Got to thinking today...and a couple things came to mind...

First off..judging by what we have seen, a Police Caprice would be very different than a civilian Caprice..right down to the seats. Looking back at the GTO and G8, options were pretty limited..and things took a while to implement. Despite being discussed at launch, bluetooth did not make it here on the G8 untill right before it was cancelled. While I don't doubt that Holden could make both civilian, and police Caprices..it seems like a mess from a product mix perspective and does not give GM a lot of flexibility. Every Holden/Pontiac car I have seen on a dealer lot was at least 4-5 months old. So if say..police sales are down..and you have a lot of police cars on order..your screwed. The only way I see around this would be to make them all Civilian models in Austrailia, and then ship them here and have police upgrades done stateside. I am not sure that is cost effective.

The other side of the equation is, what is the sales viability of a Caprice to the public? Super full size RWD cars are really where the market is going...and production capacity is not there to really even market the thing right and take on Charger if they wanted. They could load all the Civilian ones up and call them Caprice SS's and sell them for a premium...but then again..if the Caprice name had a performance heritage, the last B-body performance model would not have been renamed Impala SS.

So that brings me back to the topic of the post. Basically, I think that GM should import the Ute as a El Camino for the civilian market, and then keep the Caprice as a police only car. Now before, the UTE was gonna be a Pontiac G8 ST because..well Pontiac needed something to sell, it could use the Pontiac bumpers already made for the G8, and it kept it all in the old Buick, Pontiac, GMC distribution channel. Now with the Caprice, Holden will be selling through Chevy sales channels, and they can use the Chevy bumpers designed for the Caprice, and the middle east. It makes production easy because Carpices are always cop cars, and then you can fill in the holes with loaded up El Camino's that will be production limited, and sell at a premium. It would give Chevy something unique that no one else is making, and if you strech it..a VERY fuel efficiant light truck. And plus..it is not a rebadged G8..technically..so it would not be seen as repeating the same mistakes. I think it may also get some Pontiac buyers in the mix.

I am not the biggest El Camino fan in the world..but I really think I would rather be able to buy one of them then the streched wheelbase Carpice.

 

no, god please no.

 

Just a few points before I go to bed (gotta catch a plane in the morning):

1. GM isn't goint to "order" more police cars than they can sell. The way it works is that police department orders cars (as they do now, and have always done) and cars are made for them. Nobody makes police cars then worries about selling them later as they do with retail vehicles.

2. Holden already makes both civilan and police Caprices. Police upgrades and everything are done on the assembly line.... just like it always has been done. Just like here in the states, Europe, and pretty much every place I'm familiar with.

3. I am likely the El Camino's biggest cheerleader here. It is a vehicle I could most certainly use, & I have written GM already regarding the possibility of the G8 ST as an El Camino, and my willingness (or even practical need) to buy it. The unfortunate truth is that it isn't going to happen at this point, and I don't see it changing in the immediate future. I can see the possibility of GM-NA having GM-Holden make a unique skin of the Ute for sale here as an El Camino and there as a new Ute, but, again, that's doubtful.

5. Although Holden is capable of ramping up production to produce more VEs and WMs or their successors, Holden instead will be filling out it's production capacity making Holden Cruzes (yes, Aussie versions of the Chevy Cruze). In short, Holden is setting up production to protect itself from swings in demand in the marketplace.

6. Regarding the concern about the sales viability of the Caprice to the public (I'm assuming you mean the American public since the Caprice is already sold in large quanity in the Middle East, and is also sold in Australia, New Zealand, China, South Africa, and Korea as the Chevrolet Caprice, Holden Satesman, Buick Park Avenue, and the Daewoo Veritas) is inconsequential since the car is already being sold in multiple markets and is making money on it's own.

I suspect you are operating from a mistaken perception.

We here in the US are getting WM cars which are:

a) Already sold as both civilian & police cars in many markets already.

b) Already are successful models in their respective markets.

c) Are fully capable of continuing along with their sales and success without the US.

Fact of the matter is this:

1. GM sees an big opportunity to make money off of the Crown Victoria's upcoming demise (Holden is afterall as much General Motors as Cadillac is).

2. Holden has can squeeze additional cars off the line for us here in the US.

3. GM and Holden simply do not need to match the quanity of sales that Chrysler does with the Charger and 300 (or even come close) to make the Caprice worthwhile and profitable.

Why?

Because all that's happening is that Holden is upping production of the Caprice/Statesman on their assembly line.

That means Holden's balence sheet looks even better because they are producing and exporting more cars.

That means that GM as a company is making more money on a car they are already producing by simply marketing it in yet another new market.

Look at it this way. If Chrysler started increasing production of the Charger to sell in Russia as police cars, does Chrysler need to sweat over a viable case to sell civilian Chargers to Russians who might want to buy it, even if it's only a few hundred a month? Of course not... that simply means that Brampton gets to make a few thousand more Chargers annually, and Chrysler pockets a little extra money it wouldn't have had otherwise.

Same with General Motors and it's Elizabeth City Holden plant.... lord knows, GM can use the money.

Final point, Pontiac buyers.

If you buy a Pontiac, you are a Pontiac buyer.

If there is no Pontiac to buy, then there is no Pontiac buyer.

I'm not so sure that anyone is staying up late nights worrying about where Pontiac buyers will go next since they not only haven't exactly been buying up Pontiacs the past couple of years, but have been going elsewhere in ever increasing numbers for the past 8 to 10 years.

 

^the last point there is awesome.

 

You do realize that after agencies purchase "police" vehicles from the dealer we have to spend at least $10k on top of the purchase price modifying each vehicle before it hits the road. For example, even the back seats have to be replaced. The so-called "police" spec vehicles are basically stripper cars. There's actually no "police upgrades" on them at all. (Except perhaps the paint.)

 

Our cop cars are the standard wheel base Commodore not the LWB.

 

The impression I got from what GM published is that this would be shipped over as a purpose built police car with the special front seats and all.

 

*ahem*

http://www.autonews.com/article/2009...NA09/309219969

"GM has appointed a team of marketing, warranty, customer relations and sales executives to devise plans to retain customers from all of the brands GM is shedding, including Saab, Saturn and Hummer. GM calls these customers free agents."

 

Yeah, uh, Pontiac buyer here...

Uhm, where will I go? If there's a neat Buick Regal on the way with a turbo, there's a shot...otherwise, I'm still gonna keep trying to talk my wife into a Challenger or next-gen 300. I know the LaCrosse will cost more than I want to spend, plus its a little bigger than I really want for our next car. I know the Challenger is big as well, but at least its very sporty and a nice one can be had for $26k or so.

But if the Regal can be smaller, as nice looking as the LaCrosse, and be reasonably priced, I admit I'd be very interested with an LNF type powetrain, as has been discussed...

 

http://www.gminsidenews.com/forums/f...amed-gs-85128/
The Regal might be pretty cool. I am also interested in that turbo 4. Will be interesting to see what happens.

 

Jason where does the next Avenger/Sebring fall into your plans? One would think that a RWD version for Chrysler and a FWD version (rebadged Fiat) for Dodge are on deck.

Those are seriously something I will consider, although I like the direction Ford is taking with their products.

 

Three guesses...

 

While we're talking Regal.

It has to have the new Turbo V6 available in the Cadillac SRX for it to be competitive.

That's all.