Sales crash causes Holden to rethink safety

[SlickHolden]

http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/Ar...rticleID=12457

Poor crash test results for the big-selling Holden Barina seem certain to trigger modifications to improve its safety performance, reports BRUCE NEWTON.

Poor crash test results for the big-selling Holden Barina seem certain to trigger modifications to improve its safety performance.

Holden managing director Denny Mooney told Sunday Drive last week that engineering work was under way at GM Daewoo in South Korea, where the Barina is built.

He stopped short of confirming that structural changes had been approved for production, but said a fix should flow through before the end of this year.

"We are looking at it," he said. "I say that in all seriousness because I am committed to making the car perform as best we can."

In February, the Chevrolet Aveo - sold in Australia as the Barina sedan - scored two stars out of a possible five in a European New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) crash test. And in May, the Barina hatchback scored two stars in an Australian NCAP test.

Both cars were criticised for their likelihood of causing serious chest injury to the driver in a frontal impact. The Aveo's result included a strike through, indicating the potential for life-threatening injury.

"I think that [poor rating] caught us and our GM Daewoo engineers off guard," Mooney said." Our internal data said it was a three-star car.

"We have had our engineers here working with the GMDAT engineering group on the results and having a dialogue on whether there is opportunity for us to make changes to improve the score.

"We'd try to get it to the best performance we think we can. Certainly three stars."

While he was prepared to concede the Barina's NCAP performance required attention, Mooney stressed that the car was safe.

"I drive the car and I don't have any problem," he said. "My daughter drives the car and I don't have any problem. I am very confident in the car's safety."

The Barina is a rebadged Daewoo Kalos, sold in Australia since late 2005. The previous Barina was sourced from Opel in Europe and earned a four-star rating from NCAP in 2002. Holden has received widespread criticism for introducing a new model that had a poorer safety rating than the car it replaced. Despite the negative publicity, the Korean Barina has been a big hit for Holden.

Originally priced from an ultra-competitive $12,990 - its price now starts at $13,490 - it has sold about 1300 units per month, almost double the previous Barina. In May sales fell back to their old levels.

Mooney said supply issues and the $500 price rise impacted on sales, but mass media coverage of the poor crash results was also starting to have an effect on sales.

"That publicity did not help, there is no question about that," he said.
While he was cautious in his public statements, other Holden executives privately expressed no doubt the two-star rating had hurt sales. They are also convinced NCAP-driven modifications are definite for Barina.

The most likely outcome will be reinforcing the chassis rails with additional welds to better cope with the NCAP 64kmh offset deformable barrier test. This would also mean retuning of the dual front air bags and seatbelts.

The modifications would not only apply to Barina, as the Daewoo mini is sold in 95 countries under various GM brand names.

Meanwhile, Mooney confirmed that Holden has cautious sales expectations for its all-new VE Commodore due in August.

The current nine-year old Commodore has been a record seller for the company, topping out in 1998, when 94,642 were sold in Australia. But spiralling fuel prices, which have cut deeply into all locally manufactured large car sales, would continue to have an impact when the new car goes on sale, Mooney said.

[Falcon500]

holdens just been neack deep in it lately...If they named it something else and didnt oficially dubbed it a barina replacement it would of been cool.

[2ndclasscitizen]

Why did they bring this POS out when the new Corsa has just been released and they could've waited for it? It's most likely a superior car, doesn't look disgusting, and won't kill you in a crash like this thing might. But then again, Holden seems to have some odd decisions in its small car lineup recently

[Falcon500]

Holden has a history of odd descions in the small car sector the brabbam HB torana and the sv1800 comes to mind

[fpv_gtho]

The new Corsa wouldve likely cost them an arm and a leg, so they figured their latest batch of Koreans would sell with a Holden badge, and make the company more money

[SlickHolden]

Being cheaper and less spec-ed and less safety they should have called it something else, Maybe the Viva should have got the barina name?

[Falcon500]

Originally Posted by SlickHolden

Being cheaper and less spec-ed and less safety they should have called it something else, Maybe the Viva should have got the barina name?

Whats its crash rateing?

[SlickHolden]

Good question....... I'll check BRB

Edit... They haven't tested it as yet?. Bit slow

[Falcon500]

Vivas havent been tested yet? very likly their rateings similar to the Barina.

[fpv_gtho]

Itd be the same as the Daewoo Lacetti

[IBrake4Rainbows]

2.5/5 Stars NCAP wise.

But seriously....They think won't sell because it's not safe enough?

Could it possibly be that the vehicle is utter S*#t?

[fpv_gtho]

Nooo...cant be, its got a Holden badge afterall. Everything they sell is of top quality. Or at least thats what they'd have us believe

[adrenaline]

Originally Posted by IBrake4Rainbows

Could it possibly be that the vehicle is utter S*#t?

It IS a peice of SH**. Daewoo didnt sell any and left the country. So what makes holden think they stick a badge with a good reputation (Barina) on it and expect to compete with Toyota, Hyundai, Ford, Mazda etc??...Daewoo's werent made to deal with decent cars.

They have really cheapened the Barina image. Oh and they wouldn't introduce an all new euro corsa, Koreans are far cheaper$$. Holden means a great deal to Australia.

[fpv_gtho]

Holden made no secret of their belief they thought the last chain of Daewoo's didnt sell because of the image the brand accumulated many years ago. You cant blame Holden for not seeing that i suppose. You wouldnt dismiss your child as a retard if he didnt stop drooling for instance...

[adrenaline]

Fair enough...its still a terrible car though....every review i've read burns it