General Motors says there's no doubt about the certainty of Holden and its iconic Commodore living on in the future.
Quashing suggestions that the current Insignia-based Commodore might not continue under PSA ownership, GM has confirmed it fully owns the platform and its IP and can build it anywhere.
Speaking with Drive during a test drive around Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground in the upcoming Acadia SUV, ex-Holden director and GM executive vice president of global product development Mark Reuss says that although sedans aren’t popular in the States it can continue sourcing the Commodore for Australia indefinitely.
“We can [build it outside of PSA]. We can do whatever we want because we own that whole platform. That’s our IP,” he says.
“We do a car called the Regal GS which for the US is a little different but it has the same DNA and is on the same platform which is really good.”
“For rear-drive needs the sedan market is gone," said Reuss. "So, it’s like we have this [ZB Commodore], we have a wagon and SUVs are certainly very popular here. So the question is ‘how much of the total market is consumed by an SUV or a crossover?’
“It’s not like they are small markets,” he says of the Commodore, “It’s just different, it’s not as big as crossovers and SUVs but it’s not a small market. We will reserve that option and make sure we can handle that.”
Unlike Ford that recently announced plans to concentrate its platforms on current key segments such as SUVs and trucks, GM has no plan to kill the passenger car architecture the Commodore currently sits on.
“I don’t think we want to abandon car platforms. I think from a car planning state of point - and I believe I’ve been around long enough to know - there are things that happen in the world that we cannot control such as gas prices and economic conditions. A combination of those may induce what’s not totally rational behaviour when buying a car and when that happens the last thing we don’t want to be able to do is provide what the customer wants."
At one stage it seemed like General Motors was considering pulling the pin - not committing to what the future of Holden would look like and edging its iconic Chevrolet bow tie into showrooms - but new local management and the flash appearance of top Detroit execs in Melbourne this week to announce a further $28 million investment in R&D added that although GM's worried about the lion brand, they’re ‘very proud’ of the name and there’s ‘no exit plan’ for it.
The developments contrast with what recently-departed Holden director Mark Bernhard had to deal with – closing factory doors, laying off a large number of workers and supplying only vague answers about the future of PSA-owned products.
With ex-Toyota boss David Buttner now at the helm, the American parent company says there’s no expiry date for the Commodore, the Astra hatchback is safe, and new platforms for future models such as the Camaro and electric vehicles will be right-hand drive ready.
It’s the most positive either brand has been about Holden’s future since shutting factory doors.
Reuss, who spent 18 months as head of Holden and secured $600 million funding to continue building small cars at its Elizabeth plant, appears to have been instrumental in building support in Detroit for the iconic Australian brand, saying that the name will stay and there’s no deadline yet for Holden to perform against its current slide in market share.
“I’m sure it helps,” he says of his experience here.
“I’m sure my boss listens to me because I’ve lived here, and she hasn’t, and that matters and she knows. There’s nothing guaranteed forever but you gotta make sure you get resources in place to go as hard as you can.
“We have no exit plan, no timeline," he tells Drive. "No we don’t have any of that, I believe in Dave and I think his approach is right which is to show improvement every month and that’s a great way to look at it.
“If you start looking at horizons and throwing darts at a board, well that’s frankly not the way to do that.”
“People say what we should do in five years, ten years or whatever. We’ve got a great product portfolio and we’re going to have an even more filled-out portfolio, no question about that. Let’s go as hard as we can.”
Just what that portfolio will look like remains to be seen, and Reuss says it will come down to what Buttner brings to the table after his 60-day orientation. Beyond saying he’ll support whatever that plan looks like, Reuss thinks forays into Chevrolet products like the Camaro and Silverado by HSV will give a definitive answer to if they will be delivered on a RHD platform, and that electric vehicles will be RHD ready if we need them.
“I would say our future electric platforms all have right hand drive engineering in them.
“We don’t have trucks - I mean our big trucks not small stuff – but there’s the Silverado and there’s the Camaro. We’ll dress things a little different to get it here but I think those are really smart ways to try things we are not sure about.
“We’ll see how it does,” he says of the Camaro which is due to be launch in Australia soon. “If it doesn’t sell here then we are not doing it. I’d love to have it here and maybe you guys would, but I think those are great experiments right now.
“Then again we don’t to be last in in an oversaturated market that sucks.”