Holden steps toward Opel

Holden has finalised a shopping list of Opel models it wants to sell in Australia.

But which of them actually get the green light depends on how the business case for each model stacks up.

Taking this next step means the first re-badged ‘Holden’ Opels should be on sale in Australia well within two years.

And while Holden isn’t saying what models are on its list, it’s logical to suggest the 206kW Astra OPC hot hatch and its milder sibling, the 132kW Astra GTC, are strong chances to return.

That’s because they have been through the Australian Design Rule (ADR) process already -- cutting down the cost and time it will take to get them back on-sale -- and they don’t cannibalise any other models Holden already sells.

“We have stepped along the process, we are now working out what is viable,” Holden Sales and Marketing Executive Director Phil Brook confirmed to motoring.com.au this week.

“We think it makes sense… and it’s a matter of now working through and developing proper business cases and making sure they make sense.

“But if it comes back that it is going to cost X amount of dollars to get them to where we are comfortable with them and into the market and that amount of money doesn’t make a valid business case and the amount of time its going to take doesn’t make a valid business case then we won’t do it.”

Holden has the chance to recommence its trade in re-badged Opels – the Astra was one of its most popular models in the 1990s – because of the German GM division’s withdrawal from Australia after only 11 months on the market.

Holden has already started the process of selling about 1000 Opels left over from the failed distributorship through its own dealer network.

Ever since Opel announced its pull-out in August there has been speculation of a deal for Holden to sell some more desirable – and therefore profitable – members of the range under its own name.

Mainstream versions of the Corsa, Astra and Insignia would have no appeal for Holden, and new-generation versions of all three models are now in development for release in coming years – in that order.

But high-performance OPC models should be of more interest, as could the Cascada convertible and Zafira people-mover.

Brook wouldn’t confirm which or how many Opels were on Holden’s list or the expected timing.

“It might be there are two, four, six, eight or 10 models we have asked for and we might get two of them and we may get all of them.

“It’s a little way off, but it won’t be a case of one day they all arrive. There will be a cadence of launches,” he explained.

“It’s a matter of what can be done and what time it can be done in. That goes back into the big machine -- the global product development machine -- and they will work through that.”

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