Holden focuses more on small cars

The small-car line-up is being tweaked as Holden puts a greater emphasis on its compact cars following the launch of the Cruze and with Commodore sales still down from their historic highs.

The Spark is almost certain to come as a sub-$13,000 benchmark for the brand, while the Astra family has been chopped because it cannot be made price competitive from Europe.

The Spark - also called the Daewoo Matiz where it is built in Korea - has just been revealed as a Chevrolet hero for global sales. The design was developed from a series of three baby concepts cars that were displayed two years ago at the Frankfurt Motor Show.

It has a 1-litre four-cylinder engine which should make it ideal to compete against the upcoming wave of Chinese imports, as well as growing Holden's range below the Barina. It has fuel economy of just 5.9L/100km and there are also plans for a three-cylinder diesel model in the future.

"There is lots of interest. We are taking a close look at it," GM Holden's product spokesperson, Kate Lonsdale, admits. "There is a lot of interest. It's not a market we currently compete in, because it's a mini car."

Lonsdale says Holden is not rushing to make a decision on the Spark, which is being promoted as a Chevrolet and not a Daewoo in the GM world, because it wants to make the right choice. "Decision time? We cannot say at the moment," she says. "This is a global car. It's the Chevrolet Spark that we're looking at.

It's the same as the Cruze, which was always developed as a global product and is now sold as a Holden. But there is no uncertainty on the Astra. It is out, despite a long run of solid sale, partly because Holden is putting all its small-car eggs into the Cruze basket with early sedan imports and then local production of a hatch - and perhaps a small wagon - in Adelaide from next year.

"We really did look at every way we could continue with the car. It's been a very tough decision, not one we've taken lightly," Lonsdale says. "It's just not viable to import the Astra any more. We wanted to keep Astra but it would not have been competitive." She also denies the Astra move was forced by the emphasis on Cruze. "The decisions weren't strictly linked," Lonsdale says.

The Astra is still listed as a five-door hatch from $22,290, with the wagon from $26,090 and three-door SRi from $28,790, but Lonsdale says it is now well into runout with the final supplies already landed from Europe. "We haven't imported any for several months," she says.