Holden demise sparks interest online

Wednesday, 19 February 2020

News of Holden's demise has sparked a surge in Kiwis searching for that dream Holden at online auction site Trade Me.

Trade Me's head of motors, Alan Clark, sad that the website has seen a 'huge jump in interest as Kiwis reminisce or consider snapping up a brand that will be discontinued.'

According to numbers supplied by Trade Me, there were more than 17,000 searches for 'Holden' the day after the announcement was made, with the days prior to the announcement seeing around 6 to 7,000 searches and 'Holden' searches are up 32.4 per cent on the previous week.

'Like many people around New Zealand we were really disappointed to hear that the iconic Holden brand was to be retired by GM,' said Clark.

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'We know that thousands of Kiwis have loved and used this brand over the years and we see that love every day on site.'

According to Clark there are currently more than 3,500 Holden listings on Trade Me and there were nearly 32,000 in 2019.

'During 2019 there were approximately 30.5 million views and 1.9m watchlists on Holdens,' said Clark.

'There are an average of 136 brand new Holdens listed on Trade Me every day and we've seen volumes of new Holdens coming on site trending steadily upwards over the last 12 months.'

Clark said that the most commonly listed model on site is the Commodore, followed by the Colorado and Captiva. The five most popular searches for Trade Me members in the Holden category are HSV, V8, Holden, SS and Commodore.

'We'll be watching with interest to see what this announcement means for the prices of Holdens and which cars Kiwis will turn their attention to when Holden stops selling here,' he said.