General Motors’ Australian outpost is losing all of its domestic production, but that doesn’t mean Holden is shutting down all of its Australian development operations.
Late last month, we told you the Chevrolet Camaro was going to become a right-hand-drive model five years earlier than originally planned because of special rebuilds by GM’s Holden division.
But once the Chevrolet Camaro goes on sale Down Under, it will not wear the local GM badge.
Rather, Chevrolet’s bowtie will remain affixed to the grille of the sixth-gen Camaro.
Of course, the Camaro remains unconfirmed for the Australian market. According to Australia’s Drive, Holden’s communications director Sean Poppitt referred this week to the Camaro as “the mysterious sports car that we’ve talked about,” while clarifying that some competitors — namely Ford, with its huge global hit of a sixth-gen Mustang — moved more quickly into right-hand-drive markets. By taking a car that is not designed to be right-hand-drive and forcing it to become right-hand-drive, the cost of the Camaro will rise quite sharply. It won’t be competitively priced with the Mustang in Australia.
But it is almost certainly destined to exist. Holden Special Vehicles spokesperson Damon Paull says, “I have read reports about the Camaro coming but we have no comment.” Hardly a denial.
Likewise, Poppitt refused to speak directly about the Camaro, but he informed Drive about the potential branding strategy. “I think it has to wear a Chevrolet badge, it absolutely does,” the Holden communications boss says. “It’s intrinsic to its DNA and to what it stood for, for decades in the U.S., and globally.”
You better believe it. While the Corvette stands off to the side as a near separate entity, the Camaro is proudly Chevrolet.
Last month in the United States, Camaro volume rose 13 percent to a class-topping 7,430 September sales. That made September 2017 the best September for the Camaro since 2009, the Camaro’s year of rebirth. In Australia, Holden Special Vehicles will likely build 1,000 right-hand-drive Camaros per year.
Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars and Instagram.
“It’s intrinsic to its DNA and to what it stood for, for decades in the U.S., and globally.”
Yea, could you imagine if a long-running Australian performance car was brought over to the American market and given an anonymous two character name or a 60s nostalgia badge? That would be stupid.
Thank you, screw GM of America. Holden proves GMoA has the parts bin to make world class cars, yet we get the Camaro while they lose the Commodore that actually has the bones to live to see another generation.
Haha. Well said.
As an Aussie, it’s getting a bit old putting all the pictures upside down.
As an American, I am tired of it as well.
Nah, I like it, It highlights it as relevant to me.
Holden has fallen to 5th place in Australia, just behind Mitsubishi..
I felt for a long time that GM doesn’t care about extra brands on their power point slides. So sad.
Its hard to think of less desired brand for Australia from a developed country than Chevrolet, they really should’ve gone Buick.
Yes, Holden has been on the nose for some years now, in decline.
Ford Australia is very similar to Ford Dearborn, totally reliant of pickup sales, oh and some Mustangs.
I think the US Big Three need to address their precarious position of being reliant of to few products, especially products that are not future proof.
Odd. The picture shows up normally here in the northern hemisphere.
It is a bit strange, since the cars pictured aren’t down under, they are Up Over.
I think it’s a cool way of showing an Aussie article.
Is nationality now a source of victimhood status? I think Aussies should demand 50% of North American pics be put upside down to promote equality.
I’ve seen quite a few (OK, three or four) of those aussie GM cars re-badged back to Holdens.
The last VF Zeta rolled off the factory line today.
APaGtth,
Yes, but a necessary decision.
You just can’t subsidise industry. Its not fair to the majority. If all in Australia benefitted then yes, subsidise, like health and education.
The last Commodore didn’t roll off the line today (or the 10th), the bodyshell was produced. It rolls off the line on the 20th.
Why can’t it be called a Monaro?
Because Australians aren’t stupid. They know what a Camaro is, and isn’t.
For the sake of making a point I know there are 4-door versions too… the Monaro is, effectively, a 2-door full-size Holden and styled as such, the Camaro is a standalone model and has no styling cues similar to the Commodore.
The Camaro will be welcomed with open arms, I’m sure, but to badge is as a Monaro, lest a Holden, would be a great misstep.
Dann,
Price will ensure the Camaro is only a niche product in Australia.
Most Aussies, even Holden fans will say “I wanna V8” then buy a 4×4 dualcab ute, Then maybe a Mustang.
I consider this a pity.
It will be as much a niche product as the the current HSV lineup, which for its limited production capacity, sells enough to hold its own. I think for now, the main limitation will be how many Camaros they can get a hold of from the US.
It is, after all, the demographic that Holden/HSV is aiming Camaro at, once the Commodore-based models are discontinued — similar price range, similar powertrain setup, however, less doors (that in itself isn’t a dealbreaker for most HSV customers as its either not their sole vehicle, or they don’t have kids to cart around).
Does Chevy has dealerships in Oz? No. Aussies have to go to a Holden dealership to buy and service a Camaro. So why not brand it as Holden?
Naysayers to the idea of a Camaro wearing the Bowtie in Australia are forgetting that there is a significant group of folks who know and love classic American muscle cars, including the Chevy Camaro. Take a look for yourself!
https://www.australianmusclecarsales.com.au/muscle/us_muscle.html
http://www.americanmusclecars.com.au/
Consider this point in light of the Camaro design being so heavily influenced by nostalgia, and it starts to make more and more sense.
Since so much of the rebirth of Camaro was engineered in Australia, it’s a shame that the capability to be either left or right hand drive was not built in. The European and Japanese manufacturers seem to have no trouble with the concept.