Belgian business man taking next step to buy Holden plant and Build Commodore

[Eaturbo]

Belgian business man Guido Dumarey is taking things to the next level to investigate buying the Holden plant and continue building cars using the Zeta platform. http://www.carsales.com.au/editorial...izabeth-100647

This would be the best news since Henry Ford starting building cars here. It would keep the manufacturing business open in Australia and be great for local jobs. There's a long way to go but it's a start. Imagine the potential of it. We all know that once the doors close for good that there's no way that we will ever see a auto factory in Australia again. Imagine the possibilities with a new owner and the other Australian business that supply parts like carbon fibre wheels, supercharger and the like.

[Windsor220]

So what happens to Holden in this scenario? Will it use the Holden name or something else?

[Bossxr8]

Repost. And GM will never allow someone to come in and use one of their platforms. It's really a non story.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Repost. And GM will never allow someone to come in and use one of their platforms. It's really a non story.

They sold Saab. The 9 3 will be the base for 150,000 EVs. They also sold the 93 platform to be used by Romania for a new venture to build a state car.

GM also sold their truck business to Navistar a while back.

The difference is the Commodore will be competing against this so could jeopardise Holden sales

[LoudPipes]

Originally Posted by Brazen

The difference is the Commodore will be competing against this so could jeopardise Holden sales

I think it’s important to note that this is what differentiates the business risk of selling this platform compared to offloading an unwanted company or just a component.

It would be a very ballsy corporate decision to place your outgoing platform into the hands of a competitor knowing your current customer base respects and loves that RWD product when you want that same customer base to move onto your new RWD platform.

[Eaturbo]

Originally Posted by LoudPipes

I think it’s important to note that this is what differentiates the business risk of selling this platform compared to offloading an unwanted company or just a component.

It would be a very ballsy corporate decision to place your outgoing platform into the hands of a competitor knowing your current customer base respects and loves that RWD product when you want that same customer base to move onto your new RWD platform.

You have a good point there, it would be a very risky move but would depend on how the contract of sale was written up. My guess is that they want to just continue building the same car with the same parts and model mix. This could be bad as you said for future sales of a front wheel drive replacement Commodore. How long could you continue to build a 11 year old car that's fast getting old compared to others. It might work well for HSV but. I'd say there's little chance of it happening but while there's a chance it's good for Australia. They would need to also inject substantial capital to design a new body shape to put over the top of the zeta platform which would take 3 to 4 years to do. This puts the VF at 15 years old. Doesn't make for a good business plan.

[Sprintey]

And Mr Dumarey knows this:

"For me, the rear wheel drive platforms are premium platforms..."

Edit: he also sees the unibody ute as a world market. Nice vision.

[LoudPipes]

Originally Posted by LoudPipes

I think it’s important to note that this is what differentiates the business risk of selling this platform compared to offloading an unwanted company or just a component.

It would be a very ballsy corporate decision to place your outgoing platform into the hands of a competitor knowing your current customer base respects and loves that RWD product when you want that same customer base to move onto your new RWD (I meant FWD) platform.

There's a typo at the end, RWD should read FWD.

[LoudPipes]

I’m not sure why the journalist who wrote the article isn’t being more investigative and in particular analysing the many different business and government components that would need to be brought together to bring a venture such as this to fruition.

Everything about the article and what Dumarey has to say is very superficial.

At face value any Senior Executives that were to be part of a management committee who gave their competition assistance or in any way helped to spawn new competition that could eat away even 1% of their market would be cut into strips and flushed down the toilet.

Vehicle manufacturing is a cut throat business and decisions like this would only be made where it benefited the original owner.

To sell even a redundant asset that has the potential to hurt your own bottom line would require a high level of compensation, royalties and restrictions on market penetration to the point it would probably make the deal unpalatable for the new owner.

Unless of course there was Government intervention that offered funding to prop up the new venture to ensure its existence.

Given the Australian Government wasn’t prepared to assist an existing industry I can’t see the funding of a gamble based on speculation with a product that has proven in recent times to at best have limited appeal in the market place being easily forthcoming.

Consumers will not buy on local loyalty alone anymore and given this fellow is not Australian that would be even a harder sell to them.

Tugging at the heart strings to keep a local industry alive or to provide local jobs won’t necessarily have the impact it could of had two years ago as the public has already lost interest in its disappearance.

Any venture into an international market would be a very slow process which would require the injection of countless millions over a very long term as customer awareness, confidence, patronage and needs are earnt to gain market strength before any profit could be envisaged.

This is not a matter of manufacturing a good transmission and selling it to another manufacturer on its merits, this is selling an unknown product to many individual customers which is a much harder task and it could prove disastrous if it turns out to be a product they don’t want.

Giving a slow moving Government process only 12 months to act will also not help his case, this idea is something he should have jumped on the moment the shutdown was announced.

As there are many holes in the reporting, it would be interesting to read something from a journalist that reports on business affairs and not one that reports on automotive news.

[Eaturbo]

It's an update on this business mans plans and a very important one for Australia. I don't think there's anyway It will wear a Holden badge of any sort.

[99AUXR]

GM will not sell their platform to a competitor.

[Windsor220]

Originally Posted by 99AUXR

GM will not sell their platform to a competitor.

Isn't it an old platform now?

[Trump]

Originally Posted by Windsor220

Isn't it an old platform now?

That it is, but the intellectual property associated with Zeta is something that is spread across multiple current platforms. As such, there is a snowballs chance in hell this move will be anything more than a pipe dream.

[Eaturbo]

Originally Posted by Windsor220

Isn't it an old platform now?

Yes and no, it's still a very competent suspension layout with way fewer problems than the Falcon rear suspension has. For it to be able to handle the upcoming GTS R means it's a very capable platform. Remember it's only the floor pan arrangement and still leaves the design above free.

[Eaturbo]

Originally Posted by 99AUXR

GM will not sell their platform to a competitor.

I wouldn't be too sure, they gave there intellectual property for there gearboxes to him and so too are ZF as well to build gearboxes for BMW. Money from the government and how much he's prepared to pay GM will be the deciding factor in if it happens or not.

[99AUXR]

Originally Posted by Eaturbo

I wouldn't be too sure, they gave there intellectual property for there gearboxes to him and so too are ZF as well to build gearboxes for BMW. Money from the government and how much he's prepared to pay GM will be the deciding factor in if it happens or not.

Time will tell