Holden will say goodbye to its ute in 2016

For most people in continental Europe, utes (short for ‘utility’) are little-known cars. But in Australia and New Zealand, where both the concept and the term were invented, they have been a phenomenon for more than half a century. These car-based pickups, together with the Ford Falcon/Holden Commodore duo, are among the most traditional icons of Australian motoring culture. However, today they have lost much of their popularity.

Neither Ford nor Holden sells decent numbers of their respective utes anymore. So far this year, Holden’s Australian arm has registered 3,500 units of the Falcon Ute, and General Motors’ division 4,100 of its Ute, a 31% decrease compared with last year in the latter’s case. For Holden, that figure is far too low, and it is about to withdraw its ute from the market, which is available both in the company’s range and in its performance division HSV under the name Maloo.

The main reason is that Australian and New Zealand consumers now prefer conventional pick-up trucks such as the Toyota HiLux. Most of them come from Thailand, a country with which Australia signed a free trade agreement in 2010, under which Thai-made vehicles pay no duties to enter the market. In fact, one in five new cars sold in Australia so far in 2013 was built in Thailand. Next on the list are those made in Japan.

The Australian automotive industry is going through one of its worst periods. Local production is at its lowest level since 1957. Both General Motors and Ford are working on new “global” products in which Australian models do not come off well. Holden will receive two of these products in 2016, one of which will be a saloon. But that saloon will not have a ute body unless the unlikely miracle occurs and sales of the current ute take off dramatically between now and then. Given this, Ford does not seem likely to take the opposite decision and will follow GM’s example.

Via | The Daily Telegraph