Holden Couldn't Sell Its Wagon Fast Enough - What Happened Hanenberger?

Holden could only sell around 200 of these Adventra's every month, what happened?

Chairman & MD of Holden at the time Peter Hanenberger in all his press releases spoke positively about the all-wheel drive platform - he had a vision, he was so confident that it would change the way Australians would drive but it failed to make sales and eventually was dropped with no chance for it to ever see the General Motors Zeta aka Holden's VE/VF platform.

We include press release content about the Adventra in this video, credits to the owners of the original video we took from (possibly Holden Ltd) showing the actual engineering/planning and thought behind the initial Adventra design really shows you how far from the commodore wagon these vehicles really are and they never really finished the journey due to lack of initial success in the market at the time.

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Announced in late 2001 by Holden LTD

Holden is to go ahead with an Australian-built four-wheel-drive version of its popular Commodore.
Holden's chairman and managing director, Mr Peter Hanenberger, announced yesterday that the project had won approval from General Motors officials in the United States.

Holden hopes to sell about 25,000 of the cars each year here and overseas.
Mr Hanenberger said the car would go into production between 2003 and 2005.

"This market clearly requires a vehicle which is a four-wheel-drive and a crossover [on and off-road] kind of a version," he said.

Mr Hanenberger also hinted that the new vehicle could help Holden break into the massive US market.

The vehicle is expected to introduce a new, taller wagon body style with three rows of seats and styling cues that link it to the Commodore. It would rely on Commodore mechanicals and components but boast unique styling designed to make it a viable contender against other off-road vehicles such as the Toyota LandCruiser and Mitsubishi Pajero.

It will be offered with V6 and V8 power, with prices expected to start below $50,000.
Mitsubishi Australia has already revealed plans for a four-wheel-drive Magna sedan, and Toyota and Ford have hinted at similar plans.

More than 56,000 four-wheel-drives were bought by Australians in the first half of this year, almost 3,000 more than during the same period in 1999 - the previous best sales period.
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#adventra #softroader #vehicle

[wonkychikn]

I worked at GM Holden's Elizabeth plant from 2003 to 2012, originally in final assembly and eventually in quality and helped assemble many Adventras...I wouldn't say that the Adventra was a sales failure as at was just one variant of the AWD architecture.At the time it was built Holden's Elizabeth plant was running pretty much to capacity on 3 shifts churning out an amazing amount of variants of both RWD and AWD vehicles, whilst also bringing the VE to market. Infact at the time Holden assembled the most complex model mix and amount of variations of any plant in the GM world, so much so that visiting executives from GM were astounded by what Holden managed to achieve from a ( by GM standards) small assembly plant!..Peter Hannenburger had a great vision for Holden and got plenty of projects off the ground, but I think that Denny Mooney had a lot less emotion, or vision tied to Holden, and was ultimately more invested in dropping some product lines to focus funds on the VE, I also think it's fair to say that the marketing of the Adventra and most Commodores was very average, Too much reliance on the fact that people would buy Holdens without needing ongoing advertising!...I drove Hundreds of Adventras around the plant when they were new, and also had the use of a brand new LX8 for a few days..loved it!...I currently own a CX6, and a sx6 as a parts car.
Just like Mitsubishi 's AWD Magna the Adventra is a much better vehicle than most people would give them credit for!
Fun fact... Holden built a Heron white VZ X8 6 speed manual chassis cab for engineering evaluation, a one off test vehicle, not for production!

[wynonajamieson]

My dad was on the design team! That’s him at about 2:15! He was the project manager on the adventra

[FuManchultr]

I feel this car was where Holden should have naturally been heading. Evolving the Commodore into an SUV to remain the choice of car for families. Evolving Holdens into something for families is always what made Holden so great. Then modifying designs from that to suit more specialised uses, and utes are a good example of that.

So while the Commodore was only one part of the Holden story, it was as important to the base of the company as any before it.

Before the Adventra we were turning Kingswoods into 4WD’s too.

The VF SUV concept images are what Aussies would be looking for today.

I still get excited when I see an Adventra and each one tells a different story unique to each owner more than most cars do. They are loved. No doubt about that.

Yet another example of Holden being ahead of its time and exemplary at designing amazing useful cars. Always being put into the naughty corner by GM for doing it.

The VE was a great example of being let off the GM lead a bit. As we all know was also designed with the Cross Trac drivetrain in mind.

Too good for GM IMO.

[peterjones]

Great car for travelling ☺️, very comfortable, I've had for wheel drives, the wagon size vehicles suit me the best

[mattpearce]

Two THUMBS UP 👍 👍.
Brilliant, done well played fine...No foul.

[ceegee]

Awesome history clip you've found

[winterrosebeaumont]

Hell Yes!!!! loving the promo vids, great to see and hear from the Adventra's design team.
I am so stoked that my Addy is my daily ride, well done Holden for pioneering such an outstanding AWD vehicle. It would of been such a buzz to have seen Peter Brock wheeling the beast mode Adventra that was planned for him beofre his untimely and very sad passing. (Only the good die young RIP Brocky).
Were the Captiva's manufactured and assembled in Korea?

[tracklifex]

Great blast from the past promo’s. My experience has been with the Cross 8. They were good for motorsports rescue but the Adventura was a more capable off roader with its wagon wheel base. The Cross 8 was “Limousine “ long.

[fishingwiththomas]

I haven't seen that one before. I remember seeing the disguised black wagons near Kiama on the NSW South Coast in about 2002 or so. Still regret selling mine almost 8 years ago now.

[kenfowler]

I have a 2005 VZ LX6 & I love it! Comfortable, powerful & heaps of space. I drove an old Nissan Terrano II before the Holden, and before that a Nissan X Trail & a variety of 4x4’s before that and the big Holden is comfortable, powerful & far more suitable for eating up the k’s.
Pity GM didn’t stick with it & imported the Craptiva instead!

[adventraadventures]

Unfortunately the introduction of a V8-only AWD wagon with a starting price in the neighborhood of $60k, nearly double the price of a basic Commodore sedan, I feel was the reason for the short life of the Adventra. By the mid-2000's, the market was already starting to shift away from larger cars, moving towards smaller AWD SUV's. Remember, it's primary competitor at the time was the Ford Territory; a smaller, inline six SUV. A top of the range Territory was far cheaper than an Adventra, beating it out of the market.

Do I think if they had introduced the Adventra with the ECOTEC V6 as well as a V8 option would it have sold better? Perhaps. Do I think Holden should have waited till the VZ range to introduce the Adventra, with the Alloytec V6 being the engine choice to bring it marketability? Yeah, maybe. Unfortunately, the damage was done and within five years it was done, dusted, never to be seen again.

That being said, the Adventra really is an under-rated car. Capable, rugged, dependable; look after it and it will look after you in spades :)

[alanpeacock]

I had a 2006 LX6, and still have a 2002 Monaro. I wore the LX6 out, but it is by far a nicer car to drive than the Monaro... except for the sound. I could totally trust it on all roads, and it's handling was sublime.

[liamgross]

The very last non Holden commodore specs are very Adventra like.

[stanleyj.mitchell]

You should send this to GMH and include some of your videos. But……. Ford didn’t virtually the same. They had an XY Falcon Ute 4Wd with Dana diffs back and front. The stopped production at number 250. They were a mountain goat. Unstoppable in any environment.

[lot]

Holden stuffed up, nobody wanted a jacked up wagon, but the "SUV" look instead

[RiffRaff]

Awesome vid well done 👍 hope I never get rid of mine and it see's me through to the day they tell me my driving days are over!