GM HOLDEN DENIES MAKING THE COMMENTS AND HAS REJECTED THE ALLEGATIONS. SEE STATEMENT HERE

ADELAIDE car dealer Giacinto “Jack” Torcaso, owner of one of the most profitable and successful Holden dealerships in the country, yesterday lost an injunction in the Federal Court restraining Holden from ending his franchise agreement at the end of this year.

Mr Torcaso’s successful business, Metro Holden in the west Adelaide suburb of Thebarton, was one of about 30 Holden dealers nationally who were told their franchise agreement would not be renewed from December 31 this year.

In a bid to retain the business, he filed an affidavit listing his successes as a Holden dealer and long-standing relationship with the car-maker which – he claims in court papers – has consistently praised his business performance and repeatedly assured him over the years that his dealership is a key plank in Holden’s representation in Adelaide.

In spite of Mr Torcaso’s track record with the company, Justice Richard White said he would not grant an injunction to keep the franchise and that Mr Torcaso should pursue Holden for damages instead.

Justice White said he would give his reasons in seven to 10 days.

The decision left Mr Torcaso with no choice but to tell his 75 staff that they will be out of work on January 1.

Parties present in the court yesterday said Justice White’s decision came as a surprise after comments he made in the hearing on Tuesday when he asked the parties to the action why Holden would want to terminate a dealer with such a strong track record.

In a strange twist to the case, Mr Torcaso, who came to Australia with his family as a migrant from Italy in 1955, states in court papers that one reason given by Holden to end the agreement was that his name Torcaso did not fit well with the name Holden. Holden denies saying this.

Mr Torcaso has stated in court papers that Holden wants to end his franchise agreement at the end of this month and that Holden had arranged for his business to be sold to another Holden dealership in Adelaide.

The court papers contain a huge list of achievements for Metro Holden going back 40 years.

An affidavit to the court says that the dealership is an 18-times winner of GM’s prestigious Grand Master award (in the top-tier Group 1) which international executives of General Motors describe as “the best of the best” with the latest Grand Master awarded to Metro Holden just this year. Grand Masters winners are presented with their awards each year at international gala events by the cream of General Motors’ international management team

The affidavit says:

• Metro Holden has been a Grand Master in the following years: 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Though it missed the Grand Master award in 2010, in that year it picked up a string of awards in sales, service and finance
• In 2012 Metro Holden received the Chairman’s Award which goes to the Number One Holden dealership in Australia
• It was the top performing dealership in South Australia in 2016-17.
• In 2016 Metro Holden sold and delivered 944 units; exceeding Holden’s official target for the dealership of 826 units
• By the end of October this year Metro Holden had sold and delivered 811 units which exceeds Holden’s target for the whole of 2017 of 788 units
• In the past 10 years since 2007, Metro Holden had met every KPI (key performance indicator) required by Holden
• In a Holden benchmarking report for the last financial year Metro Holden was listed as Holden’s fourth highest dealership in Australia in terms of profit as a percentage of sales
• Metro Holden sells 40 per cent of all the genuine Holden spare parts in South Australia and is currently purchasing $1.1 million in spare parts from Holden each month
• The Holden benchmarking report listed Metro Holden as Holden’s fourth highest dealership in Australia in spare parts sales in the last financial year
• In 2016-17, Metro Holden had revenue of $73 million. This included new Holden sales amounting to $33.2 million; spare parts sales at $16.2 million; service department contributions of $4.6 million; and finance and insurance products that amounted to $1.6 million.

In his affidavit, Mr Torcaso – for 40 years a Holden dealer in two locations in South Australia – said he was told by Holden dealer network development manager Geoff Bennett that there were three reasons why his dealership would not be renewed:

• “You are not a permanent resident of South Australia”
• “You don’t have a succession plan”
• “The name Torcaso does not really fit in with the Holden name.” In effect that Torcasso Holden does not have a good ring to it.

Mr Torcaso stated in his affidavit that:

• He had not been a permanent resident of South Australia for 40 years and the issue had never been raised by Holden over all that time. He said he has a house in Adelaide and is in the city about once a month
• Regarding a succession plan, Mr Torcaso’s dealer principal at Metro Holden, Gino Raschella, has a 13.3 per cent share with plans in place to have him take increasing equity in the business. Mr Torcaso also has three sons, one being a Holden university graduate
• His name had never been a problem in the previous 40 years and in any case the dealership is not named Torcaso Holden it is named Metro Holden.

GM Holden denies making the comments and has rejected the allegations.

In his affidavit, Mr Torcaso states that Holden had arranged to sell the Metro Holden dealership (the land is owned by Mr Torcaso) to the City Holden business in Adelaide, owned by Chris Newton.

The affidavit said that Mr Bennett told him: “Newton Holden is an Australian-sounding name”.

Mr Torcaso asked Mr Bennett what he was supposed to tell his staff who faced the sack.

Mr Bennett was alleged to reply: “You’re too old fashioned, Jack. Today you cannot think of people first. It’s business first, not people.”

The affidavit continues with Mr Torcaso approaching his Holden competitor, Chris Newton, of City Holden.

Mr Torcaso said Mr Newton told him: “Holden has told me I have to relocate my Grenfell Street premises to 1 Port Road, Thebarton (Metro Holden) if I wish to remain a Holden dealer in the Adelaide APR (Area of Primary Responsibility).”

The affidavit said Mr Newton continued: “I have no desire to relocate. I have no intention of purchasing the Metro Holden business.”

Mr Torcaso then received official notice from Holden that his franchise would be relinquished on December 31, 2017.

In 2016, Mr Torcaso ended his second Holden franchise at his Plaza Holden dealership in Adelaide. This outlet is now a new-car franchise for Haval under the Plaza Auto name.

In the same year, Claridge Holden in Adelaide closed its doors. The premises now sells Mercedes-Benz products.

The court papers said that in addition to Metro Holden’s strong sales performance and its record for exceeding Holden targets, the dealership was likely to pick up sales from other Holden dealerships in Adelaide that had recently closed.

The affidavit said that an expected 1100 Holden sales would become available for the remaining dealers and that Metro Holden would conservatively pick up about 25 per cent of them. This would have taken Metro Holden’s annual Holden sales to more than 1000 units.

Mr Torcaso is not alone in his attempt to retain his Holden franchise. Four other Holden dealers in South Australia who have been given notice are preparing to fight.

The Adelaide Advertiser reports that those fighting termination by Holden are Hood Holden in Meningie, Riverside Holden in Waikerie, Flight Motors in Loxton and McLeods Whyalla, in Whyalla – the latter spending $4 million in 2014 after being asked by Holden to upgrade the dealership.

GM HOLDEN DENIES MAKING THE COMMENTS AND HAS REJECTED THE ALLEGATIONS. SEE STATEMENT HERE

By Neil Dowling and John Mellor