Jeff Bleich entertains guests with comedic routine and Holden management explain Commodore's advancing technology — and pricing
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He's not here all week
Jeffrey Bleich is the American ambassador to Australia. Appointed to the role by the Obama administration he began his working life as a lawyer, so he sounds like a pretty serious dude.
But if the cocktail party circuit ever becomes a chore, there's always an opening for him writing TV scripts. That much was obvious from the speech he delivered during the preview of the Volt. The content was practically pythonesque and he overhyped the much anticipated car to the point of absurdity. Here's how it all went down:
"The only thing that has kept me from buying an electric vehicle before this is what Mike [Devereux, Holden MD] described as 'range anxiety', in the sense that the cars wouldn't go far enough before needing to be recharged.
"The engineers here though, have solved not only range anxiety, but every other anxiety about the electric vehicle. And so I'm hoping that when they're done they'll start solving every other anxiety known to man. Once they're done with this project they're going to get to work on nuclear non-proliferation, male pattern baldness..."
Interrupted by laughter, the folicularly challenged ambassador continued.
"In the interest of candour though, let me tell you the one downside of this car: it is not for people who enjoy guilt.
"It violates the very first law of the puritans, which is fear that someone, somewhere, is having fun.
"Because this car is joy without sin. It's eating a chocolate sundae and not getting fat, it is skipping work and getting a raise... it's watching the Kardashians on TV and getting smarter."
At that point Bleich mentioned US variety show host — and self-confessed car nut — Jay Leno had driven his own Volt 16,000km without filling the petrol tank. He also postulated Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore would be drawn to a car combining the style, practicality and eco-efficiency of the Volt.
"It is cool enough for Jay Leno, it is stylish and sustainable enough for Clover Moore — and it's designed by the very same people who are going to cure baldness. Now that's a car...
"So congratulations to Holden, congratulations to the planet — and congratulations to the mayor on her decision to immediately go out and buy the Volt."
The price of progress
Back in 1998, Holden's Commodore cost 24 per cent more than Toyota's Corolla. It's now 74 per cent more expensive, claims Peter Keley, the Executive Director of Planning and Program Management at Holden.
"In 1995 or thereabouts, a Commodore was cheaper than the Camry," he said during the preview of the Volt last week. "Even when we're having sales promotions... a Commodore is still 61 per cent more expensive than a Corolla.
"Over the last 15 years, the Corolla hasn't gone up in price. What's happened... it's all driven by exchange rates, around tariffs and global economies of scale."
According to Keley, the problem was masked during the 1990s as the Australian dollar fell against major currencies, but from around 2002 onwards importers began stacking more equipment in their cars as the exchange rate began to favour imported products over the locally-built cars and the tariffs steadily fell, year on year.
Keley's outline of the way the market environment has changed over the last 13 or 14 years is thought-provoking. We've tended to think that traditional big-six sedans with rear drive have steadily lost market share due to the market perception that they can't compare with SUVs for practicality and they're less efficient consumers of fuel than increasingly well-equipped and well-priced small cars. But perhaps the price difference accounts for a large part of that market decline than thought.
Holden has endeavoured to keep the Commodore competitive in the market, not least of all technologically. On that subject, members of the media were addressed by the company's Director of Vehicle Integration and Safety, Ian Butler. Butler, also the man responsible for proving grounds and test labs at Holden, took to the podium ahead of Keley to explain just how far the Commodore has progressed in terms of computer processing power.
"Back in 1991 that car [the VN model Commodore] had four central processors fitted to it... fast-forward to today, there's over 40 central processors... but more importantly than that is that the central processors themselves have increased in capability by a factor of about a thousand..."
Many of the new features reaching cars over the past 20 years — requiring all the extra computing power — are safety-related, Butler says. He cited anti-lock brakes, stability control and airbags among them, but there's enhanced computing power for engine emissions and fuel economy, plus climate control and infotainment.
When motoring.com.au subsequently spoke with Butler, he agreed that the VN had been carefully selected for the comparison, because a year later came the VP model (pictured), which — it's often forgotten — took a major step forward in onboard computing power. The VP introduced airbags and ABS to the Commodore for the first time.
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