How GM Can Succeed Where It Failed With Holden: Why GMSV Could Go Electric In Australia With Chevrolet, Hummer And Cadillac

The Chevrolet Silverado EV could be big business in Australia.

General Motors' decision to close Holden looks set to help the brand open up an electric future in Australia.

The American giant has begun rolling out its electric vehicle (EV) in the US, with GMC Hummer joined by the new Chevrolet Silverado EV, Chevrolet Blazer EV, and Chevrolet Equinox EV – with more to come by 2025. Rumor has it that the Camaro coupe is evolving into an electric sports sedan and premium SUV, the Cadillac Lyriq.

This combination of EVs, SUVs and performance vehicles seems perfect for the Australian market that loves these market segments, and General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) is perfect to make these new EVs available in the Underground if the US leadership allows.

While it is too early for GMSV to confirm which of these models (if any) it will offer in Australia, there is a case for all four of them. 

The Hummer and Silverado seem simple, pairing our love of big cars and SUVs (GMC will offer both options for the Hummer) with a forward-thinking powertrain. 

GM was already selling Hummer locally in the late 2000s when it was trying to position it as a premium brand alongside Saab and Cadillac. It may have been ahead of its time as even the smallest H3 model is too big for many people. However, this is no longer an issue as Australians now seem to be of the mindset that “bigger is better” when it comes to SUVs.

The same can be said for the utes: the petrol Silverados prove that these giant American utes already have an audience. 

As for the Chevy Blazer and Equinox, these SUVs are a must for any self-respecting brand that wants to sell vehicles in this country, given our seemingly unending enthusiasm for SUVs. It's important to note that these SUVs are not related to the forgotten Equinox and other Chevrolets that were sold with Holden badges in its final days.

To be frank, the Equinox was outdated and not up to par with the Toyota RAV4, Mazda CX-5, Hyundai Tucson and others it competed with.

The move to electrification means the new Blazer and Equinox run on the same Ultium platform as the Silverado, Hummer and Lyriq. They will also have modern interiors, which has been one of the biggest criticisms of the Chevrolet models sold here by Holden. This would allow GMSV to position them as a more premium offering at a more premium price, which would be necessary in order to add up any business case.

Or, if GMSV wants to focus more fully on premium, introducing the Cadillac brand with the stylish Lyriq would be another good option.

As for the supposed "Camaro sports sedan", this electric four-door, as we wrote earlier, will be the spiritual successor to the Holden Commodore audience, which still has a soft spot for the Lion brand.

Key to any GMSV plan to introduce these models will be price and positioning in the wider market. As we have seen with every other brand, electric vehicles are not yet close to price parity with conventional internal combustion engine (ICE) models. 

Holden would have trouble selling the Equinox electric car at a huge markup over its gas equivalent. GMSV is unlikely to offer mainstream models such as the gasoline-powered Equinox, so it will be able to sell new Chevy electric vehicles without any direct comparisons to cheaper models. Instead, it can compete with the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6 and Tesla Model Y.

The Holden problem that GMSV doesn't have is history. Holden has a mass brand heritage, so trying to introduce expensive EV models (as it did with the short-lived Volt) has always been a challenge. People were expecting how much Holden should cost, so moving to lower-volume, higher-priced models would be an incredibly difficult task for such a large company.

On the other hand, GMSV was built from the start as a niche player in the local market, focusing on its unique models - Silverado and Corvette - which are sold at a significant margin in relatively limited quantities.

This is exactly the model that GM should be using with its EV models – low volume but high margins. While this likely means that not all of the models we've listed here will work in this scenario, there's certainly reason for, say, a Silverado EV, a Hummer SUV, and one of the Equinox/Blaze/Lyriq to form a trio of electric cars. options under the GMSV banner.

At this point, this may all be hypothetical, and certainly GMSV is doing well with its Silverado/Corvette duo, but as time goes on and GM continues to electrify the US, attention will eventually turn to Australia. When that moment arrives, GMSV will be in a better position than Holden could possibly ever be.