GM HOLDEN, now almost a third of its way through its 24 new-model roll out, is quietly being rebuilt while new dealers knock at its doors and customers get new deals, its boss has revealed.

It’s a brave new world for a car company – sometimes considered an iconic slice of Australian life despite being US bred – that once commanded nearly 50 per cent of the national car market and this year has barely eight per cent.

GM Holden chairman and managing director Mark Bernhard said the past 12 months had been “huge” for the local car-maker.

“We have been rebuilding the company from the ground up,” he said at the launch of the completely transformed Colorado truck – the “ute” tag has been dropped – that spearheads Holden’s fresh drive into boosting sales and profits.

“While we are busy transforming the brand and the company, we are rebuilding it from the ground up, honouring the heritage but 100 per cent focused on the future.

“We have a comprehensive plan built by the talented and passionate people across Holden and also across the dealerships.”

Mr Bernhard said change within the company is “making Holden far more relevant to today’s Australia”.
“Internally, we call it the Holden transformation,” he said. “Externally, if you haven’t started to see the changes yet, I have no doubt you will begin to see them over the coming months.

“There are two areas that we stand out from everyone else – firstly, a much more renewed customer focus and then, the evolution of our product portfolio.”

Mr Bernhard said that for the past few years, Holden had been “battling with one of the oldest portfolios in the industry”.

“That is now changing,” he said.

“I’m sure you’ve heard from other people in our industry about how the companies are putting customers first.

“Well I’d like to talk about a few examples from Holden.

“The first one is that we’ve hired a senior customer experience leader from Telstra – Peter Jamieson – who, together with his team, are really transforming the way Holden is looking after the way we resolve customer service issues.”

Mr Bernhard said the appointment would see new customer service programs launched over the next few months.

Meanwhile, in May, the company relaunched Holden Financial Services which, after only three months on the market, saw one in three buyers during July finance their new vehicle purchase through the new finance entity.

Mr Bernhard said another area of focus is around the brand. Holden has a new website “designed for customers” and there are more initiatives planned.

“When we talk about the Holden transformation, nothing is more visible than the new products on the road,” Mr Bernhard said.

“Early last year we started talking about the 24 new models coming before 2020. We are now well on the way with a number of significant launches and announcements over the past year.
“The Commodore VF II was a great launch and we put many happy customers behind the wheel.

“In some ways the all-new Spark could be considered the most significant product we have launched in the past 12 months because it is the first of the next generation products of those 24 new models.

“The Spark really redefines what a micro car can do.

“Now, every vehicle is important to us but it’s hard to look past the Colorado and the next-generation Astra, the European Car of the Year. Two world-class products in critical segments.”

Mr Bernhard said that after driving the Colorado against its competitors, he “walked away knowing we have a top-notch truck” that would have “the most compelling overall package in this segment”.

He said the Colorado’s attributes were its off-road ability, technology, safety and refinement combined with price including purchasing costs, running costs, and Holden’s lifetime capped-price servicing program.

Mr Bernhard said a feature of ongoing customer support from Holden would “include the way we treat our customers whether they are in warranty or outside the warranty period”.