Months after fellow General Motors executive Stefan Jacoby caused a storm in Australia by calling on Holden buyers to accept the end of the V8 era, the global automotive giant’s design chief Ed Welburn has warned Holden must change with the times or risk its future.
For a far more diplomatic character than Jacoby – self-confessed as the GM executive who dropped the axe on Holden’s local manufacturing facilities in Adelaide – Welburn’s comments were dramatic.
And while he didn’t name them, Welburn made it clear that Holden must avoid the fate of rivals in Australia that had already fallen behind the times and lost out as a result.
“I will be very honest, I think there are some brands in Australia that didn’t respond to change quick enough to win,” Welburn told motoring.com.au at the Dubai motor show.
Considering the legendary rivalry between Ford and GM, Welburn was likely referring to the fate of the Blue Oval’s Australian division, which has dipped to its lowest sales levels since the early 1960s.
“Holden has really deep roots and you need to understand that, but the brand has got to understand that the world is changing, Australia is changing, China is changing,” Welburn said.
“As young as the car market is in China it is changing rapidly from what it was just five years ago and we all need to understand that. I am really passionate about this.
“It really bothers me when one of our brands -- not necessarily Holden -- does not adjust, is not agile enough to move.”
Welburn was responding to questioning about the design changes Holden’s most popular model, the Commodore, will go through when it shifts in 2018 from being a locally-manufactured rear-wheel drive vehicle to an imported front and all-wheel drive model expected to be based on the next-generation Opel Insignia.
When the Commodore does move to import it is likely a yet-to-be-named sports car will be the only rear-wheel drive vehicle in Holden’s passenger car line-up. Commodore won’t have a V8 engine option and will likely not be a sedan as the Insignia is expected to be offered only as a five-door hatch and wagon. There will be no new Holden Ute.
Welburn inferred that changes may not necessarily be a bad thing for Commodore, pointing out that sedans are declining in popularity as other body shapes such as SUVs are increasing in sales.
“I am not saying that rear-wheel drive is behind the times. Rear-wheel drive will be with us a long time in some products. But other products need to progress and maybe a different configuration is best.
“And we are finding in many markets the traditional four-door sedan is going well but in some markets, some segments, it is moving towards SUVs.
“SUVs used to be this big ugly American thing that no-one else in the world wanted and all of a sudden it seems like millions of SUVs are in China, Europe wants SUVs and it’s true in Australia as well.”
Welburn, who oversees a studio based at Holden in Melbourne as part of his global design resource, was emphatic the end of local manufacturing and the locally-developed Commodore would be more than compensated by the global portfolio of models that Holden was adding to its line-up in coming years.
“I have done a couple of presentations recently about the portfolio for Holden. It is in my opinion the finest, most complete, most diverse portfolio that the brand has ever had. Period.
“I am not going to talk about particular products but it is my feelings that we will have all the right products that customers in Australia desire.”
Welburn wouldn’t reveal when he made the presentation or who to, but confirmed it covered vehicles that would be seen from “fairly soon out” in Australia.
“It wasn’t some smoke and mirrors or theory and it wasn’t sketches either,” he said. “It was clays along with images of very complete designs that were firmed up.”
Welburn confirmed the Holden line-up would benefit from an increased commitment to making more GM vehicles available in right-hand drive, something the corporation’s global boss Mary Barra committed to publicly in September.
“You have to have a well executed right-hand drive vehicle and a portfolio of right-hand drive vehicles. What she said is absolutely right and it is not easy. It is not easy at all to do it and other brands do it and we will as well,” Welburn promised.
“We are an international company, a global company, competing in over 140 markets around the world and we need to respect the customers in every one of those markets and do the right thing from a product perspective.”