The last Holden-badged Monaro coupe produced by General Motors’ Australian unit will be handed over to its successful eBay bidder next week, just days after US Pontiac dealers learned the GTO export version they sell would be axed at the end of the 2006 model year.
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A successful bid of AUD187,600 is three times as much as the price of a standard CV8 Monaro in Australia and auction proceeds will go to Australia’s Leukaemia Foundation.
The eBay sale of the car marks the end of domestic-specification Monaro domestic production in Elizabeth, South Australia, after more than four years and 47,000 sales.
Separately, GM has told Pontiac dealers that it would axe the Monaro-based GTO coupe at the end of this model year with last deliveries to retail outlets by the end of September, “sources close to Pontiac” revealed to US auto trade newspaper Automotive News.
The report said GM would produce 10,000 to 12,000 more GTOs before dropping the model after selling 11,590 in 2005, off 14.6% compared to 2004 when it sold 13,569.
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By GlobalDataAutomotive News noted that Pontiac projected 18,000 sales a year when it launched the GTO in 2003 but the vehicle was criticised for bland styling while some fans of the original GTO complained that it lacked nostalgic styling cues [partly fixed with subsequent updates].
The report said that GM is readying a new Zeta RWD architecture but no replacement coupe is currently planned. In addition, currency values had resulted in the GTO being priced in the early 30s rather than the mid-20s as GM had originally hoped.
“It never did as much volume as we had hoped,” the source told Automotive News, though it had brought in new customers in areas where GM sales are weak, such as in Southern California, a strong market for imported brands.
Nonetheless, the report added, a source said the 2005 and 2006 model year runs “were pretty well sold out, and sales were especially strong in areas of GM weakness, like Southern California. It’s a shame it has to go – for now.”
GM has indicated that it would like to have another vehicle in that “space” in the future, Automotive News noted.
Other recent US reports have said there would likely be a Zeta-based coupe model in future but this time it would be built in North America.
