Australia who? Ford and Holden reinvent their image as European brands, ditching Aussie tune

FOR more than half a century, Ford and Holden promoted how Australian they were. Now they are changing their tune.

FORD and Holden are spending millions of dollars reinventing their image — and dropping the Aussie flag they once wrapped themselves in — as local car production comes to an end.

After more than half a century promoting how “Australian” each brand was, Ford and Holden are now trying to pass themselves off as European — even though they are both subsidiaries of US car giants.

Ford’s factories closed earlier this month and Holden is due to shut its car assembly line about this time next year.

Now the former Aussie favourites are trying to cash-in on the record growth in European car sales.

So far this year, Australians have bought more cars imported from Germany than they have locally-made models (65,806 versus 62,656), according to figures to the end of the September 2016 supplied by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

Holden’s latest advertisements dare customers to guess the origin of its new hatchback, which had its badges covered. The supposedly genuine customers guess the car might be a Renault, and are apparently stunned to discover it’s a Holden Astra.

VIDEO GRAB - Holden advertisement "I'd drive that" where people are asked to guess what brand of un-badged car they are looking at. Picture: Supplied

Holden says one-third of its model range will eventually come from Europe — including the car that will replace the Commodore, previewed this week wearing a disguise — but the majority of the line-up will come from Thailand and South Korea.

“No other brand can touch (our) level of history but we’re also on the verge of becoming a very different Holden. For 70 years we’ve been defined by local manufacturing … and that’s going to stop soon,” says Holden spokesman Sean Poppitt.

“Australia loves Holden for a number of different reasons … but many Australians also think we haven’t kept pace with what today’s Australia wants,” said Mr Poppitt.

Holden boss Mark Bernhard says the company has a “brand challenge to overcome”.

“We’re probably perceived as a little skewed to the blokey side,” says Mr Bernhard. “Our appeal needs to be more multicultural, we need to be attracting more young people, we need to be attracting more women. But we remain fiercely proud of our history.”

The first Australian-born Holden boss in 25 years added: “Holden is a big part of the history of this country but we need to show today’s Australia who we are, what we stand for, and why they should buy a Holden.”

31/8/16 Chairman and managing director of GM Holden Australia Mark Bernhard with the new line of vehicles. Aaron Francis/The Australian

Ford has dropped the famous “blue oval” badge in some of its advertising, and instead its billboards have a splash of colour behind the famous Ford script, designed to create a fresh image and a new start.

The US car giant is happy for Australian buyers to think its cars come from Europe even though most Fords sold in Australia now come from Thailand — including the Fiesta and Focus small cars, Ranger ute and Everest 4WD.

Only a handful of Fords come from Europe, such as the Mondeo sedan and Kuga SUV (Spain), and Transit van (Turkey).

Ford Australia boss Graeme Whickman says Australia is one of the first countries in the world to experiment with the new Ford “splash” branding — but model choice is the key to attracting customers.

“The car market has proliferated and there is a lot of choice for consumers (so) we’ve added more models to our showrooms to ensure we’ve got more options for customers,” said Mr Whickman.

“There’s plenty of opportunity for people to migrate to other parts of our showroom. (In the lead up to factory closures) the percentage of our sales are heavily skewed to imported vehicles already.”

Photo of Ford Australia president Graeme Whickman, taken on his appointment in March 2015.

It’s too early to gauge if there will be any backlash to Holden and Ford dropping their Aussie image.

But Holden sales are on track to post a 23-year low in 2016.

Ford, meanwhile, has already begun to turn around its fortunes — largely driven by strong demand for its Ranger ute rather than its European models.

In September 2016, Ford posted its 11th month in a row of sales growth after 11 straight years of decline.

Ford even beat Holden in April 2016 for the first time in 17 years.

So the Ford versus Holden battle has been revived — but both brands are now battling for fourth and fifth place in the sales rankings, rather than the top two spots they held for more than half a century.

Toyota is on track to become market leader for the 14th consecutive year — and the Corolla is poised to be the top-selling car for the fourth year in a row — ahead of fellow Japanese brand Mazda and South Korean budget brand Hyundai.

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling

Originally published as Australia who? Ford and Holden reinvent their image as European brands, ditching Aussie tune