Holden targets 'New Australia'

Holden will seek to move from the "Commodore Car Company" to a position where it is relevant to the 'New Australia'. That's the strategy (relatively) new CEO and MD Mark Bernhard has set for the local GM arm as it transitions from local production to full line importer status from 2018.

Speaking at a Holden end of year media function in Melbourne last night, Bernhard said the company needed to be "more relevant" to a new spectrum of buyers. He stated that Holden would take steps to better target its cars at a more diverse group of customers – in keeping with the changing demographics of Australia.

While he would not be drawn on targets, Bernhard nominated Mazda as the brand he most wanted the new Holden to emulate.

"Not just in terms of sales, but overall. They do a great job on brand, on customer engagement..." Bernhard commented.

Bernhard reiterated the company's target to launch 24 new models and 36 new powertrains by 2020. The company will close its Australian manufacturing facilities at the end of 2017.

He said the company retained its commitment to the Commodore nameplate and believed that local consumers would accept the still-secret fully-imported replacement for VF II.

On an allied subject he stated Holden was continuing a dialogue with HSV on the shape of its products moving forward.

Bernhard said the first taste of Holden's shift in terms of market and product positioning would be the all-new Spark due for release in February 2016. He also confirmed the all-new Holden-badged Astra would go on sale in the fourth-quarter of 2016.

In the course of the discussion regarding the company's current reliance on Commodore for upward of 40 per cent of its volume, the company inadvertently confirmed a two-pronged small car strategy.

To date it has been assumed that Holden would sideline the Chevrolet-based Cruze small car once local production ceased and rely solely on Opel Astra as its small car offer. But Holden sales chief Peter Keeley put an end to the speculation.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and I'll make a prediction that we will sell more of the next-generation Cruze than we sold last month," he stated in the course of a discussion referencing volume expectation of imported Holden products.

"We will also have the Cruze [in the future], which is at the end of its product lifecycle and we currently make in Australia. And we will replace that vehicle to have more small cars in the future than we do have today," he said.