Hard-charging Holden

By ALASTAIR SLOANE motoring editor

The continuing sales success of the Commodore looks like pushing Holden into second place in the new vehicle market for this year, ahead of last year's runner-up Ford and behind long-time market leader Toyota.

The Commodore has been the best-selling passenger car in New Zealand for four out of the past five years. It has been No 1 for 26 of the past 27 months, losing the title to the Toyota Corolla in October before regaining it last month.

New vehicle sales this month are expected to confirm year-to-November showings, where Toyota led from Holden and Ford.

Land Transport Safety Authority figures showed Toyota had 20.2 per cent of the car and commercial market with 15,682 sales, followed by Holden with 12,921 (16.7 per cent) and Ford with 12,303 (15.9 per cent).

The big three carmakers controlled nearly 53 per cent of the market, a domination they maintained throughout the year.

In fourth place at the end of last month was Mitsubishi with 7311 sales (9.4 per cent), followed by Nissan (5708/7.4), Honda (4254/5.5), Mazda (3350/4.3), BMW (1681/2.2), Volkswagen (1536/2.0), Peugeot (1452/1.9), Hyundai (1442/1.9), Subaru (1383/1.8), Suzuki (1245/1.6), Mercedes-Benz (1140/1.5), Audi (757/1.0), Rover (607/0.8), Chrysler (483/0.6), Kia (476/0.6), and Daewoo (155/0.2).

Other badges like Citroen, Renault, Volvo, Saab, Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Jaguar made up the remaining 3625 sales, or 4.8 per cent.

Sales at the end of November were up more than 14 per cent on last year, pointing to 2002 being the best sales year since 1990.

Toyota remains the big player and is about to celebrate its 15th year as market leader.

The launch of its new Camry in October helped it to maintain sales momentum in the face of two rivals, the updated VY Commodore and BA Falcon.

The VT/VX Commodore was the best-selling passenger car in New Zealand in 1998, 2000, 2001. The VY has helped it to pretty much wrap up the 2002 title.

The AU Falcon was the bestseller in 1999 and Ford believes the heavily facelifted BA can give the Commodore a shake next year, certainly once the V8-powered BA models reach the market.

A head-to-head comparison between the VY Commodore V6 and the BA Falcon in-line six might read thus: engine, ride, gearbox to Ford; steering, handling, interiors to Holden.

Ford is also counting on the new Focus, due early next year, to challenge Holden numbers.

But Holden is branching out and challenging other segments.

Its Commodore-based four-wheel-drive wagon is one of nine variants expected in 2003 and 2004.

The off-road Holden has been having tests in Australia, where the company's managing director, Peter Hannenberger, says it has "tackled conditions in which [Holden] Jackaroo and [Toyota] Land Cruiser support vehicles were getting into trouble".

It will feature an advanced electronic traction-control system, a significantly higher ride height and permanent four-wheel-drive.

It will be given a unique name in the same way as the Subaru Legacy-based Outback, and the first models will be powered only by Holden's 5.7-litre V8. Later models will get the new V6 engine.

Holden is also looking at expanding beyond Australia and New Zealand into the Middle East, China, South Korea, Japan and Britain.

It exports about 30,000 left-hand-drive Commodore models to the Middle East and South America, where they are rebadged as Chevrolets. Leftie Monaros go to America next year wearing the Pontiac GTO badge.

But Hannenberger last week said that once production of domestic and international models reached 250,000 annually - it expects overall sales of 218,000 this year - Holden could become Australia's first international brand.

Hannenberger believes the target can be reached by about 2005, after the all-new VE Commodore - built on a world car platform - appears.

"Once we reach 250,000, this is when we become a global company and start using the Holden brand," he said in a speech last week.

"Because by that time we'll have a hell of a reputation in the countries where we export and then it is more easy to switch over in the brand.

"If we were to start in 2005 with the Holden badge we would most likely start in the Middle East because it is the market where people understand and know the product the best. And the next one would most likely be China."

Hannenberger said that while he sees opportunities in emerging markets, the presence of and positive reaction to Commodore-based Holden Special Vehicles in Britain leads him to believe that the brand could be successful there.

Holden aims to lift annual production to 270,000 by 2008 - comprising 200,000 domestic models and 70,000 exports.