Why did General Motors close Holden down? S2:Ep11

The 17th of February, 2020, is a day that will go down in history for anyone involved in business within Australia and New Zealand. Following a litany of retail ‘collapses’ as disruption hit the retail sector in 2018 and 2019, one of Australia’s most well known and oldest automotive brands announced their ‘retirement’. General Motors has withdrawn the Holden brand form Australia - after 150 years of operation.

Episode 11 of the The Brand Transformation Show by Blirt podcast, hosted by stuart leo, titled "Why did General Motors close Holden down? S2:Ep11" was published on March 1, 2020 and runs 66 minutes.

March 1, 2020 ·66m · The Brand Transformation Show by Blirt

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Summary

The 17th of February, 2020, is a day that will go down in history for anyone involved in business within Australia and New Zealand. Following a litany of retail ‘collapses’ as disruption hit the retail sector in 2018 and 2019, one of Australia’s most well known and oldest automotive brands announced their ‘retirement’. General Motors has withdrawn the Holden brand form Australia - after 150 years of operation.

Episode Description

In this podcast we peel the layers back to reveal where the problems started and give our opinion on why, so you can learn the lessons.

Almost 1 in 3 new cars in 1990 was a Holden.
Holden lost market domination in the late 1990s.
Panicked and chasing quick sales to make a profit, Holden pursued a strategy of cheap, low quality products to compete.
In the mid 2000s Holden quickly launched multiple products in a short amount of time to win back market share.
Holden failed to align the brand promise with the product reality.
By the mid 2010s customers realised and no longer believed in the brand.
Sales continued to slump, now significantly.
By 2017 Holden made a desperate attempt to compete by launching 24 new vehicles in a 3 year period.
Holden failed to have one product dominate any market segment.
Holden failed to position to differentiate and deliver on the brand promise.
In 2020 Holden was ‘retired’ from The Australian and New Zealand market.

Listen… learn the lessons… don’t repeat the same mistakes.

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