Exchange rate "difficult" for export earnings: Holden

Reports concerning a new export program to the US have not been dismissed out of hand by Holden. But nor has the manufacturer confirmed such a program is in the works. Furthermore, the company has reaffirmed with motoring.com.au that the success of any such program is contingent on an exchange rate more favourable than the current prevailing rate.

In conversation with motoring.com.au, Kate Lonsdale, Holden's Senior Product Communications Manager explained that recent rumours must remain just that. And even in the event that there were some news breaking, Holden could not officially make an announcement ahead of Chevrolet if the news concerned a Chev product.

"That is all still completely speculative; we've not made any announcement," Ms Lonsdale said. "Neither have Chevrolet... It's all speculation based on... the Chevrolet NASCAR announcement, saying that it would be a new nameplate [for] their brand. I think speculation has continued from there, with fingers pointing our way..."

Chevrolet revealed last month that it intended to contest next year's NASCAR category in the US, with an all-new model sporting a new nameplate. This led American website Autoblog to the conclusion that Chevrolet would field a car based on the Commodore Zeta (rear-drive) platform that also underpins the Camaro in modified form. Since the other Zeta-based vehicle currently being sold in the US is the Caprice police interceptor, this was considered the logical choice for NASCAR racing — although 'Caprice' is by no means a new nameplate in the US.

Despite all the fevered speculation on this side of the Pacific — stoked further with another report from Autoblog about the car being marketed in the US as the Chevrolet SS (technically a new model name) — the export program to the US looks shaky. For a start, Autoblog itself has published spy pics of a disguised performance variant of the Caprice-sized Chevy Impala. This is a large, front-wheel drive sedan already on sale in the US and recently outed by GM itself. The Impala SS could just as easily be sold as the Chevrolet SS and be that newly minted nameplate for NASCAR, since SS has historically been a level of trim, rather than a model name in its own right. To have an SS-branded variant as the performance flagship of the Impala range would be no more untoward than referring to performance Subaru Impreza variants by just the label 'WRX'.

The US market is a tricky one for Holden at the present. With the Australian dollar hovering around US $1.04, that leaves little profit in even the Caprice PPV, which is sold into a specialist market and costs GM little to support, since it doesn't need a lot of dealer stock or advertising.

Holden's MD, Mike Devereux had previously described exports from the Elizabeth factory as "icing on the cake". In light of that and the on-going strength of the Aussie dollar, we asked Ms Lonsdale whether Holden is currently casting around for new export markets?

"What we've been saying recently is that really we want to be profitable and can make a good business case for ourselves not [being] dependent on an export program. That was an issue in the past — that our business model has been dependent on exports. We can't control other markets; we can't control the foreign exchange rate — all obviously impacted greatly."

As one example of how that affects Holden's ability to export product profitably, the police Caprice export program to the US has got off to a slow start, since pricing for it was originally set when the Australian dollar was worth about 80 cents, US. The locally-built car has been well received by law enforcement agencies that have tested it in America, but it's at a huge disadvantage against marketplace rivals built in North America.

"The dollar has impacted that as well," Ms Lonsdale confirmed. "We've said that exporting to the US at the moment is difficult, with the high Aussie dollar. It doesn't make it easy right now, but having said that, that's not to say we're not looking at opportunities; we always are."

So Holden is not averse to export programs in the current climate, but a sustainable business model must come first, and Holden's remit has always centred on being a manufacturer for Australian consumers.

"The focus is to become a really good, strong business model locally," said Ms Lonsdale. "However... any exports on top of that are a great bonus."

Read the latest news and reviews on your mobile, iPhone or PDA at carsales' mobile site...