News - Holden Commodore

Holden-Brazil deal confined to base Commodore sedan

Fit for Fittipaldi?: General Motors sells the Barina-sized Montana ute in Brazil.

Holden to send big sedan - but not wagon, ute, V8s or Caprice - to Brazil

2 September 2010

By BYRON MATHIOUDAKIS

CHEVROLET BRASIL sales and marketing boss Gustavo Colossi has poured cold water on speculation that Holden may export more than one variety of VE Commodore to Brazil in the foreseeable future.

This is despite the confirmation that at least 200 of the 600 initial dealer orders for the VE Series II-based 'Omega Fittipaldi' (named after Brazil’s national motor racing hero of the '70s and ethanol industry ambassador) will be sold by the end of December, with the remainder expected to disappear within three months of the model’s public debut in November.

Mr Colossi also revealed that Chevrolet is aiming to eclipse the 150 sales per month that the previous-generation, VT-VZ based Opel Omega ‘B’ managed during its 2000s heyday.

Speaking at the announcement on August 31 of Holden’s resumption of exports to Brazil following a two-year global financial crisis-driven hiatus, Mr Colossi said that the short-wheelbase Calais-style Omega 3.6 SIDI V6 specification is an ideal fit for Brazilian buyers.

Asked if the Holden Sportwagon, Caprice, Ute or V8 figured in Chevrolet’s future plans, Mr Colossi said that such vehicles are unsuitable to Brazilian buyers for a variety of reasons, including differing attitudes to size, taste, and cost.

“My perception of Australia is that your tastes align to European ones.

“But our tastes are part-European and part-American – and the five-seaters we like are SUVs, minivans or (sedans), rather than station wagons. They are no longer big sellers in our market ... we like cars like Meriva, Captiva, Zafira and Tahoe SUV.

“Wagons are no longer requested in the Brazilian market.”

“(Of the Ute) we have a different execution – you have a pick-up based on big cars while we have monocoque based utilities based on B-segment cars like your Barina, like the Montana. We would not be selling more than 50 units per year.

“(The massive traffic jams in places like Sao Paolo and Rio means that) the size of the (SWB) Omega is perfect but the Caprice is too big ... and it has features that our market will not necessarily pay for.

“And we have very few V8 engines in our market. Fuel is too expensive. There are some German marques that have V8s, but in the whole industry last year less than 100 units were sold. We are still very petrol price conscious in our market – so V8s are out of the question. A good V6 with direct injection will do the job.”

Mr Colossi also said the Australian-made Cruze will not be an export candidate to Brazil or any other left-hand drive market becuase Holden's Adelaide facility will only be manufacturing right-hand drive.

The news comes as a surprise to those who expected exports of sedan and/or upcoming Australian-designed hatch versions of GM's global small-car from Australia - and despite the fact the C-segment will help drive Brazilian new car sales well beyond the 3.1 million units it achieved last year within the next decade, making it one of the world's top three automotive markets.

Read more:

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  1/9/2010

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