New vectra...Yes its a Daewoo...!!

[adrenaline]

Vectra Secret out...

www.carsguide.com.au

The next Holden Vectra has just emerged in South Korea. It is the Daewoo Tosca and it will become a Holden next year, as the company turns more to South Korea to fill model slots alongside the locally made Commodore.

The plan to switch the Vectra from Europe to South Korea was revealed exclusively by us in July during a visit to Seoul to preview the cars that have since been introduced Down Under as the latest Holden Barina and Viva.

GM Holden has still not confirmed the move. Company chairman Denny Mooney has repeatedly avoided direct questions about the future of the Vectra, but the sourcing switch is an open secret at Fishermans Bend.

"I can't get specific about stuff I'm not ready to announce," Mooney says.

"We're going to probably look at more Asia-Pacific-sourced vehicles over time. It just makes sense.

"But our first and foremost priority is to get the right product. Then you have to look at where we build it around the world."

The move is being made partly because of disappointing sales by the classy but over-priced European Vectra, and partly because Holden -- which holds the General Motors' stake in Daewoo and is represented on the board of directors -- sees many advantages in closer ties to GM Daewoo.

It will have far greater involvement in future development work at GM Daewoo. The S3X and T2X four-wheel-drive concept vehicles, also expected in Holden showrooms next year, already show plenty of Australian input.



Even Holden's new executive director of sales and marketing, Briton Alan Batey, came to Australia after time with GM Daewoo in South Korea.
The Tosca is a smooth-looking mid-sized executive sedan that will be sold with 2.0-litre and 2.5-litre engines in South Korea.

It has front-wheel-drive and the 2.0-litre four bought from Holden is the more popular engine.

It is expected to go on sale in South Korea next month.

The timing for the replacement of the Vectra is likely to be before the introduction of the new VE Commodore towards the end of next year. Holden should have supplies of the existing European Vectra to last to mid-year. Though Mooney will not talk about the Vectra, he is keen to push the positives of Asia-Pacific sourcing of new models.

"We're going to continue to look at our product sourcing and product needs. What we need in the product and, because we build cars all over the world, you try to source where you can get the best value for your market," he says.

"This goes on not just in GM; Toyota, everybody, does that. But that's what I call internal. The customer doesn't know, doesn't care. It's all internal to the company to try to optimise your overall business."

Lol these daewoos are taking over!!
It'll be real interesting to see how people react in 2006 to the korean cars that Holden are bringing in...lol it could be a disaster!!

[Revolution]

Hmmmm. Do you have any pics of it?

[adrenaline]

ill get some now....

[adrenaline]

That the best high-ish res picture i can find..for now....ill try and get a full body shot...

Edit...i found a full shot from edmunds

Edit2...more shots including rear

[motorsportnerd]

This one may have considerable imput from Holden, Chev and Opel - if so it should be up to class standard (ie: at least as good as the Vectra it will replace). It will be sold in some markets as a Chevrolet after all. I expect that as the level of GM imput increases, future Daewoos will start to get well on the pace. They have to, as the current models (ie: Kalos/Barina) are below the class standard.

[Spastik_Roach]

This is one of those cars that only look good in absolute top spec. Other examples include the entire Mitsubishi line.

Doesn't help that it looks ungainly from most angles too. I can only hope these all sell like hot tar on a summers day and Holden realises its error.

[Revolution]

Hmmmm. After taking a closer look at the styling, I've decided that I don't like it. Put simply, to me it looks cheap.

[Blitz_]

omg how embarassing, i am laughing so hard at the moment.

[s-d]

Can it be any uglier!? I hope a lot of them will be crashtested... Just to get rid of them...

[SlickHolden]

Well a inside pic shows it to be very vectra like, These pics have been on the GM insider forum for some time now and i will see if i can get some inside shots to bring in,
This car will fit right next to the VE and fit in well. With GM and Holden doing some work with Diewoo over the past couple of years they can only get better. And also with working with them they Holden Can select things they wont in the car they would have more imput into these models.

[nota]

These are Dennis Mooney's words, taken from the last para of post #1. What did it make you think of?

"This goes on not just in GM; Toyota, everybody, does that. But that's what I call internal. The customer doesn't know, doesn't care. It's all internal to the company to try to optimise your overall business."

For me, it was the dismal sales failure of those Toyota Lexcens (a slightly restyled Commodore) an exercise which only served to damage the rep of both companies. The market flops that were Holden Nova (rebadged Corolla) and Nissan's The Ute (recycled Falcon ute) are just some examples

Despite many attempts, and with few exceptions, Badge Engineeering has been repeatedly proven not to work in this country. The concept cannot be confined to being "internal" and the customer inevitably DOES know, DOES care

Even if naive young customers like office workers or secretaries aren't initially aware that the rebadged model they're considering buying is in fact a bastard child of another manufacturer, you can bet their boyfriends know exactly what its real identity is. The brother and even the bloke down the pub knows too, and all will tell anyone at every opportunity

Product credibility is a principal 'feel good' issue in the buying decision, and source-of-origin is included in the bona fides. One only has to think of current VW Polo's recent sales dry-up after it became commonly known that Polo was now being built & sourced from China, not Germany

Imo too many people are already aware of the Daiwoo debacle, the abandonment of existing customers via the very public collapse of both company and import franchise, and the shoddy low-quality product they once served up. And it'll take more than saturation TV ads and a hasty rebadge to make 'em quickly forget

"Eww, a Chinese VW? That's about as enticing as a Korean Holden"

[SlickHolden]

It's the same with the VN commodore Toyota lexen, up to the VR. But they all were cars built here and sold against each other, These Diewoos are in Holden's house not competing against diewoos here, One car one brand.

[nota]

Well imo its not one car one brand - its a range of Re-branded cars. And ok these Daiw.. sorry Holdens aren't competing against Daiwoos (there's that word again ) but do compete against other, more 'authentic' brands

[Spastik_Roach]

Well a inside pic shows it to be very vectra like, These pics have been on the GM insider forum for some time now and i will see if i can get some inside shots to bring in,
This car will fit right next to the VE and fit in well. With GM and Holden doing some work with Diewoo over the past couple of years they can only get better. And also with working with them they Holden Can select things they wont in the car they would have more imput into these models.

Owch, fake wood! Adding insult to injury.

[Mr. Jinx]

I might just be looking too far into this, but the screen seems to be of the touch type. All those finger smudges seem to point that way...
As for the exterior, it looks too Daewoo Lecetti to me...