Astra days numbered Down Under

The Holden Astra is nearing the end of an era, if not the end of the road. Holden has put the next generation Astra on hold just weeks after it stopped ordering stock of the current model.

Indeed, it now seems increasingly likely that once the current stock levels are sold out, which could take until the end of the year, the Astra as we know it will fade away.

"We'd love to keep selling the Astra but the reality is the currency just kills it," says Alan Batey, the head of sales and marketing for Holden.

"The Astra has been very good to Holden and delivered us a lot of premium customers but there's just no way it can continue at the current exchange rate."

The remaining stock of the Belgian-built cars were imported when exchange rates with the Euro were more favourable. The problem is replacing that stock once it runs out.

"In some cases it would mean a price rise of up to $5000 maybe even $6000," Batey told the Carsales Network. "We're just blown out of the water."

The timing of the Astra decision coincides with the local arrival of Holden's new small car, the Cruze, a lower cost model made in Korea but engineered in Germany.

"Look, it was a lot of factors," Batey says. "Yes, we want to give Cruze the best possible chance, and have our dealers focus on it, but also Astra was coming up to the end of its current cycle. So it made sense for us to do something about it now."

Despite asking a premium price, the Astra was one of Holden's most popular models after the Commodore, and at one point even outsold its cheaper small-car cousin, the Korean-made Viva, by two-to-one.

"We'd love to have the Astra. We want everything," Batey says. "But in these tough times you can't have everything, you have to rationalize."

Without the Astra and with Viva also on the block, Holden will no longer have a small hatch or wagon in its line-up.

"That may hurt us a bit but sedans are still a big proportion of the small-car market," Batey says.

The twin-top Astra convertible is also likely to be discontinued along with the regular Astra range.

The Astra nameplate turns 25 this year. The badge was originally used on a Holden version of the Nissan Pulsar before Holden began importing the ‘real' Astra from Europe in 1996.

The departure of the Astra could be a bigger blow to Holden than it is letting on. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Astra and other European-sourced small and medium cars, helped add some gloss to Holden's image. Without Astra, most of Holden's range will come from Korea or Thailand.

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