TriShield

Holden hires more factory workers to meet expected demand



Joshua Dowling

Holden is yet to start exporting the Police Caprice to North America, but the early signs are good, the company says.

So good, in fact, Holden has started hiring again -- 165 new employees last week -- and has an "open" sign on the recruitment office door at its Elizabeth factory near Adelaide.

Chevrolet has just started a 20-city ride and drive program with police agencies across North America -- and several divisions have already placed orders.

"A number of states have already accepted our tender which augers well for strong orders," Holden boss Mike Devereux said. "California, Arizona, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Maryland, Michigan and North Carolina, to name a few. They placed orders and more are expected."

However, Holden still would not disclose a final figure on how many cars will be shipped in the initial batch early next year.

"We're not in a position to disclose the number of orders in the system at this time, but we're confident the orders will continue to ramp up in the new year as we complete the road show and start taking orders for the much higher volume patrol model."

Holden confirmed a V6 version of the Police Caprice will join the V8 from next year.

The car maker also revealed that it has developed an offset auto gear selector to counter criticism that it occupied valuable space in the centre console. The Ford Crown Victoria, the police car of choice for almost two decades, has a column shift auto lever to make room for police ancillaries.

Just like in the Blues Brothers movie, the Police Caprice has "cop brakes, cop tyres, cop suspension". While the brake package may make it onto the Commodore SS at some point in the future, the rest of the modifications are unique to police use.

"The US police do some of the hardest testing we've seen," said Devereux, "even harder than our engineers would ever put a car through. But we've been told we've got the best driving vehicle, best brakes, best grip and the biggest, most comfortable car. We know the competition's tough but we believe we have the best option out there right now for police."

The Ford Crown Victoria has 90 per cent of the police car market in North America but that model is due to be phased out of production by the end of 2011.

There is strong competition for the 70,000 police fleet orders each year, with Ford and Dodge also releasing police packs of their popular sedans in recent months.

Devereux said that the strong Australian dollar hurt Holden's export hopes but it was still charging full speed ahead on the export program.

"Yes, with the Australian/US dollar the way it is, we will make less money but the price to the police [in North America] will not change," he said. "We believe in being there for the long haul. A lot of the components that go into the [Police Caprice] come from America, so we get those cheaper when the currency is the way it is. We are determined to make this work."

Although the police sedan business may be worth 70,000 sales a year, Holden is believed to be targeting between 20,000 and 30,000 sales annually at its peak.

And while there has been speculation about an export program for a civilian version of the Commodore or Caprice in North America, Devereux said: "There's nothing to announce yet."

ULTIMATEORANGESS

iTrader: (4)

i was told depts. here getting a few of those cars.

2002_Z28_Six_Speed

iTrader: (19)

Hope those push bars will fit on my car.

LS1LT1

iTrader: (16)

buddha845

iTrader: (3)

I noticed he says a lot of the components on the police caprice come from america. so we send the parts to australia, and then have them send BACK the parts on another car? am I missing something there or is that just a massive over sight? We already have the new malibu and its pretty much the same car minus these cop components, why wouldnt we just make it here? save a lot of money and make some jobs for sure.

but i dont know much about it really, its a sweet cop car atleast

TriShield

This car and the Malibu are not even remotely related. The Holden Caprice is an Australian car designed and engineered by Aussies for Down Under. It already uses a lot of US GM and other supplier parts. Holden already exports it as a Chevrolet to other countries.

buddha845

iTrader: (3)

Yes their country of origin is the difference, still sounds to me like a complete waste when we've got a perfectly capable car to use here but nobody ever said GM was a wizz with their cash It would be like an engine builder sending an engine out to be built for him when hes got all the parts he needs right in front of his face, im missing the point I guess lol

LS1LT1

iTrader: (16)

Do you actually think that the only difference between the car above and the current Malibu is their country of origin?
They're two entirely different cars/platforms. RWD versus FWD. Transverse engine mounting versus longitudinal. Dimensions, weight etc.
But you may be right about the Malibu (or even the current Impala which is often used) being a somewhat capable police car, for some municipalities at least. Larger RWD vehicles are still preferred though.

buddha845

iTrader: (3)

I understand the differences but you got the point, its not really about technical data about cars its more about why theyd go through all the extra cost when theres cars here already, impala, g8, malibu or whatever it is, that are perfectly capable of doing the job

TriShield

Holden and Chevrolet have sold more cars than they're letting on



Words - Joshua Dowling
Published : Monday, 17 January 2011

Holden's latest export push -- the 'Police Caprice' to be sold in North America as a Chevrolet -- is understood to have gotten off to a steady start even though General Motors executives won't confirm it.

Contrary to reports that only a handful of cars have been sold, the Carsales Network has been told that the order book is "in the thousands, not the hundreds".

At the Detroit motor show last week the former boss of Holden, and current boss of GM in North America, Mark Reuss, said: "We're not going to go into numbers today, but it's good. Better than expected in fact."

Later that week, at a police fleet preview in Phoenix Arizona -- which a small group of Australian journalists gate-crashed for brief ride and drive impressions -- the head of GM's police fleet business Dana Hammer said: "We'd like to tell you but we can't share any [sales] figures today."

GM is being coy because it does not want to show its hand to its rivals -- Chrysler and Ford -- who are also vying for a slice of the 50,000 to 70,000 units-a-year police car business.

While some agencies have placed orders for "a solid number" of cars, according to our source, others have ordered only one or two for full evaluation.

Given that an all-new police car is a once-in-20-year event in North America, authorities are making sure they do their homework: that the car performs properly and, most importantly, the purchase and running costs are reasonable.

What became apparent after talking with several police fleet operators at the preview drive is that many agencies will buy only a handful of cars initially and test them for a period before ordering more.

One hurdle is that most police agencies have had budget cutbacks -- and cars are the single most expensive tool-of-trade item.

But, perhaps eventually working in Holden and Chevrolet's favour, during the global financial crisis many agencies extended the life of their Ford Crown Victoria sedans. A number of officers told the Carsales Network that their cars were being kept well beyond their 100,000 mile trade-in limit, some as high as 150,000 miles.

This means that, pretty soon, a glut of cars will need replacing -- and the Caprice may be one of the only options. The Crown Victoria is due to go out of production in August after almost two decades as the cop car favourite.

Some police agencies have ordered a final batch of Fords, but others are keen to make the transition to the next generation vehicle, whatever that is.

"We're confident that once a number of police agencies get their hands on a Caprice PPV and trial it for themselves doing real police work, the car will sell itself," said Hammer. "Word of mouth among the agencies is a very important factor. They place a lot of trust on each other's findings.

"There are 18,000 police agencies across North America, and if all of them only bought one car to trial, that's obviously a lot of cars."

The boss of Holden, Mike Devereux, said GM expected sales would get off to a "slow burn start" but once the car developed a reputation, demand would increase. The first ready-for-duty cars are due to arrive in April and should be on the beat by June.

They will dock at the same San Francisco port that received the Monaro as a Pontiac GTO and the Commodore as a Pontiac G8 in years gone by. There, they will undergo final preparation by Kerr Industries, a specialist police car fit-out company.

The delayed arrival of a V6 version means that Caprice PPV sales are most likely to reach full strength next year.

"We are in this for the long haul," said Devereux. "I know everyone expects us to say this, but we really believe we have the best vehicle out there for police work. We have developed it with their specific needs in mind and, frankly, right now there is nothing else out there that does what this car does, and has the space and features that this car has."

According to independent testing by Los Angeles and Michigan police forces, the Caprice PPV has better acceleration and shorter stopping distances than the Ford and Dodge rivals. The PPV also has a roomier interior with more safety features.

For example, the car can be equipped with a front curtain airbag even when a prisoner partition is fitted because Holden has adapted the curtain airbag from the ute. A full length curtain airbag is standard on detective Caprice PPV models that typically don't have prisoner modules.

The Caprice PPV boot is only marginally smaller than the Crown Victoria's boot -- but significantly bigger than the Dodge Charger's and the Ford Taurus sedan's (Ford's successor to the Crown Victoria police pack due next year).

gectek

iTrader: (2)

You realize the G8 is no longer made right and afaik was never used enmasse as a police interceptor? And the Impala and the malibu are not V8 when used as police vehicles right? The Malibu never had a V8 in its current incarnation. The police interceptor Impala uses the 3.9 V6.

http://www.gmfleet.com/police/

some recent info.....