Why do people keep buying VE commodores?

[DanielXR8]

Originally Posted by Nikked

of course it did...

Always attacking the messenger.

[G6E Turbo 2]

Because there is a sale on every month
Because A new format of some model every couple of months
Because Ford walked away from S/wagon
Because Ford moved away from Fleet sales
Because Ford MArketting is crap
Because Ford lost a whole generation of supporters with no V8
Because Holden bought V8 Supercars

Need I go on

[flooded one]

I kinda feel sorry for the aurion. people say all this **** about because its front wheel drive. i also feel sorry for the falcon. it seems like fun too bag it out. I'd own both too be honest. I'd rather own either one of these before i brought a commodore.

[flooded one]

Originally Posted by G6E Turbo 2

Because there is a sale on every month
Because A new format of some model every couple of months
Because Ford walked away from S/wagon
Because Ford moved away from Fleet sales
Because Ford MArketting is crap
Because Ford lost a whole generation of supporters with no V8
Because Holden bought V8 Supercars

Need I go on

and which generation would this be??? if you are reffering to the XF its outsold every other falcon to date. most sales of both falcon and commodore have always been mainly sixes

[flappist]

Originally Posted by svo supporter

If any one has ever driven a TRD Aurion, they wouldn't say they're crap....They'd leave a Turbo BAXR6 behind....Only issue with them is they torque steer like a bastard when served the R/H foot....

Well I have driven one. I was given it to play with for a weekend by Toyota.

It was without doubt the most frightening modern motor vehicle I have ever driven. It went where it felt like going with the steering wheel giving it "suggestions" rather than "directions". It also had a turning circle that made oil tankers look tight.

Compared to a BA XR6T, yes they would be neck and neck in a straight line but only because the BA was chronically torque limited to protect the T5 and ION transmissions.

On the other hand as the TRD is a 2007-2009 car it would be better compared against a BF2 or FG. In this test the $55k TRD would not see which way the $45k XR6T or $55k G6ET went......

[The Snout]

Falcon's, Aurion's or Commodore's, I'd own any of them. I judge them on merit and have been happy to drive them all. Never bought into this 'one car is good which therefore makes all other cars s***' philosophy.

[IDT]

Holden and HSV Market to young people in a "cool" way. They get in early and turn the kiddies into holden fans before they even have a licence. Once in either camp that is where people generally stay. For a long time Ford have marketed only to those buying now. They have no one to blame but themselves for Holdens out selling them for a generation. They need to stop being so damned politically correct with their advertising. I have no doubt that if they went a little anti establishment or grew a pair of balls and openly confront media image bashing they would increase sales almost instantly. Sadly I also have no doubt that they will never change their rubbish recipe to marketing

[Nikked]

Originally Posted by G6E Turbo 2

Because Ford MArketting is crap

What?





Did you mis the events of the motorshow...


Wait....


Marketing = Television, how stupid of me.

[2011G6E]

Originally Posted by Nikked

What?





Did you mis the events of the motorshow...


Wait....


Marketing = Television, how stupid of me.

Sorry, I forgot to nip down to the motorshow for the day from way out here in central inland Queensland...

Originally Posted by IDT

Holden and HSV Market to young people in a "cool" way. They get in early and turn the kiddies into holden fans before they even have a licence. Once in either camp that is where people generally stay. For a long time Ford have marketed only to those buying now. They have no one to blame but themselves for Holdens out selling them for a generation. They need to stop being so damned politically correct with their advertising. I have no doubt that if they went a little anti establishment or grew a pair of balls and openly confront media image bashing they would increase sales almost instantly. Sadly I also have no doubt that they will never change their rubbish recipe to marketing

However, I believe that these days, more than in previous decades, we have a generation growing up with mums and dads who have grown up driving imports, and quite possibly their parents had imports too. Since the explosion of affordable imports, it was no longer a two (or maybe three) horse race, and people felt free to explore other options from many other makers.
These kids now grow up reasonably badge blind...to a limit...and the Australian makers have to work hard to give them a reason to spend big bucks on a large sedan like the Commodore or Falcon when they have probably grown up with reliable well performing nicely built foreign cars.

[justrod]

dont worry there's more.........http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news......holden,ford &toyota

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

However, I believe that these days, more than in previous decades, we have a generation growing up with mums and dads who have grown up driving imports, and quite possibly their parents had imports too. Since the explosion of affordable imports, it was no longer a two (or maybe three) horse race, and people felt free to explore other options from many other makers.
These kids now grow up reasonably badge blind...to a limit...and the Australian makers have to work hard to give them a reason to spend big bucks on a large sedan like the Commodore or Falcon when they have probably grown up with reliable well performing nicely built foreign cars.

Yep, spot on. Almost all my friends drive Asian imports. Most of them grew up in the back of Mazdas and Nissans - those that didn't have had their perceptions of local cars tainted because their parents had a bad experience with a VT Commodore or an EF Falcon back in the 1990s. None of them would touch a Commodore because they have a reputation for being a trashy bogan mobile, whereas the Falcon has a reputation for being an unreliable boat from the seventies. These are young people with decades of driving and car buying ahead of them and lots of money to spend on new cars, and this is a very common perception among Gen Y and X. Holden and Ford are going to have to work very hard to turn that around.

To answer the OP's question, nobody is buying VE Commodores anymore, take a look at how sales have plummeted over the past 18 months.

[Vormund]

I don't think I could own a Commodore just because too many morons seem to be driving them. And I say this as someone who is neutral; I don't drive a Ford either.

Also a couple of years back I went to a test drive day hosted by a Toyota dealership who pitted the Aurion vs Commodore and Falcon. Commodore was by far the worst of the three. Even though it was Toyota day, I preferred the Falcon Aurion is alright, just a bit dull.

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by flappist

Well I have driven one. I was given it to play with for a weekend by Toyota.

It was without doubt the most frightening modern motor vehicle I have ever driven. It went where it felt like going with the steering wheel giving it "suggestions" rather than "directions". It also had a turning circle that made oil tankers look tight.

Compared to a BA XR6T, yes they would be neck and neck in a straight line but only because the BA was chronically torque limited to protect the T5 and ION transmissions.

On the other hand as the TRD is a 2007-2009 car it would be better compared against a BF2 or FG. In this test the $55k TRD would not see which way the $45k XR6T or $55k G6ET went......

Yes the TRD is frightening to drive, when it's given a hard time...Driven normally, it's not that bad.....

And yes, I have driven plenty of Aurions and Camry's....I spent 8 years working for a place that had an agreement with a large Toyota dealership, supplying tyres and doing wheel alignments on Toyotas.

[flooded one]

just wondering does anyone know what the new camry hybrids go like??? I hear they have 151kw now???

[Bonn]

Originally Posted by Vormund

.....Commodore was by far the worst of the three. Even though it was Toyota day, I preferred the Falcon Aurion is alright, just a bit dull.

Yeah, there's still a huge slice of the market that wants Dull, and buy cars like they buy white goods and stationary.

Makes a bloke feel privileged to be an 'enthusiast'!

For the record (and it's The Pub): FG's are horney and AU racers are arguably one of the best looking four-door vehicles ever built.
(no breathalyser on the keyboard)

[fpvgeetee]

Originally Posted by Nikked

What?


Did you mis the events of the motorshow...

Wait....

Marketing = Television, how stupid of me.

Mate I was at the motorshow waiting to spend a crap load of money on FPV/FPR merchandise..after I saw the HSV stand i thought "sweet FPV will have heaps of stuff"

Absolutely nothing....I got a photo with Alan Moffat & a signed poster...didnt even walk off with a hat.. spewing!!!

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by wildrider

just wondering does anyone know what the new camry hybrids go like??? I hear they have 151kw now???

They are actually good cars, I've had a couple of rentals - they get the fuel economy of a Honda Jazz in the real world.

[Brazen]

Originally Posted by Nikked

What?





Did you mis the events of the motorshow...


Wait....


Marketing = Television, how stupid of me.

The Sydney Motor Show had a record low attendance, TV reaches a much larger audience.

[Bossxr8]

VE sales are down 27% this year.

[stevz]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

VE sales are down 27% this year.

Which is to be expected from a model which is 6 years old and just about to be replaced.

[Bossxr8]

Which is to be expected for a large car. VF won't save it. Slight improvement maybe for 6 months and then the slide will continue.

[weairy]

Speaking from the point of a 20 year old here;

I live an hour north of Melbourne, so a lot of my mates drive utes for work or play or whatever. I know two people with Falcon utes, one is an FG and one is a BA XL. I know about 10 people with SV6 Commo utes. Simple reason; the FG XR6 utes just don't have the sex appeal of the Commo utes at the moment. The tub on the utes really doesn't appeal at all, and if you put a tray on it, it sits almost level with your back window. So as far as the utes go, unfortunately looks are a big thing...

The sedan factor; again, I know lots of people with VE Omega/Lumina/Berlinas, but I'm the only one in the town (of about 10,000 people total) with P Plates on an XR6 Sedan. The VE is a cheaper second hand car, and you can pick up one, on gas with ~50km on the clock from the auctions for about $15k. But the XT Falcon makes the Omega look like an absolute piece of crap.

Even my mechanic, who is an avid, dedicated, die-hard Holden/Chev man sold his VE SV6 in favour of a Holden Colorado, because the thing was noisy and drove shocking.

Finally; FG Wagon should of been a reality, because anyone who has ridden in the back of an SS Wagon knows its a spine-jarring horror ride and would have had a second look at a Ford Wagon (my mother in law has one, lowered with the Walkinshaw catalogue bolted to it; absolutely shocking).

[Nikked]

Originally Posted by Brazen

The Sydney Motor Show had a record low attendance, TV reaches a much larger audience.

This answer was given in the marketing presentation we ran in late August but, to simplify, the large car segment of the total new car market is now approximately 5%. We’ll use even numbers – if there are roughly 1 million people watching a TV program, that means only 5% of them are even in the head space of thinking about a large car. Presuming they even watch the ads (which a lot of people don’t anymore), that means 95% of the viewers aren’t going to engage with that ad – it probably won’t even sink in because it’s not on their radar. For small cars, that percentage increases to more than 25%. We’ve been approaching Falcon marketing differently as a result – with a lot of targeted campaigns directed at people who are interested in a large car. We’ve also run a very extensive PR campaign with Falcon EcoBoost and I think everyone can agree that almost every journalist who has driven it or compared it, rates it highly.

Ford on the motorshow...

The whole motor show experience has been a major boost for Ford the brand and also our employees. The reaction we got from media (particularly the fact that we were taking a more aggressive stance with our outdoor experience) and our presentation on media day, was really positive. That was followed up by overwhelmingly positive response from consumers during the event. Our initial target for test drives was 3000 - we ended up doing more than 6000. It was such a success that the authority responsible for the outdoor area asked us to stay longer at no charge so we're there with a scaled down version still this week

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by Bossxr8

Which is to be expected for a large car. VF won't save it. Slight improvement maybe for 6 months and then the slide will continue.

Exactly...The market is leaning more towards smaller more fuel efficent cars...Sad but true

[janddbone]

Because they are a good car with a great variety of models and choices. Unlike Falcon these days...

[weairy]

Originally Posted by brett.r.johnstone

Because they are a good car with a great variety of models and choices. Unlike Falcon these days...

There's still four models of Falcon + FPVs...
There's what. Omega, Berlina, Calais, SV6, SS?

[2011G6E]

As much as I like the Holden advertising, I will admit they are starting to have a real "Discount Rug Warehouse" quality about them...always seeming to be having a "big sale"...

On that point, I remember a magazine having a competition for someone to take a photo of a rug store or discount rug warehouse type place which wasn't having a "massive sale"...no one could find one.

[347xt]

My dad has a ve ute they may not be the best car but they are good for the money and it has only had its first service at 10 000and has no had one since. now has 160 000 on it and still going strong so he cant complaine

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by weairy

There's still four models of Falcon + FPVs...
There's what. Omega, Berlina, Calais, SV6, SS?

Ford FPV have 3 options (I think) GT & GTR spec + the Typhoon (I think)

HSV the Maloo, Clubsport and Clubsport R8 (I think)

Sportswagon, Thunder ute and Calais international ...Might be another one or 2 that have slipped my mind in the general Commodore range.

So there is a little more selection in the Commodore range when compared to the Fords

It does seem like Ford and Holden are tryng to rekindle the 70's days, with the "tick the options" boxes...Holden seeming to have more options...

[svo supporter]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

As much as I like the Holden advertising, I will admit they are starting to have a real "Discount Rug Warehouse" quality about them...always seeming to be having a "big sale"...

Their latest was the 0% interest sale...Toyota seem to have jumped on the bandwagon with that too.....Rather surprised Ford haven't yet.

I haven't looked into it...Only putting it out there from what I have seen in the media...