Holden Barina axed in Australia

After more than 30 years on sale in Australia, the Holden Barina has been terminated.

The reason for the removal of the small car is not clear.

"I can confirm that Barina will not continue as part of Holden line-up," stated a Holden spokesperson.

A household name, the Barina has been a staple of the Holden line-up since the 1980s.

Its abrupt elimination from the Holden line-up won’t leave owners out in the cold, with Holden dealers continuing to stock parts and service the vehicles going forward.

Holden introduced the original Barina in 1985, licensing Warner Brothers' Road Runner and that cartoon character's 'Beep Beep' cry as an advertising motif. Based on the Suzuki Swift of the time, the first Barina boasted two extra doors and was powered exclusively by a 1.3-litre four-cylinder engine. Suzuki sold the Swift here in just a three-door form, but with the added 1.0-litre engine option also available. Subsequently, a newer Barina, also based on the Swift, kicked off a memorable advertising campaign featuring The Beatles song "Baby you can drive my car".

Following the Swift-based MF Barina Holden migrated to the Opel Corsa in the 1990s for the Spanish-built SB model Barina, and the later XC model, which was also built by Opel in Spain. After GM acquired Daewoo, the Barina nameplate was applied to the car formerly sold in Australia as the Daewoo Kalos. South Korea remained the source for the Barina through to the present day for models known in other markets as the Sonic and the Aveo.

Sales of the ageing 1.6-litre (85kW/155Nm) Holden Barina haven’t been stellar in recent times but nor have they been woeful, with an increase year-on-year in 2018 of just over 6 per cent at last count. However the Barina is comfortably outsold by the Holden Astra small car and Holden Trax small SUV.

Currently the best-selling Holden is the Colorado ute and Holden's spokesperson explained the company will seek to focus on "SUVs, LCVs and passenger segments that resonate with our customers”.

"We have our best range ever across all key segments including Colorado, Commodore, Astra and Equinox, with the all-new, seven-seat SUV Acadia just around the corner."

Given that the Holden Spark compact car was axed earlier in 2018, Holden will rely on the Astra ($23,990) and Trax ($20,490) as its price-leaders.

The Barina found almost 3700 customers in 2017, an 11 per cent slide on its sales the year before. The downturn is reflective of Holden's continued sales slide after shutting its local manufacturing operations, with 40,897 sales to the end of August 2018 representing a 26 per cent slump compared to the same time last year, with 55,564 sales.