Holden hints at more Aussie models

GM Holden has hinted it could produce a number of new models, including a replacement for the midsize Captiva crossover, alongside the Cruze and Commodore in Adelaide.

Speaking to motoring.com.au on the eve of today’s announcement that Holden will save at least $10 million per annum in greater plant efficiencies, GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director Mike Devereux all but confirmed Adelaide production of the second-generation Cruze (and, by extension, the D2XX platform), but indicated that the VF Commodore’s successor and further derivatives of the compact platform would be dependent on exports.

Last week, Holden's parent company confirmed the GM Delta II small-car platform on which the current Cruze is based and the Theta platform that underpins the existing Captiva will be merged into a single platform codenamed D2XX. This has fuelled speculation that Holden could eventually produce the Captiva in Adelaide alongside the next-generation Cruze, due in 2016.

"Nothing is impossible," taunted Mr Devereux...

“The biggest challenge in this whole equation is that every year this market fragments more... Small SUV [has attracted] 62 per cent growth year-on-year, which fragments the small car market... The problem and challenge we have if that is we want to build two models here, the segments and the individual models that come off an architecture aren’t going to be selling in much more numbers than they are today.

“Today we have Cruze and Commodore in the mid-2000s [sales per month]. SUVs today, because there are so many of them, it would be hard for any single SUV, no matter how great it was, to sell 2000 in a month.”

“The top-selling car from any company gets smaller and smaller each year. It’s not going to be that you have any 50,000 unit-per-year-car.

“We get our utes [SUVs] from Korea, we will get Colorado 7 ute from Thailand. Those types of negotiations are global in nature. Our plan now is niche exporter. Then picking two things that you can make a go of in this country is not an easy thing to do.

“We are lobbying within our own company to make sure were part of those future capacity planning discussions. That’s something we’ve been relatively good at doing.”

GM Holden Executive Director Manufacturing Richard Phillips in part contradicted his boss, indicating Holden’s manufacturing plans for the second half of this decade were locked in.

“We're on the record as saying its two platforms and that’s what we’re working towards at the moment,” he said. “In terms of any further definition were not providing that at this stage.

“We've got clear plans, let's put it that way.”

When asked if Holden could produce both the Cruze and Captiva at its Elizabeth plant, Mr Phillips did not rule out the possibility of the South Australian factory producing more than one ‘top hat’ from the same platform.

“In any General Motors facility their aim is to be able to build a platform with multiple body styles. That's the goal of setting up flexible manufacturing. Yeah, the intent is to build appropriate platforms for that market," Mr Phillips told motoring.com.au.

The same process also underpins the ‘One Ford’ strategy of its most direct rival, which backflipped on a plan to produce the Focus at Broadmeadows – a plan that would have given Ford Australia the technical ability to produce up to 10 different compact models, including the next-generation Escape.

 “If you look at it [our facility] from a body shop perspective, you’ll see the latest technology. Our general assembly facility is probably more advanced than a number of other GM facilities. We’re certainly a state of the art facility from a GM perspective.

“There's always new things being developed,” he opined.

If Holden does eventually build the Captiva -- or another SUV positioned between the pint-size Trax (due here 2013) and full-size Colorado 7 (due November) -- it won’t be until the generation after next, due around 2020. An all-new Captiva is expected to emerge from Korea within two years.

Asked if the next-generation Cruze platform could form the basis of an Australian-made Captiva successor to further leverage the nation’s booming SUV segment, Mr Phillips said: “It's a flexible platform. GM’s intent with its platforms is to have flexible platforms.

“To be able to do what's required for various segments, new segments, they're conscious of making sure – not only that platform but all platforms – have some ability to flex to where the local markets are going. Getting the most flex out of a platform is obviously beneficial,” he stated.

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