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A Holden dealer bulletin issued on 19 February 2020 listed huge discounts to clear remaining Holden stock.

This follows General Motors Announcement, two days (17/02/2020) earlier that they will be killing off the Holden Brand.

General Motors Announcement.

GM announced that the Holden brand will not exist by the end of 2020.

This is three years after  GM stopped manufacturing Holden cars in Australia.

Holden has achieved the lowest monthly sales (according to VFACTS) since it was established in 1948.

General Motors has made a strategic decision to stop manufacturing right-hand-drive vehicles globally.

Dealerships are Big Employers.

Usually no one has a lot of sympaty for car dealers, but some thought needs to be given to the economic impact dealership closures will have.

Particularly hard hit will be regional towns where sales people, mechanics, car cleaners and administration staff may not have alternative employment available to them. The dealership staff were often big spenders and participated in and sponsored local sporting teams.

The dealer had to build showrooms to General Motors, Holden  standards, buy cars to resell and employ staff

. This is a capital intensive business and most of them had to borrow money and put their homes up as security.

There are a number of dealers that will be out of business buy 30 June 2020.

General Motors Pretend This Was a Spur of The Moment Decision.

I call “bullshit” on a statement that this had been an “agonising decision” and had only been made in Detroit in the past 48 hours and that General Motors had every intention of reviving the brand following the end of local manufacturing.

This is Why I Think That They are Telling Porkies.

General Motors has been getting out of other righthand drive countries over the past three years, Much bigger markets than Australia, such as the United Kingdom, Japan, India and South Africa.

There were only three remaining right hand-drive countries for GM to retreat from, these are Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.

General Motors says it has become unprofitable to develop new vehicles for such comparatively small markets.

Bargains at Your Holden Dealer.

There should be some great bargains to be had at your local Holden Dealer.

A dealer bulletin issued by General Motors to Holden dealers outlines stock bonuses that may translate to discounts across the Holden range from between $7500 and up to $17,500.

Some of the biggest discounts may be applied to the Colorado ute.

My understanding from talking to industry veterans is that there are no bonuses to dealers on demos or late model stock already on the yard.

The intention behind the bonuses is that they not only be applied to discounts on new cars but as a subsidy across the stock held by the dealer.

Dealers were still unclear about whether the discounts are to come off the current drive-away offer prices, or from the full recommended retail price.

Discounts May Not be Applied in Full.

If, as some commentators have suggested, the discounts are applied in full to each new car sale, the dealer would have a huge problem with the value of their late model used car stock as it would devalue overnight.

Look for the bonus/discount to be applied against new and used cars. The dealer may discount the new car to sell it and gain access to the bonus/discount, but he will be unable to pass on the full amount on the new car sale.

The Acadia, holdens seven-seat family SUV attracts a bonus of between $11,500 and $17,000, watch this space to see if the full amount is passed on to purchasers.

There are Discounts Across the Range.

Holden dealers have had great enquiry since Holden has announced the huge discounts/bonuses.

Most of the sales staff I have spoken to were unsure of how any discounts would be applied.

The dealer bulletin announcing the bonus/incentive/discount was not final and may be subject to change, it has been implemented to help clear New Car Stock from showrooms as quickly as possible.

The Bulletin Said That the Discounts Would Begin in March.

GM has said that they expected most dealers to have sold their new car stock before the end of 2020.

Dealers Closing.

There are Holden dealers throughout the country that have said they will be closed before the end of the financial year. 30 June 2020.

This was the final straw for some dealers that were already facing pressure from financiers and banks to repay facilities.

This news comes on top of the fact that Holden dealers have had to cope with declining sales and profitability, and they had just completed dealer fit outs and refurbishments of their dealerships on GM orders.