For many years, Holden was best known for… the Holden. Well, it wore names like Kingswood and Premier and Belmont, and it came in sedan, coupe, wagon and ute styles, but there was “a Holden” much as there was “a Chevy”. Then the late 1960s brought the compact Torana, and then a few years later the even smaller Gemini was introduced. But it was the 1980s where the floodgates well and truly opened and suddenly Holden had a sprawling lineup of captive imports and rebadged products, much as Chevrolet came to have during the same decade.
This two-page advertisement, depicting a minor trim package with yet another cribbed-from-the-US name, shows just how varied the Holden lineup had become. The smallest Holden was the Suzuki Swift-based Barina, sold in North America as the Chevrolet Sprint. Then there was the Astra, a rebadged version of the Australian-built Nissan Pulsar. It could never match the Mazda 323-based Ford Laser in sales but it did better than the short-lived RB Gemini pictured below it, known elsewhere as the Isuzu I-Mark and Gemini and Chevrolet/Geo Spectrum. At the bottom is the VL Commodore, the real “Holden”, while to the right is the J-Car Camira.
Not pictured are the Drover (Suzuki Sierra/Samurai), Scurry (Suzuki Carry van), Jackaroo (Isuzu Trooper), Shuttle (Isuzu Fargo), and Rodeo (Isuzu Rodeo). There is, however, a Holden Piazza (Isuzu Impulse), probably Holden’s biggest flop in history. But more on that another time…
Makes me wonder how the Impulse would’ve done in the US as a Chevrolet. It was heavily advertised but Isuzu’s own dealer network was thinly spread and didn’t reach the East Coast at all until almost the end of the RWD Impulse’s run.
Really? I was seeing the Impulse in Florida almost as soon as it was introduced for 1983. I considered it when I was new car shopping late in the year but despite the great looks, there was a little too much Chevette underneath and its quality was a step down from Toyota and Honda.
That’s why I wonder – it apparently sold well enough where there was an Isuzu dealer. Maybe “East Coast” was too broad and I was misinformed on that, but at least in New England there was only one Isuzu dealer, Boch in Boston, that handled cars before 1987-88 or so.
Wasn’t this sold in the US as the Chevy/Geo Spectrum? Or was that an entirely different car?
You are thinking of the I-Mark.
What is the Holden at the upper left of the ad? It looks like it’s based on the Nissan Cherry. I think the coolest feature of the Holden lineup at that time was the dramatically big headlights on the Camira.
Eh, I should have paid closer attention to the article concerning the Nissan. But the Camira still looks neat.
Man, I do love the alternate-universe Americarna that is layered over the Australian continent like Vegemite! One of the things that I regret most about the American car industry is that we are shut out of a lot of interesting models from foreign parts, those from Holden included. Imagine what it would be like if Holden had sold just utes in the U.S. starting in the 1940s and later the Monaro in the Swinging Sixties! Oh well…back to reality.
Am I the only one not seeing the top image (on my Chromebook)?
There’s a top image? All I see is the Formula Piazza (on my desktop dinosaur).
It’s showing today. Ah, computers…..
“Real Holden” GMH created the badges the car was a mixture of parts gathered from all over the world. So it did kinda match the other models on offer.
Spending lots of time in traffic for my job means I see strange stuff every day and a Piazza was one of them recently, hadnt seen one for years and didnt recognize it at first but it was the Holden version not the Isuzu very rare cars in this country as are all 86 Holdens though the Commodores are keenly collected especially the turbo six and local GTS model.
Was the Barina supposed to compete with the Peugeot 205? It looks very much like one.
In real life it really doesn’t.
God no! A crude little device, it. Similar sort of size, I suppose.
But I’ve got to admit, Suzukis small cars never wear out, then or now, and so insofar as it could be said to be a 205 competitor, it comprehensively won. These are still sometimes seen on the road, whereas the French competitors have long, long been a pile of dust (the plastics), must (inside), and rust (outside).
Always liked the way the impulse looked, wouldn’t mind having one if any running examples still exist.
Oooh, I don’t reckon you’d like it much. It’s a Chevette with a rather powerful turbo motor underneath. In Aus, it’s long been the butt of jokes, mainly because the new price was ludicrous for a very bad-handling, almost dangerous car.
However, some like ’em. The book mentioned below is really quite funny.
https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/books/general-books/humour-gift/In-Search-Of-The-Holden-Piazza-Chris-Warr-and-Joe-Kremzer-9781741146301
Wow, cue that boomby-doomby electro drum roll. Only in 1987 could you have Mullet man with pastel parachute jacket next to a bunch of cars that appear to have been blasted by a blizzard of cocaine and heavy eyeliner and expect it to be a formula for anything.
I really don’t recall seeing any of these style machines on the road.
One big family, Mr Stopford? More like pack of random bastards with an adopted surname if you ask me. Why, even the “real” Holden Commodore (originally an Opel anyway) was powered by a very sweet Nissan straight six and auto, fully imported (and reputedly losing Holden many thousands per unit after the dollar crash of the time). Oddly, the J-car Camira is the most Aussie, local styling, suspension and a Family 2 engine made in Port Melbourne (and exported in millions round the world where it’s low-mileage smokiness made it the major cause of global warming, but I’m going off-topic).
I’ve driven all of these, except the Piazza, and I can certainly say the Astra had the nicest front seats I’ve ever sat in, locally designed and made. By Nissan Australia, ofcourse. Apart from that, nothing much worth telling. Even that whizzo-engined Comode had the motor poorly installed so that any minor coolant drop blew the head gasket at great expense (whereas in the Skylines with the same motor, 400,000k’s was just run-in), and they turned a previously nice suspension into SpongeBobble rollsteer for good measure.
Holden, whilst being the No. 1 seller, had run up $780 million in losses (in 1986 money!) and been bailed out by Detroit a month before 1987 began. Looking at this ratty, overlapping selection, you can see why they had to pretty much start again.
I wrote a comment mentioning the near-bankruptcy yesterday but it has not come through. I wondered whether they were inspired to clear a bit of inventory and generate some cash flow.
A similar thing happened when GM went Ch.11; the local branch had processed all financials through the Silver Silos in Detroit, but suddenly payments stopped and some very cheap Commodores were advertised!
The Piazza is the real curiosity here, hardly any left now. There were a few cars at the time with pretty similar styling, eg Renault Fuego and Nissan S12 Silvia aka 200SX or Gazelle.
Other than the Isuzu, I drove all of those when I visited Oz and NZ way back in 1987 and the main impression was how forgettable they were all. Holden’s (and Opel, Suzuki et al) versions of the generic car.
Holden car name reminds me of US actor William Holden.
Yeah, I’ve heard of him. In Australia though, the Holden name has been linked with transportation since the 1850s as a saddlery, and car bodies since 1917.