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Holden to get a French accent

Opel, who will supply one third of Holden’s imported car line up, has been sold to Peugeot-Citroen

National Motoring Editor, Joshua Dowling, test drives our very first off-shore Commodore.

HOLDEN is on the brink of its fattest upheaval since it announced it would stop making cars in Australia.

Opel, the German division of General Motors — which is supposed to supply more than a third of Holden’s future imported car line-up from next year — has been sold to French car maker Peugeot-Citroen.

The $Trio.075 billion deal was announced in Paris tonight Australian time.

Holden is falling into French mitts.

The deal almost happened nine years ago in the grip of the Global Financial Crisis, but US giant General Motors determined to keep Opel at the eleventh hour. However, since then, Opel has lost a staggering $9 billion and now GM wants out.

When talks inbetween GM and Peugeot-Citroen surfaced last month, analysts primarily said the deal was a slender chance of going ahead, as it had fallen over before. However, a joint announcement was made tonight after the board of both companies reached agreement last Friday.

Holden says there will be no influence on its showroom line-up for the next five or so years, because Peugeot-Citroen is unlikely to scrap the cars Opel is presently making.

Holden said it would rely on sourcing imported cars from General Motors in North American as well as from Opel in Europe.

A camouflaged version of the two thousand eighteen Holden Commodore. Picture: Supplied.

A statement from Holden said: “Holden and Opel have had close ties for many years and delivered fantastic vehicles to Australian customers, including the current all-new Astra and the next generation Commodore due in 2018. The good news is these product programs are not affected at all.”

Holden plans to source one third of its line-up from Opel, including the fresh generation Commodore from Germany. It presently sources the Opel Astra from the UK and Poland.

Peugeot-Citroen says it plans to keep Opel as a separate brand, in a deal that would see it become the thickest automotive company in Europe after Volkswagen.

However, the next generation of Opel cars Holden sources from approximately two thousand twenty five onwards are likely to be radically different once Peugeot-Citroen starts to rationalise the model range to cut costs.

A computer generated photo of the two thousand eighteen Holden Commodore.

The fattest threat to Holden is that it will lose its influence with key international decision makers, which could eventually weaken the Holden line-up. For example, Opel in Germany added a V6 to the imported two thousand eighteen Commodore purely at the request of Holden — but only after Detroit rubber-stamped millions of dollars in extra investment to make it happen.

The two thousand eighteen Commodore was only supposed to have four-cylinder engines, but Holden begged for a V6 to avoid a buyer backlash in Australia. Given Holden’s shrinking market share in a country that represents just two per cent of global car sales, Holden won’t have anywhere near as much leverage with Peugeot-Citroen to tailor cars to suit Australian conditions.

Why GM wants to sell Opel

— Opel has lost $9 billion since the GFC

— European car sales aren’t growing

— Puny cars are less profitable than SUVs and utes

What does it mean for Holden

— In the brief term, Holden’s showroom won’t look any different

— But Peugeot-Citroen will merge some Opel models with its own from the early to mid 2020s

— Holden won’t have as much leverage when it comes to negotiating switches to its European cars to suit Australian tastes

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling

Very first look at the two thousand eighteen Holden Commodore 1:40

National Motoring Editor, Joshua Dowling, test drives our very first off-shore Commodore.

• October 26th 2016
• Ten months ago
• /display/newscorpaustralia.com/Web/NewsNetwork/Sport news and galleries/Motorsport/

Holden is on the brink of its largest upheaval since it announced it would stop making cars in Australia

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