GM HOLDEN chairman and managing director Mark Bernhard says he is confident the car-maker’s sales volume can recover next year with the shift to a full-line import business, with a more even spread across the brand’s expanding line-up.

It has been about six weeks since Holden closed its Elizabeth manufacturing operations and the company has just launched one of its most crucial models in years, the Equinox mid-size SUV.

Despite the potential for significant sales in the medium SUV segment – it is the second largest by volume in Australia – Mr Bernhard said Holden was now focused on ensuring that no one model dominated its sales.

“We’re no longer the Commodore Car Company nor are we a Colorado company,” he said at the Equinox launch in Queensland last week. “Buying habits have changed, and we’re continuing to adapt as well.

“Next year, we’ll have a diversified portfolio. Sales will be much more evenly spread across the range. But we’re not pinning the company on a single car line. We have the best products we’ve had for decades.”

Mr Bernhard added that the plan was to increase Holden’s overall sales in 2018 – this year’s downturn will mark its seventh successive annual result in negative territory –  and that all its offerings across different segments are expected to pull their weight.

“In 2018, we’d like to grow sales, but it’s going to be balanced. We think about that from a network perspective, dealer profitability, our profitability, and also from a customer perspective.

“As we look forward to 2018, our LCVs (light-commercial vehicles) are probably (going to be) around 30 per cent of our volume. Our SUV sales will grow to 35 per cent and passenger cars will come back (to 35 per cent).

“So, expect volume of Commodore to come back from where it’s been, with products like Equinox will pick up the slack.”

To the end of November this year, Holden’s sales split is currently 28.5 per cent for LCVs and 24.1 per cent for SUVs, while the bulk of sales – 47.4 per cent – are passenger cars. Just five years ago in 2012, the split was 18.4 per cent LCVs, 16.2 per cent SUVs and 68.7 per cent passenger cars.

After a strong couple of months at the start of this year, Holden sales have fallen by 9.8 per cent to 78,127 units to the end of November, with the company sitting in fourth behind Toyota, Mazda and Hyundai, but ahead of Ford.

Despite the closure of the factory in October, Holden’s sales actually grew that month by 2.7 per cent compared to October last year, and it has continued to grow in November (+2.6 per cent). Mr Bernhard also predicted year-on-year sales growth in December, making for a strong final quarter.

Last year Holden recorded 94,308 registrations, an 8.4 per cent drop over 2015 when it sold 102,951. It is a far cry from 10 years ago in 2007 when Holden sold 146,680 new cars and was second only to Toyota.

As previously reported, Holden is not expecting the new-generation imported Commodore due in February to go close to the sales volumes of the Australian built car, but it will remain one of the key models in its line-up, along with the Colorado pick-up, Equinox SUV and the Astra small car range.

“No longer are our hopes, our successes, our failures pinned on one car line. The Colorado needs to perform. Astra needs to perform. Commodore needs to perform and Equinox needs to perform,” he said.

“Now with the foundations that we’ve got and the momentum that we’ve got going into 2018, we’re confident that each of those products will do that.”

Mr Bernhard said he was not satisfied with Astra sales so far, and while he pointed to issues with sourcing automatic variants following its launch late last year, he said there was an opportunity for the sedan, hatch and wagon range to grow.

“Frankly, we know we have got an awesome product and everyone who gets into the product says the same thing. We have just got to get more people into the car to drive it,” he said.

“No, we are not happy with where it is at. We think there is a lot of opportunity even though it is in a segment that is shrinking as the market moves to SUVs. That segment is more challenging and our competition is finding the same thing as well.”

The European-sourced Astra hatch was followed by the Korean-built Astra sedan – sold in other markets as a Chevrolet Cruze – in June this year, while the Euro-centric Sportwagon rolls into showrooms this month.

With 10,003 sales so far this year, Astra is outselling Ford Focus, Hyundai Elantra and Mitsubishi’s soon-to-depart Lancer, but remains behind the Subaru Impreza, Honda Civic, Volkswagen Golf and Kia Cerato. It is also well off the pace of the Toyota Corolla, Mazda3 and Hyundai i30.

The Colorado is in no danger of scaring the top-selling Toyota HiLux and Ford Ranger in the pick-up segment, with the Thai-built workhorse on 18,357 sales this year, less than half the sales of the Ranger, and only enough to put it in fourth place in the segment behind the Mitsubishi Triton.

“I think in that segment a lot is to do with loyalty and credibility with product,” Mr Bernhard said. “Toyota has had that credibility for a long time. Ford has earned that reputation as well. We now have a product that deserves to be considered in that upper echelon.

“And so some of it is going to be time. Some of it is getting people to experience the product. We are winning some major fleet deals which helps with road presence. We have just got to continue to get home runs with product and the volume will come.”

Mr Bernhard said the company had seen an “uplift in enquiry” since launching the seven-year warranty deal that ends on December 31, and added that it acted as a brand-building exercise as well as a retail incentive.

“Certainly I think it helps brand perspective, it helps us stand out a little bit more,” he said. “But at the end of the day it is a retail incentive to help us sell more vehicles and generate a bit of momentum, which we are seeing in the marketplace. Is it just due to that? Probably not. It is a number of different things that all impact sales momentum.”

He would not be drawn on whether Holden would extend the seven-year warranty beyond December, or make it permanent to match the industry-leading offering by Kia.

By Tim Nicholson