Holden to export SS to US
09 January 2007
Philip King
Up to 50,000 Holden Commodores a year will be exported to the US rebadged as Pontiacs in a second crack at the market first prised open by the Monaro three years ago.
General Motors product chief Bob Lutz confirmed the high-performance Commodore SS, the sporty V8 version of Australia's favourite sedan, would sell as the Pontiac G8 in the US, with the export car due to be unveiled at the Chicago motor show next month.
"We're seriously planning to import a lot of Commodore SSs in the guise of Pontiac G8s," Mr Lutz said at the Detroit motor show yesterday. "It's such a logical thing to do."
The export drive comes at a critical time for the nation's vehicle industry, which has been hit by a sales slump as consumers, mindful of higher petrol prices, shift to smaller imported cars.
This has forced three of the four big local manufacturers - Mitsubishi, Ford and Holden - to cut jobs in response to tougher market conditions and search for cheaper parts overseas.
Mr Lutz, a prime mover behind the Monaro export scheme, said GM's global strategy now required every model to be feasible for any market. He said the flipside for Australia would be an increasing variety of vehicles imported from the US, including the new Camaro.
He refused to say when Commodore shipments would begin, but the February unveiling in Chicago suggests work is well advanced.
The Monaro sold beyond expectations in Australia but failed to reach sales forecasts in the US, where it was criticised as being too bland to resurrect the famous Pontiac GTO muscle car.
Exchange rates, with the rising Australian dollar, were another problem. "With the GTO we made a mistake because we passed on the deterioration in profitability that we took through the appreciation of the Australian dollar," Mr Lutz said.
However, the Monaro had helped change thinking at the car giant.
"While the GTO program may not have fulfilled all our hopes and dreams in terms of volume and profitability, it did break the ice on global programs," he said. "It got everybody in North America understanding that the engineering groups in the other regions can do excellent vehicles for the North American market."
Holden to export SS to US
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