Holden denies imminent job cuts

GM Holden has denied it is planning imminent job cuts in the face of slumping demand for the Cruze small car and defended the new 'Let's Go There' campaign it launched this week in an attempt to communicate its post-manufacturing future beyond 2017.

Last year (2014) Holden sold less than 55,000 Australian-made cars. Commodore sales were up almost 10 per cent with 30,200 registrations, but sales of the Cruze – a mildly facelifted version of which was announced earlier this month – dived by almost a quarter to 18,550.

Holden cut production at its Elizabeth plant outside Adelaide from 335 vehicles a day to 310 last September to match supply with slowing demand, and says more production and job cuts will occur this year.

However, its executive director of corporate affairs George Svigos told motoring.com.au that a News Corp report this week claiming that up to 500 of the 1600 jobs at its Elizabeth (SA) assembly plant will be slashed by the end of the first quarter was incorrect.

"Holden is committed to continuing to manufacture cars in Australia through to the end of 2017," said Svigos.

"We are also committed to providing an orderly transition for impacted employees. Part of this is ensuring that we manage our supply and demand to maximise stability for our employees, suppliers and other stakeholders. As part of our manufacturing wind-down, we implemented a rerate of the factory in September 2014. We are continuously monitoring sales volumes and ensuring that our production plan matches supply with demand," he said.

"No decision has been made about when the production rate will change next, or what the new production rates will be, however, we fully expect that a rerate will occur sometime during 2015. As always, our employees and stakeholders will be the first to know when any decision is made," Svigos stated.

According to News Corp, a meeting of workers was held last week to outline the future for Elizabeth, where forced job cuts will take place if the number of voluntary redundancies doesn't meet an imminent production line cut.

Holden has established a $14 million fund to assist retrenched workers, who can access up to $2000 for retraining, resume writing, job interview assistance and counselling.

A recent ABC report said welfare agencies in Adelaide's north (the location of Holden's assembly plant) are already facing unprecedented demand, with one organisation approached by up to 700 new people in the past six months and another saying client contracts had doubled in the same period.

It said both agencies blamed the unexpected surge on hikes in South Australian government charges such as water and emergency services levies, as well as state and federal budget cuts, but expected demand for financial relief to reach crisis levels in the lead-up to Holden's factory closure at the end of 2017.

Meantime, Holden has labelled the 'Let's Go There' campaign it launched last Sunday during the Australia Day long weekend a success, despite attracting overwhelmingly negative responses via social media.

Two weeks ago in the lead-up to the campaign the chief of GM's international operations Stefan Jacoby told Australian journalists at the Detroit motor show that Holden would launch a V8-powered sports car as soon as 2017.

The news was viewed by industry experts as a move to whet the appetites of loyal GMH fans who might be lured to Ford's new Mustang, which goes on sale here this December (less than a year before Ford ceases Falcon production and two years before Holden stops building the Commodore, which will be replaced by an imported model that won't be rear-drive or V8-powered).

A week later on January 19, Holden continued the unprecedented backflip on its policy of not discussing future products by publishing the first in a series of videos lauding its imported large car replacement, which a day later was again confirmed to wear the Commodore nameplate.

At the time, Holden said "a strong majority" of Commodore owners and non-Commodore owners surveyed in 17 different customer research sessions favoured retention of the Commodore nameplate.

"Finding a way to keep building Commodores in Australia unfortunately just wasn't possible, but I'm proud that the Commodore name will continue to be part of the Australian motoring landscape," said Holden Executive Director of Sales Peter Keley in the first vof the campaign's videos, which as of 3:00pm today had attracted 23,079 views, 565 likes and 225 shares on Holden's Facebook page -- along with dozens of comments, overwhelmingly negative.

"I'm proud because I know that the next-generation Commodore will live up to the standard set by the iconic Commodore name. And just as it's been with every Commodore, I can't wait to get behind the wheel of the next generation," the video stated.

Holden's senior manager of corporate communications Sean Poppitt said that overall, the three 'future Commodore' videos posted so far on Facebook – including one featuring vehicle dynamics engineer Rob Trubiani and another featuring V8 Supercar drivers Garth Tander and James Courtney – attracted more positivity than negativity.

He said that, excluding four further Commodore videos featuring a young boy on Holden's YouTube channel, the Facebook videos reached 509,240 people and attracted 89,061 video plays, 32,880 clicks, 1717 comments, 4337 likes and 735 shares, plus 149 favourites on Twitter.

"While the comments were certainly split and contained plenty of feedback, there was more positive than negative," said Poppitt.

"In fact, there were 1717 comments [both negative and positive] but the number of people who 'liked the announcement' was 4337. So while the trolls – as usual – are most vocal on FB, the positive 'likes' far outweighed the negative comments," Poppitt opined.

Poppitt cited a number of positive comments including "Glad to see the name will live on" by Brett Radell, "Pleased with Holdens decision to keep the Commodore name" by Brian Wraight and "Vegemite went overseas, they kept the Vegemite name on the jar. I am a die hard Holden supporter and can't see what the fuss is about" by John Earl.

There were far more negative responses, however, such as "No! If it's not rear wheel drive AND built in Australia than it's NOT a Commodore!" by Karll Sass and "I'm sorry to say but you have stuffed it up this time Holden. You should of retired the name with local production" by Ryan Piekarski.

Holden has even established a mini-site inviting fans to fill out a survey that suggests attributes for the next-generation Commodore, which has so far attracted more than 600 responses.

"We know this is a big deal, and we really want to get your thoughts and suggestions," says the website. "So we've created a dedicated space where we'll keep you up to date with all the info, and encourage you to let us know your feedback."

Many of the features listed are either already available on the existing Commodore or will be fitted to the Insignia VXR sports sedan, which will be relaunched as a Holden mid-year. The German-made Insignia's replacement is the car most likely to replace Holden's homegrown Commodore after four decades of local production.

Svigos said the 'Let's Go There' campaign, which has been criticised for its similarity with Toyota's current US slogan 'Let's Go Places', was designed to draw attention to Holden's future rather than its past.

"'Let's Go There' is all about communicating Holden's bright future in Australia," he said.

"We are putting together the biggest and best product line-up Holden has ever had in its history. We are lifting the customer experience to industry leading standards.

"We are determined for Holden to win in Australia and 'Let's Go There' is a great way to support communication about our bright future.

"We will continue to communicate with our customers about the key steps we are taking to build a strong future for Holden in Australia."

Facing a similar predicament to Ford (which is focussing on a raft of new models including the next Mondeo rather than promoting the final Falcon that was launched last month and will be retired in October 2016), Holden denies its future Commodore campaign will affect sales of the current Commodore.

"Sales of Commodore remain strong and we do not see this changing. It's a world-class vehicle," said Svigos.

"The campaign continues to be a huge success. Australians are understanding more and more about our future in this country.

"We always knew a decision to either retain or retire the Commodore nameplate would stir passions. However, we spoke extensively to customers and their overwhelming feedback was to retain the Commodore nameplate. Some people will agree with the decision, others will not. But that's one of the great things about the iconic nature of Holden. Everyone feels some ownership of the Holden brand. It stirs strong passion in the community," Svigos told motoring.com.au.

Holden's Executive Director of Marketing, Bill Mott, said the company's new brand campaign, which will be "impossible to miss" on the internet, TV, billboards and cinemas, will be a hit with Australian consumers.

"The entire campaign has been thoroughly and comprehensively tested and we are more than confident it will strike the right chord with Australia," Mott stated. 

"All of our brand advertisements share specific communication equities. Specifically, children feature prominently in our new television commercials. Kids are inherently optimistic and represent the future and these are values that reflect the Holden brand.

"We have also developed advertisements that communicate a core Holden strength. Our vehicles are, and will continue to be, tuned and tested for Australian conditions and customers at our iconic Lang Lang proving Ground in Victoria.

"We are confident that we have developed an outstanding communications platform that establishes a new direction and charts a bright and winning future for our iconic Australian brand," said Mott.