Last Holden produced today

[sierraman]

They say it as it is, there’s no one going ‘you can’t say this what if it upsets someone!’

[AMC Rebel]

I think that highlights one of the biggest tragedies of the modern age. All that matters is looks and gadgets these days. People will spend insane amounts of money on cars that are woefully uncomfortable. The number of families I've seen who've bought fancy motors that are utterly, utterly hopeless as family cars, while ride comfort just doesn't seem to be on anyone's wish list these days.

  Totally agree about ride quality - smoking around in my 2003 Jaaaaag has just reminded me how far we've come (in the wrong direction) since.

[AMC Rebel]

They say it as it is, there’s no one going ‘you can’t say this what if it upsets someone!’

 

The commentary on motorsport used to make me chortle - there was a portly bloke driving in the V8s - "he's got more chins than a chinese phone book" quipped the commentator.

[tooSavvy]

OZ 'locals' (correct, they are Limey Immigrants/convict spawn) seem quite laid back about immigration?

 

.... NO >> not the boat people...

 

The ones with relations in Bradford

 

It ain't arf hot though...

 

 

TS

[SiC]

There is also problems with domestic violence, lack of communities, racism against the native and general intolerance in Oz. Not helped by most living in suburbs, reliance on the car and the lack of social interaction between neighbours.

 

Grass isn't always greener.

[tooSavvy]

^^^ Rednecks?

 

TS

[DodgeRover]

From memory you can register a lhd in Aus but it needs to be a personal import coming in with you when you emigrate or to have been used and registered to you outside Aus for a considerable time. I don't think resale was permitted within several years either.

 

I assume the government dropped the 50% import tax on used motors then? along with relaxing the modifications needed to meet the compliancing requirements leading to the demise of home grown industry?

 

Sadly most Aussies live in cities so their demands are pretty much the same as here for most of the time. Those who don't will either buy imported 4x4s or stick with Aus Fords or Holdens long past their use buy date

 

Looking on ebay etc the value of what were essentially worthless XD, xe, & XF falcon wagons has gone through the roof in the last 10 years

[flat4alfa]

When I was there (for a year in the 90s) I fitted right into the no-nonsense thinking and light-hearted lifestyle.

 

Don't know why I came back.  Well I do, the visa expired and I had to go before getting Passport stamped with a ban for over-staying my welcome.  By the time I fanced returning, age worked the points against me, then got attached to an English lass anyhow who won't be leaving Blighty while her Mum is alive and my luck will be I'll be dead before she will

 

At least I can say I drove a Holden HQ up to the Pilbara

 

And a Falcon XF around town

 

And swam with a dolphin

[Zantimisfit]

Bad news! Does Holden live on as a brand of rebadged Opels now.....or do they just get Opels? Either way I expect they won't flog too many.

 

Theres an Aussie teacher at the school where Mrs M works and he's just got himself a Holden Ute which looks new or pretty new. Got it from a place near Wigan I gather!

[Ghosty]

You can buy VX badged HSV Maloos and Commodores up here at the moment. 

[Zantimisfit]

Dont know why that second video reminds me of Thats Amazing with Caaarl Hooper

 

[dougiefourspeed]

To be fair I suppose the end has been nigh for a while now. When I was in NZ (around 2006ish) cars on the road seemed almost a 50/50 split between domestic Ford and Holden and Japanese chod. 

 

My favourite by far and away was these Ford utes, which must have been quite new at the time. I know nowt about them other than they looked GR12.

 

[flat4alfa]

Fortunately, I've got a nice early Commodore squirrelled away before prices inevitably rise.

 

 

Probably time to get my arse in gear and actually install the V8 that's been sitting on an engine stand in the garage for a year...

 

It looks lush.  A proper VB Commodore Wagon.  Great colour too

[D Spares & Tyres]

I admire the Australian way of life, they’ve got it right, mending things and spending your time outdoors, being quite protective of their way of life, not being over ruled by all this PC nonsense we have to put up with here.

You have obviously never been there...

 

Far more of this ' got to be seen to be more PC than you' attitude over there.

 

Any fun you want over there that isn't paid for: there will be a sign saying you can't or there will be a fence round it...

 

I can only speak for NSW though

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

 

 

I believe it's got to do with the government pulling subsidies to car firms, Ford were first, then Toyota, now GM/Holden. A sad day indeed. 

 

 

No, it's more deep rooted than that. A good mate of mine - my best mate actually - is from Oz and says quite simply the Australians have gone the same way as us. Why buy some locally made thing when I can have a BMW/Audi/Merc on lease, or a Toyota/Kia/Hyundai? 

 

GM is pretty much fucked outside of the USA which is why it's flogging or shutting down business areas that just are not profitable. Without the almost unique company car culture in the UK, Vauxhall (and maybe Ford UK) would have gone down the tubes 10 years ago. Subsidies = this shit ain't working.

[HH-R]

World's most incompetent motor manufacturer in being hopeless shocker.

 

I dread to think how much of various countries' taxpayer's money GM has pissed up the wall over the years.

 

It's no wonder they don't seem to be sorting themselves out, why would they bother? It's easier just to get more handouts.

 

They should have been let to go to the wall years ago.

[flat4alfa]

You have obviously never been there...

 

Far more of this ' got to be seen to be more PC than you' attitude over there.

 

Any fun you want over there that isn't paid for: there will be a sign saying you can't or there will be a fence round it...

 

I can only speak for NSW though

 

Not the mood I got in WA

[bramz7]

What's going to happen in the V8 Supercars championship now? I know other manufacturers were getting in now, like Volvo and Toyota, but given the Falcon is gone...? 

I note the Commodore will now be an imported and rebadged Chevrolet Malibu. 

[Dirk Diggler]

Aussies? A bunch of racists who've spent the last 15 years believing they could get rich selling each other houses; a country in serious shit for the foreseeable

[sierraman]

You have obviously never been there...

 

Far more of this ' got to be seen to be more PC than you' attitude over there.

 

Any fun you want over there that isn't paid for: there will be a sign saying you can't or there will be a fence round it...

 

I can only speak for NSW though

I’ll stick to Cleethorpes then. Chances of me visiting are fairly slim, it’d cost about eleventy million pounds to drag four of us all that way in the kids holidays.

[inconsistant]

Not all bad news tho coz they still make Lonsdales there don't they?!

[Felly Magic]

I personally don't think it will be that long before we will be hearing about the last Vauxhall to roll off UK plant lines either really

[AnthonyG]

I don’t think future Holdens will be rebadged Opels as the PSA deal will break the link. The smaller stuff will be Korean (Daewoo/Chevrolet) and the bigger stuff will be proper Chevrolet - Malibu or Impala. I think Ford have replaced the Falcon with the Mondeo.

 

Tbh the late Commodore model isn’t much bigger than an Insignia anyway, I was surprised when I saw a HSV badged one in a car park the other week, I remembered them being big, big cars in the 1980s.

 

‘‘Tis a shame though.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

^ I fear you are right.

 

I personally don't think it will be that long before we will be hearing about the last Vauxhall to roll off UK plant lines either really

 I fear you may be right. 

[georgeinabz]

Did they change the import tax ,I remember our WA friend saying my 406 was a luxury car due to the tax in 2000.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[155V6]

What's going to happen in the V8 Supercars championship now? I know other manufacturers were getting in now, like Volvo and Toyota, but given the Falcon is gone...? 

I note the Commodore will now be an imported and rebadged Chevrolet Malibu. 

Last year they said it was just going to be called Supercars,& other engines could be used...

[fordperv]

Cavcrafts Australian cousin will be crying into his fosters over this

[DodgeRover]

Real men drink VB not fosters

[flat4alfa]

Only VB could create this

 

 

[Parky]

Bad news! Does Holden live on as a brand of rebadged Opels now.....or do they just get Opels? Either way I expect they won't flog too many.Theres an Aussie teacher at the school where Mrs M works and he's just got himself a Holden Ute which looks new or pretty new. Got it from a place near Wigan I gather!

Looking at their site, they still have a full range of motors but it's very much a pick and mix from various plants around the world

 

https://www.holden.com.au/cars

 

So it looks like we make the Astra here and ship it there. Various other models like the Barina are probably made in the Far East (surprised they chose that over the Corsa but hey ho) whilst some of the bigger stuff looks like it comes from the US.

 

I expect in five years the Vauxhall range will be similar. GM will have a small number of colossal plants making 15 or so models and each country merely selects the ones they want. Cars arrive sans badges so Opel, Vauxhall, or Holden can just stick their own logo on the front. Probably considerable cost savings involved there but somehow it just ain't the same. Personally I like to know my Fiat was built in Italy or my Seat was assembled in Spain, it somehow gives the cars a bit of personality.

 

The iconic Commodore will live on but possibly as a rebadged Buick or Chevrolet. Sad