A retired Federal Court judge will oversee mediation between disgruntled Holden dealers and GMH on Wednesday as stock levels of Holden cars dwindle.

“We estimate there are only around 2000 Holden vehicles left to arrive in Australian showrooms, yet almost a third of Holden dealers are yet to receive a compensation offer, let alone one that is fair and reasonable,” he said.
The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries’ monthly sales data for all brands showed 1689 Holden vehicles were sold during May, making Holden the No. 10 selling brand in Australia.
The overall market is extremely weak, with total new vehicle sales down 35 per cent in May, following a 49 per cent tumble in April.
Aggressive discounts have helped shift more Holdens than the parent company had been forecasting, although numbers are volatile in the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Holden Colorado ute and Holden Acadia SUV have been among the better sellers.
A GMH spokesman said on Monday it was hard to forecast the next few weeks of demand, but there had been a spike soon after the Holden closure announcement, and then a fall-off amid COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.
“There is still some new vehicle stock in the pipeline, but delayed due to border restrictions,” he said. “That, combined with COVID-19-related sales uncertainty, makes it difficult to predict exactly when new vehicle stocks will be exhausted.”
Last month, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission threatened to take GMH to court before the automotive group finally agreed to extend a deadline until June 30 for dealers to accept a compensation package over the scrapping of the brand from the Australian marketplace.
ACCC chairman Rod Sims said on May 22 he had been ”very disappointed” in the way GMH had behaved, and that the regulator would closely monitor the dispute. The previous deadline had been the end of May.
The Holden dealers are angry about the level of compensation offered. Mr Nicholson said Holden dealers in New Zealand received a much better offer, even though the Australian business had subsidised the NZ arm for decades.
The compensation package for NZ dealers was based on $2500 for every Holden sold from a dealership from 2017 to 2019, compared with $1500 in Australia.
“NZ Holden dealers are being offered compensation almost double that offered to Australian dealers on the basis they were more profitable,” he said.
“This is both unfair and insulting given Australia has subsidised New Zealand Holden since the beginning. But for the Australian Holden dealer network and the Australian taxpayer, Holden wouldnt exist across the Tasman.”
The Holden dealers have franchise agreements that expire in 2022.
About 10 per cent of Holden dealers in Australia are dealers who only sell Holdens. Most of the others are multi-franchise dealers.