by accountants familiar with dealers’ books suggest that claims on GM will total $2 billion – about the same that the General Motors Company makes in profit in a typical three months of operations.

GoAutoNews Premium has been told: “There is no appetite in the network to settle on these numbers.”

The background steps have already been taken to prepare the matter for trial.

Dealers are saying: “Step up and offer us full value or we will make this very, very painful for you.”

Politically, pressure is coming from the Australian parliament and this is where it gets messy for current and previous Holden executives where steps to prevent Holden dealers from taking on other brands in order to protect and diversify their businesses will come under the spotlight.

During an unprecedented period of new brands entering the Australian market, Holden was refusing permission for its dealers to open dealerships for any new brands on pain of losing their Holden franchise.

Dealers will argue that in denying them the opportunity to spread their business risk across other brands, GM took on a special responsibility to ensure its Holden plans were successful.

Given their plans were spectacularly unsuccessful, GM therefore must accept responsibility for refusing those other brands and compensate the dealers for hobbling their business prospects.

Dealers will also be attempting to establish that at the same time Holden was encouraging dealers to invest heavily in the brand with new or upgraded premises, GM had already embarked on internal strategies that would lead to GM leaving right-hand-drive manufacturing worldwide which meant Holden dealers would no longer have cars to sell.

That it has come to this sorry pass is entirely down to the way GM has managed the process.

Had GM allocated funds for a fair compensation package then dealers would have licked their wounds and got on with reorganising their businesses as best they can.

But the package is so far away from being fair (it is said some offers do not even cover staff redundancy costs), battle lines have been drawn and as a consequence of the mismanagement of the process, Holden executives face cross examination from senators in the Australian parliament.

Of particular interest would be evidence by Jim Bunnell, the GM senior executive sent to Australia to manage the exit arrangements with Holden dealers, should he be called.

Mr Bunnell has a reputation among GM dealers overseas, who have felt the heat of his blowtorch, as being one of GM’s ‘hard men’. He has been called out of retirement to handle the Holden dealer exit arrangements.

Mr Bunnell is a GM expert in network rationalisation and guided GM through the exit of Chevrolet in Europe, South Africa and India. Mr Bunnell, or someone else high up in Detroit, may well be able to cast light on just when GM drew up its plans to end RHD production.

This is significant because dealers now believe that while they were being encouraged to focus on Holden and invest in the brand with statements like ‘a return to 10 per cent market share’ or ‘22 more Holden models to be launched in Australia’, someone in GM already knew that Holden was finished.

Dealers say the Senate inquiry is therefore important as it can seek the truth under parliamentary privilege.

It is also important because it has the potential to expose to the wider business world the internal browbeating that goes on between many OEMs like GM and their dealers and this could get a lot out into the open at the time when the dealers are working to get their special automotive retailing franchise code over the line.

As earlier reported, Holden dealers, via the AADA, met with the prime minister Scott Morrison last week and then with key members of the opposition.

Following those meetings, a Senate hearing was set down to investigate the impact of the decision to leave Australia on Holden owners, including servicing and repairs, and will be scrutinising the effect on dealers, workers and research and development facilities.

In a statement a Holden spokesman said: “Holden is doing the right thing by its dealers during this difficult time. We believe the offer is fair.

“In most cases Holden dealers will receive compensation a factor of four times the average Holden new car profit/unit of all dealerships over the 2017-2019 fiscal years. This number includes the sale of highly profitable domestically produced Commodore units in 2017/18.

“The compensation formula Holden is using is applied consistently for all dealers and covers reasonable earning expectations from the New Holden sales department over the remaining portion of the Dealer Agreement. All dealers also have the opportunity to continue as Holden Authorised Service Outlets, maintaining their current service and repair client base. This is a consistently very profitable part of their businesses.

“The proposed compensation also includes a provision to reimburse dealers for a portion of their unamortised investments in their new car showroom, as well as full reimbursement of unamortised investments in Holden dealer signage.”

[Pickles]

Pretty good info Mick.
Thanks, Martin.

[BLACK 346]

To all our valued customers and followers of the City Holden brand.

It has been an incredibly tough few weeks for us with the recent announcement that General Motors will be retiring the Holden brand in Australia and New Zealand.

City Holden opened its doors in 1979, and for the past 41 years have been a proud supporter of this iconic Aussie brand.

City Holden team


We will continue to support all our customers and are committed to ensuring that your vehicle will be looked after in every possible way including the following:
•All warranty, including recall work for your vehicle, service and spare parts will be honoured by Holden for at least the next 10 years through City Holden.
•Our 3 service departments in Hillcrest, Rose Park and Mile End South will continue and are open for business to ensure that all your servicing needs can be maintained, including any “Free Servicing” campaign offers and any Capped Price Servicing on Holden vehicles.
•Our Hillcrest site will continue as a service centre only, providing a convenient service facility for our customers in the north-eastern suburbs
•Our sales department will be centralised at our brand new, state of the art facility at Mile End South

•If you have any concerns or would like to discuss our new locations in more detail, feel free to give John Rankin, our General Manager, a call on 8223 7666 or email him at jrankin@cityholden.com.au




We will continue to sell New Holden product as per Holden’s media release until the end of 2020 or until stocks run out, so come in and take advantage of the heavily reduced pricing. Be sure to check out our stunning new showroom now open at 152-156 Railway Terrace, Mile End South.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank all our customers and staff members who have been part of the City Holden family over the past 41 years, and as our business continues to grow we look forward to sharing with you what’s on the horizon. So if you are or have been a customer of City Holden & HSV please keep a look-out in your inbox for important updates.

Julian Newton
Dealer Principal
City Holden

Edit: It was John Rankin that looked after us personally when we had a whole load of problems with our new Captiva a few years back. The car may have been the worst car we have ever owned, but the way he tried to rectify things was second to none. Good bloke in my books.

[Pickles]

Very positive vibes from City Holden.
Pickles.

[whitels1ss]

Very positive vibes from City Holden.
Pickles.

I wonder what franchise they might pick up to sell next year after there are no more Holdens?


I think all the better ones are taken.

[Pickles]

I was visiting my Friendly Holden (HSV) Dealer today & bumped into the Dealer Principal who Karen & I know well, He is multi Franchised & not unduly concerned about the latest drama, and made the surprising comment, his words, "We've been pretty busy sinse the announcement, it's just like 2007, everyone wants a Holden"!
Pickles.

[Goggles]

anyone else having trouble accessing www.holden.com.au ?

I wanted to re-check the servicing costs for my VF.

[QIKMIK]

anyone else having trouble accessing www.holden.com.au

NoHolden.jpg

Looks like someone forgot to pay for internet this month.

Mick

[whitels1ss]

NoHolden.jpg

Looks like someone forgot to pay for internet this month.

Mick

Holden Trade Club site is running fine ...


https://www.holdentradeclub.com/holden-trade-club/home

[Pickles]

Worked for me this morning.
Pickles.

[whitels1ss]

Worked for me this morning.
Pickles.

Interesting, I just tried again after reading this post,

it's not working for me on either Firefox or Chrome.