Holden dealers go noir, hire private investigator

Thursday, 23 April 2020

The CarNut lads take a look at three very different Holden Commodores.

A new report from CarAdvice is claiming Holden dealers in Australia have hired a private investigation firm to find out if General Motors knew it was going to kill the Aussie brand earlier than it's claiming.

According to the official story, GM only decided to pull the plug on Holden a few weeks before the big announcement.

GM's International Operations Senior Vice President Julian Blissett said at the time: 'It was an agonising decision. But it was an issue of scale - it's just too difficult to sustain a brand only operating in two markets.'

Holden dealers in Australia have hired a private investigation firm to find out if General Motors knew it was going to kill the Aussie brand earlier than it's claiming.

However, Holden's dealers aren't convinced.

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The closure of the overseas factories like the one in Thailand producing the Colorado rang warning bells at Holden but GM insisted everything was okay.

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* Holden NZ responds to Australian speculation**

The Colorado was one of Holden's last sales hopes, constantly hovering near the top of the local new vehicle registration charts.

The Holden Dealer Council, which represents 185 dealers and 203 showrooms across Australia, has appointed an independent investigation firm to find out more details on the closer. Specifically, if GM tried to sell Holden at the same time it got rid of Opel and Vauxhall to PSA back in 2017.

Additionally, the Holden dealer group suspects its ex-parent company had written the obituary when it made plans to shutter its two remaining factories in right-hand drive countries, Thailand and India. The factories were sold to Great Wall Motors in late 2019 and early 2020.

Crucially, GM announced in 2018 that it would shut down two overseas factories as well as a few North American facilities as part of a global restructure. At the time it didn't reveal which international factories would be sold.

A letter from the investigation firm sent to Holden dealer representatives – a copy of which was obtained by CarAdvice – confirmed the appointment to examine 'the sale of Opel by General Motors to the Peugeot-Citroen Group in 2017, and whether Holden was offered as part of the sale agreement'.

'Further to this,' the letter says, 'we are also to investigate the sale of the General Motors plant known as Talegaon in India, and whether this sale included the sale of Thailand at the time when negotiations began'.

This is on top of the threat of legal action from Holden dealers.

At the end of March, it emerged that GM did not disclose their plans to close the brand while still asking for investments in dealership upgrades. Apparently, GM reps made it seem like the parent company wanted to keep the brand running.

However, before any legal action is taken, the dealers want to try and find a suitable financial negotiation first. Right now, the American company is offering around AU$1500 for each vehicle sold during a specific period but the Aussies reckon that figure should be closer to AU$6100.

Forensic accounting firm KPMG added that Holden dealers in New Zealand are being offered 'almost double' the amount offered to dealers in Australia.

Presumably, the private investigation work will go into bolstering the Holden dealers' case.