Holden demise: Gold Coast car king Wade von Bibra points to ‘aggressive’ pricing as company exits iconic Australian car brand

A key Gold Coast caryard owner says Holden fans should expect the company to put forward “fantastic deals” in the wake of the General Motors decision to ditch the brand.

CAR king Wade von Bibra is stuck in limbo waiting to see what impact General Motors’ decision to pull the Holden brand from Australia will have on his multi-million dollar caryard empire.

Mr von Bibra, who has two Holden dealerships in the Von Bibra group at Robina and Southport, said Holden executives assured him just over two years ago that they were in it for the long haul.

“We were disappointed. We have obviously invested in the brand, we have got the dealerships at Robina and Southport.

“We only bought that (Southport) a couple of years ago.

The Holden brand is being retired after owner General Motors said it was not seeing a strong enough return on its investment.

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“I spoke to the managing director of Holden at that point in time and they were giving us all sorts of assurances they were here for the long run so thoroughly disappointed to get the announcement.”

Mr von Bibra said he was unsure how much Holden’s decision would cost his business.

He said Holden has appointed “dealership transitional managers” who are set to visit sites in the coming weeks to discuss issues such as compensation.

“Who knows how much that will be. I can’t gauge whether it will be good or bad.

Mr von Bibra said Holden sales have been on decline for the past 13 years.

He said in 2007-08 his Robina dealership sold 1200 vehicles in a single year.

Classic Holden cars over the years.

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Last year that was down to just 350 with 750 sold across both Robina and Southport.

Mr von Bibra bought the Surfers City Holden dealership in June 2018, and moved it to a site on Expo Court in Southport, building a new showroom with workshop bays to sell up to 90 Holden vehicles a month.

He said he had not figured out what to do with the dealerships but was determined they would not end up as “white elephants”.

“We are lucky in a sense because we have a stable of brands.

“For our employees we will be able to find them work across our group in other areas where we need them.

“From a real estate perspective we have to work out what we do with buildings at land at both sites Southport and Robina.”

Wade von Bibra sells a number of car brands but is “disappointed” by General Motors’ decision to retire the Holden brand. Picture: NIGEL HALLETT

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GM has said it would honour all warranties and would continue to provide service and parts. Local operations would handle recalls and any safety-related issues.

“Any recall work that needs to be done will be upheld, any free servicing that customers might have had with a deal they got will be honoured.

“From an after-sales perspective they will still be looked after for at least 10 years.”

Mr von Bibra said GM would continue to have a presence in the market through its Holden Special Vehicles brand including its Silverado and Camaro models.

“Those two models will be converted from left-hand to right-hand drive here in Australia.

“From what I understand there will be no right-hand vehicles imported direct from GM.”

There may be a silver lining for Holden fans in Australia

Mr von Bibra said customers could expect “aggressive pricing” from GM in the months ahead to shift the remaining stock.

“So, there is a great upside for clients, a small one for us because we are losing the brand.”

GM president Mark Reuss said in a statement that the company explored options to continue Holden, “but none could overcome the challenges of the investments needed for the highly fragmented right-hand-drive market, the economics to support growing the brand, and delivering an appropriate return on investment”.