Monday, Mar 31, 2008 at 16:50
Hi Steve, I have a Rodeo duel cab 3.0 ltr TD, 2005 model, Last year I went up to the centre, across to WA & up through the Kimberly to
Katherine and back down to
Melbourne (approx 11,000 klms) and the Rodeo never missed a beat, great ute and can't fault it.
Below is the article from GoAuto about the end of the Holden Rodeo.
GM HOLDEN will retire its 30-year-old
Rodeo nameplate within months because it
does not own the right to continue to use it.
Once Australia’s top-selling light
commercial vehicle name, the Rodeo badge
will become history from about June because
Isuzu, which manufactures Australia’s Rodeo
in Thailand, owns it and will prevent Holden
from using it following the formal separation
between Isuzu and Holden’s parent company
General Motors.
GM announced in mid-2006 that it would
sell its remaining 7.9 per cent stake in Isuzu to
raise about $US300 million following the US
giant’s $US8.6 billion loss the previous year.
The announcement heralded the end of a
successful product-sharing arrangement that
began in 1971, and followed the sale of GM
interests in Suzuki and Subaru parent company
Fuji Heavy Industries for a total of $US2.7
billion only months earlier.
The demise of the Rodeo name will
come as a marketing blow to Holden and
its representative in one of Australia’s most
important vehicle segments.
The fi fth-generation RA-series model,
launched here in March 2003, suffered a 14.2
per cent decline in popularity in 2007, when
8978 sales made it Australia’s fourth bestselling
4x2 utility behind Toyota’s HiLux,
Ford’s Falcon ute and Holden’s own Ute.
The fi ve-year-old Rodeo 4x4 has fared better
against newer rivals from Toyota, Nissan and
Mitsubishi, fi nding 9428 homes in 2007 to
be 18.1 per cent up – despite trailing HiLux,
Navara and now Triton.
Publicly, Holden will only say that it will not
be without an entrant in Australia’s lucrative
light truck market.
GoAuto understands that from mid-year
the current Rodeo will receive a fi nal subtle
facelift prior to being relaunched as the Holden
Colorado – the same name worn by Chevrolet
versions of Isuzu’s global light commercial.
Our sources say that Holden’s current
Rodeo, which should adopt the same sleek new
face that appeared on the Chevrolet Coloradobadged
version released by Chevrolet Thailand
late last year, will be replaced by an all-new
Colorado model to be imported from Brazil
beyond 2010.
It is believed that the cost of altering the
current Chevrolet Colorado to comply with
Australian design rules for just two years of
service was not feasible.
However, in a further twist to the story,
Isuzu itself will this year enter Australia’s
light commercial vehicle market with its own
version of the current Rodeo, under its global
model name: D-Max.
Further complicating matters, GoAuto
has learned the Isuzu D-Max will be sold
through a national dealer network appointed
by Mitsubishi Corporation, which owns 13 per
cent of Mitsubishi Motors Corporation.
Mitsubishi Corp became Isuzu’s largest
shareholder when it increased its stake from
3.5 per cent to 15.65 per cent following GM’s
departure, and is believed to be in the process
of creating an Australian sales offi ce and retail
distribution network.
It is unlikely that existing Mitsubishi dealers
will sell the Isuzu D-Max alongside their own
Triton utility, but the confusing deal will see
Isuzu compete directly for the fi rst time with
Holden’s rebadged Colorado and Mitsubishi’s
Triton, as
well as HiLux, Navara and the Ford
Ranger/Mazda BT-50 twins.
However, it appears that Holden will offer
a new utility before the redesigned South
American-built Colorado emerges in about two
years’ time, with GoAuto sources confi rming
that GM’s Hummer brand is likely to make
available a four-door utility version of its
Rodeo-based H3 by the end of this year.
Regards,
John
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