RobertHammen
08-16-2006, 03:32 PM
Looked for the original article on http://www.goauto.com.au but couldn't find it.
From http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/08/16/holden-adamant-ve-commodore-should-come-to-us-as-grand-prix/
"Denny Mooney, chairman of GM's Australian subsidiary Holden, is adamant that the 2007 VE Commodore SS and SS V sedans should come to the United States as the next Pontiac Grand Prix. Mooney made comments about the idea in July, and has again reiterated them in the latest issue of GoAuto e-news. "So the reality is that if this car went over there it would do well, he said. "A rear-wheel drive, performance sedan at an affordable price? It doesn't exist in the US." He admitted the closest product currently on the market is the Chrysler 300C or the Dodge Charger. Mooney says that unlike the failed Pontiac GTO — which was targeting a niche segment with certain expectations — the sedan market is both larger and easier to target. He said demand for such a sedan is "20 times bigger than the coupe market.""
The current Grand Prix sells anywhere from 85,000-110,000 cars/year. Holden can maybe make 140,000 cars/year (unless they bring back their third shift, hired when the GTO program was put into place). How would you replace one with the other, unless you plan to move the Grand Prix upmarket and let the G6 take some of those sales (kind of like what GM is doing with the next Malibu, hoping it takes up some of the sales slack from the Impala, which is moving upmarket when it goes RWD in 2009/2010)? The alternative is to build them somewhere in North America, but porting VE straight over was deemed as "too expensive" and was why "Zeta" was killed... plus, everything associated with "Zeta" is Chevy (Camaro/Impala), and Pontiac and Buick aren't mentioned.
Hmmm...
From http://www.leftlanenews.com/2006/08/16/holden-adamant-ve-commodore-should-come-to-us-as-grand-prix/
"Denny Mooney, chairman of GM's Australian subsidiary Holden, is adamant that the 2007 VE Commodore SS and SS V sedans should come to the United States as the next Pontiac Grand Prix. Mooney made comments about the idea in July, and has again reiterated them in the latest issue of GoAuto e-news. "So the reality is that if this car went over there it would do well, he said. "A rear-wheel drive, performance sedan at an affordable price? It doesn't exist in the US." He admitted the closest product currently on the market is the Chrysler 300C or the Dodge Charger. Mooney says that unlike the failed Pontiac GTO — which was targeting a niche segment with certain expectations — the sedan market is both larger and easier to target. He said demand for such a sedan is "20 times bigger than the coupe market.""
The current Grand Prix sells anywhere from 85,000-110,000 cars/year. Holden can maybe make 140,000 cars/year (unless they bring back their third shift, hired when the GTO program was put into place). How would you replace one with the other, unless you plan to move the Grand Prix upmarket and let the G6 take some of those sales (kind of like what GM is doing with the next Malibu, hoping it takes up some of the sales slack from the Impala, which is moving upmarket when it goes RWD in 2009/2010)? The alternative is to build them somewhere in North America, but porting VE straight over was deemed as "too expensive" and was why "Zeta" was killed... plus, everything associated with "Zeta" is Chevy (Camaro/Impala), and Pontiac and Buick aren't mentioned.
Hmmm...