Cruze Hype Falls Down Under
By Edward NiedermeyerSeptember 17, 2009
The Freep has dubbed Chevy’s Next Big Small Thing a “hit” on the grounds that it’s big in Australia. The only problem? It’s not really selling all that well. Towards the bottom of its write-up, the Freep reveals that GM’s Holden division sold 4,826 of the US-bound Cruze in the last three months. Center for Automotive Research president David Cole reckons those numbers “kind of give you a clue as to what the potential could be” when the Cruze arrives stateside. If that’s true, the Cruze is a loser. Not only has Toyota sold 7,550 Cruze-class Corollas in the last two months, the Mazda3 and Hyundai i30 are also the segment’s fastest growers.
Posted in Australia | New Cars | News Blog | Sales | 41 comments 
Alpha-Bits
By Edward NiedermeyerAugust 19, 2009
General Motors’ so-called Alpha platform has been something of an enigma since it was first conceptualized by Holden as the TT36 Torana for the 2004 Sydney Auto Show. The TT36 concept was Holden’s pitch for a sub-CTS RWD global premium sedan, although, in proper GM fashion, that job went to the late, unlamented BLS. Though fuel economy issues were said to have killed the possibility of introducing an RWD model below the CTS, the penalty wasn’t huge, making the decision to go with a Saab 9-3 rebadge all the more strange. “As a lightweight rear-wheel-drive car that is going to add about 1mpg compared to an equivalent lightweight front-wheel drive car . . . we just have to sort of wait a while and see where we are,” is how Bob Lutz explained it to Go Auto last year. More likely, GM simply had no money to develop the platform in those pre-bailout days. Now that taxpayers are footing the bill, what can we expect from Alpha?
Posted in Australia | Future Vehicles | News Blog | 24 comments
Remember, the G8 Was a Bad Business Decision
By Edward NiedermeyerAugust 4, 2009
Which means importing this 415 hp, 415 lb-ft, AWD Ford FPV F6 E from Australia is a bad idea, too. Right?
Posted in Australia | News Blog | 57 comments
Australia: Deaths Go Up After Speed Limits Imposed
By The NewspaperJuly 17, 2009
Up until 2007, rural freeways in the Northern Territory, Australia had no speed limit. Claiming that speed limits were essential to saving lives, the state government imposed a 130km/h (80 MPH) limit on the Stuart, Arnhem, Victoria and Barkly highways and a 110km/h (68 MPH) speed limit on all other roads, unless otherwise marked lower. Despite the best of intentions, however, the number of road deaths actually increased 70 percent after the change — despite worldwide drop in traffic levels (view chart).
Posted in Australia | Crime & Punishment | News Blog | 21 comments
Wannabe Baruth Arrested in Australia
By Bertel SchmittJuly 14, 2009
Up until yesterday, there were only two Ferrari Californias on Australia’s streets. The number is now down to one. Police have impounded the rare Ferrari California being driven by Financial Review motoring writer Rod Easdown. Baruthian car and driver were clocked by Australia’s finest at 231kmh, more than twice the legal limit.
Posted in Australia | News Blog | 26 comments
Editorial: Between The Lines: Maximum Ambivalence
By Edward NiedermeyerJune 10, 2009
Editorial: Between The Lines: Maximum Ambivalence
Posted in Australia | High Finance | New Cars | North American International Auto Show | Safety | 17 comments
Aussie Toll Road Showdown (Yes, There Will Be a Test Afterwards)
By The NewspaperApril 8, 2009
Following a ruling by the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia, a 27-year-old will have a chance to shut down the A$4.8 billion Airport Link toll road next Tuesday. The BrisConnections toll project, built upon highly leveraged shareholder debt, fell apart as the credit crisis hit and the share price plunged to just A$.001. This allowed a young Internet entrepreneur, Nicholas Bolton, to snap up 73,100,993 shares representing eighteen percent of the company with an initial investment of just A$47,923. That cheap initial purchase price, however, came with a catch. The BrisConnections stock is a “partly paid security” that requires a A$1 per-share payment on April 29, 2009, and a second A$1 payment on January 29, 2010, for the shares to become fully paid.
Posted in Australia | High Finance | News Blog | 14 comments
Lutz: RWD Zeta Platform RIP
By Edward NiedermeyerJanuary 16, 2009
GoAuto hears from GM Car Czar Maximum Bob Lutz himself that the Camaro and G8 will be the last US market GM products based on Holden’s RWD Zeta platform. “The strategy we had a few years ago of basically deriving a whole sweeping global portfolio off the Australian Zeta architecture … frankly, we have had to abandon that dream,” said Lutz. “This is because, whether you are in the United States or in China, fuel economy mandates are getting more and more severe, and we just could not base our strategy on doing relatively large and relatively heavy rear-wheel-drive cars. I suspect the same thing is going to start to bite the traditional rear-wheel drive producers.” Not that they’re ditching the platform entirely. “It is our intent to continue the Australian rear-wheel-drive cars; we will continue building them and doing a next generation and so forth and so on,” says Mr Maximum. “And, to be honest, they continue to be my favourite cars. I think they are absolutely wonderful – but the regulatory environment is such that it would be imprudent to base a whole global platform strategy on them … much to my personal chagrin, by the way.” And what of the rumored Alpha compact RWD platform?
Posted in Australia | Future Vehicles | News Blog | 55 comments
Only The Pointless Die Young
By Edward NiedermeyerJanuary 6, 2009
Pickuptrucks.com has learned that the Pontiac G8 ST has been canceled. Incidentally, Automobile Magazine is reporting that the Suzuki Kizashi has not been canceled, but will debut in production form at this year’s New York Auto Show.
Posted in Australia | Future Vehicles | News Blog | 52 comments
Australians See Through Bailout Window Dressing
By Edward NiedermeyerDecember 23, 2008
By taking a quid-pro-quo (cash for a new model) approach to its automaker bailout, the Australian government and Holden have opened themselves for significant criticism. And it’s starting to pile on. From The Australian we have reports of backlash from, among others, Australia’s Green party. And their scathing remarks are centered on the GM Cruze variant that received specific subsidization. Greens senator Christine Milne questioned why the “green car innovation fund” was being spent on something that was “neither particularly green, nor in any way innovative.” Says Milne of the SubsiCruze, “even if it is an efficient four-cylinder car, that is hardly green innovation. This is keeping the Australian car industry on life support instead of giving it a new lease of life.” Sound familiar? Getting tired of that question? Apparently Australia’s Greens expected something more revolutionary than a boring ICE compact. According to Senator Nick Xenophon, there is “nothing green about a petrol car. You can make it more efficient but that is just fiddling at the margins.” Incidentally, Xenephon goes on to destroy his credibility by suggesting Australia’s government subsidize a local version of GM’s Volt. Now we’re getting realistic! In other news from the exciting world of The New Mercantilism, Canadians are beginning to worry that their own bailout “is a very difficult situation, because we’ve got a financial plan without a business plan, and that’s the wrong way to do things,” according to Joe D’Cruz, a professor at the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. How did nobody see this coming? Oh wait. (Thanks to JT for the tip)
Posted in Australia | Bailout Watch | News Blog | 2 comments
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