Wagons still the pride of the fleet ... for now

[SlickHolden]

By Toby Hagon
The Age
Wednesday June 1 2005

Just as Ford and Holden were preparing the nails for the coffin, it seems there's life yet in the Australian wagon. TOBY HAGON reports.
Holden will continue selling its old Commodore wagon alongside the all-new VE sedan next year while it and arch rival Ford decide whether there is a future for the large locally made family wagon.

The decision to keep the VZ wagon will mark the first time in the Commodore's 27-year history that Holden will sell the old-shaped wagon alongside an all-new sedan and reflects the dilemma both Ford and Holden are facing regarding the future of the wagon.

"We're going to continue to sell the VZ (wagon), we're going to continue to build VZ products while we build VE . . . until we figure out when and how we're going to replace it," says Holden chairman and managing director Denny Mooney.

With sales of four-wheel-drive wagons going from strength to strength, the viability of the large family wagon has been under scrutiny in recent years, prompting boardroom discussions that have escalated since the arrival of the Ford Territory.

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For many families, the more stylish and more flexible Territory fills the role of the traditional wagon and, when it arrived last year, it prompted industry pundits to forecast the demise of the wagon.

But, now that the Territory has been on sale for a year, fresh evidence suggests there is still a solid fleet-based demand for the traditional load-lugger.

Buoyed by figures that show there is still a demand for 20,000-odd wagons annually, Holden and Ford are in respective closed-door discussions regarding their wagons.

"We're surprised . . . that (the Territory hasn't) drawn from the wagon - the wagon is still motoring along," says Ford Australia president Tom Gorman. "It clearly makes the argument for keeping it (the wagon) stronger because it continues to be a good solution for a certain segment of the marketplace."

Mr Gorman says most wagon sales are to fleets, which place particular emphasis on value.

"It really is done on a value decision, a cost-of-ownership decision. It still is the right product for that segment," he says.

Mr Gorman says Ford still has "some time" before it has to decide the fate of the Falcon wagon.

Holden's Mr Mooney agrees that the traditional sedan-based wagon could have a future as a fleet-oriented niche model, despite rumours that Holden is well advanced on a Territory-fighter of its own.

"If you look at who buys the wagon today, it's predominantly the fleet customers, business customers," says Mr Mooney. "So we've got to look at that and ask 'could another product satisfy what people use those products for?'. That's the process we're going through."

Holden is understood to have a design proposal for a "sporty" seven-seater crossover-type wagon while also having a clay model of a more traditional-style wagon - both of which could make it to production if a business case can be made.

"We're working on another derivative already and we've got two more in the pipeline," says Mr Mooney of the next-generation Commodore, while refusing to elaborate.

The wagon debate arrives as sales of off-road wagons - or sport utility vehicles (SUVs), as they're referred to in the industry - continue to boom.

Wagons continue to prove popular on the used-car market, despite dwindling options for buyers. Toyota no longer builds a station wagon locally, while Mitsubishi also announced the Magna wagon will be killed off with the arrival of the sedan-only Galant in September.

The discussions about the future of the large Australian wagon - which continues to be popular on the used-car market - come amid record 4WD sales.

Since 1996, sales of off-roaders have trebled in a market that has grown by less than 50 per cent. Despite threatening fuel prices, sales of so-called SUVs are already up 15 per cent this year in an overall market that is up 5.1 per cent.

I think there dead, The SUV's just need to be close and people will buy them, Some people hate SUV's and wont buy them but do they out way the people that want a SUV at just a little more then a Wagon??, Which ever is the best they will keep on i guess.
Also in there was intresting that they said holden are well advanced on a Territory-fighter of its own? Clay models are made with a wagon design so guess if it goes through it wont be the Wagon base