Holden says no to LCV expansion

HOLDEN has ruled out resurrecting the Combo van to expand its light-commercial vehicle line-up, but Holden-badged Opels could still be on the cards, the local sales and marketing chief says.

Speaking with GoAuto at the launch of the updated Colorado range this week, Holden‘s executive director of sales and marketing, Philip Brook, said the GM-owned brand was focussed on its current LCV range and not looking to bring the Combo back, for now.

“We don’t have any plans at this stage,” he said. “But we look at everything all the time so if the market started to change or a new model was on the drawing board we might be able to do something with that.

“But certainly at this stage, no plan.”

The Holden Combo competed with the Volkswagen Caddy, Renault Kangoo and Citroen Berlingo in the compact commercial van segment from 1996 until it was discontinued midway through last year.

The first Combo was based on the European Corsa B, which sold in Australia as the third-generation SB Barina. An updated version based on the fourth generation XC Barina (Opel Corsa C) arrived in 2002 and sold until last year.

The current-generation Turkish-built Opel Combo is based on the Fiat Doblo van and launched in Europe in late 2011.

As GoAuto reported earlier this month, the Fiat Chrysler Group has confirmed it will bring the Doblo to Australia in the first half of next year to compete with the dominant Volkswagen Caddy.

Meanwhile, Mr Brook said the company was looking into the viability of introducing Holden-badged Opel vehicles, following the closure of the GM-owned German car-maker’s Australian operation in August this year, just a year after it opened its doors.

Mr Brook said any possible addition to the Holden line-up would have to be done strategically to avoid any internal competition.

“We won’t do anything that’s going to have an impact on our Holden business. We are very committed to that,” he said.

“So cars like the Astra, that doesn’t make a lot of sense. We have got the Cruze and we have got a plant in Adelaide and we are very focussed on making sure that’s viable and continues to be viable,” Mr Brook said.

One clear possibility is the Astra-based Zafira compact people-mover that was scheduled to launch the week after Opel announced its closure.

Holden’s current line-up does not include a compact people-mover and the Zafira nameplate is not new to Australia, having sold here with Holden badges between 2001 and 2005.

Mr Brook would not confirm whether the Zafira was under consideration for Holden in Australia, but said the logistics of introducing a re-badged model meant any addition to the local line-up would be well down the track.

“If it’s incremental and can be done profitably then we would consider it. But to re-badge cars, get the systems up and running as a Holden and to integrate them into the Holden fold, takes a bit of time unfortunately,” he said.

“But it is still very, very early days.”