What now for Holden owners?

Tuesday, 18 February 2020

General Motors is promising to stand behind its cars, despite pulling the plug on the Holden brand.

At a press conference yesterday announcing the closure Holden's interim chairman and managing director Kristian Aquilina said he wanted to assure customers the company stands by its cars and would offer aftermarket support for at least the next decade.

'The doors don't close tomorrow or today,' he said, adding that there were currently '1.6 million Holdens out there.'

'We will continue to provide sales support for at least the next 10 years.

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A possible GMSV operation could come from the current deal with Walkinshaw Performance that imports and converts the Chevrolet Camaro.

'Those owners want the insurance around spare parts, warranties repairs and recalls. We will honour all of those, even our recent seven-year free servicing offer.'

Mr Aquilina said that recalls would be handled if they arise and that the company will be 'happy' to take customer orders on an ongoing basis until 'the last Holden is sold', a process that will take several months.

While 75 per cent of Holden's 800 direct employees in Australia and New Zealand will lose their jobs, the remaining 200 or so employees will handle Holden's ongoing service and warranty commitments.

Holden's 31 dealerships and 20 service agents across New Zealand will be provided with a transition plan for each dealer involving compensation and the opportunity to remain as service and parts agents.

Depending on dealer uptake of the offer, Holden clearly has hopes there will be little to no disruption or inconvenience for existing Holden owners as far as servicing, parts and warranty issues go.

While he refused to go into deeper detail, GM's International Operations Senior Vice President Julian Blissett revealed that the company 'intended to have a market presence here' possibly via a small volume 'General Motors Specialty Vehicles' (GMSV) operation that would sell selected US models, most of which will be converted to right-hand-drive by Walkinshaw Performance (the company behind Holden Special Vehicles), which currently imports and converts the Chevrolet Camaro and Chevrolet Silverado.

Walkinshaw also converts the Ram 1500 and 2500 in a separate deal it has with Fiat Chrysler Australia.

The large Chevrolet Tahoe and Suburban seven-seat SUVs, as well as certain Cadillac SUVs that share their underpinnings could well be candidates for the process, while there is speculation that the recently-announced electric Hummer pick-up – due to go into production in the US in two years time – could also be a possibility.

The new mid-engined Corvette is also a possibility, with the car being announced as a factory RHD model at its launch last year, however GM's complete abandonment of all RHD markets has created uncertainty around the possibility of a factory produced RHD car.

While there is still a great deal of uncertainty around GM's future presence in Australia and New Zealand, the company has confirmed its support of its current vehicles and customers for at least the next decade.

Owners with any concerns can contact Holden Customer Care on 0800 465 336 for answers to any inquiries and all warranties and service agreements, or visit www.holden.co.nz for further information.