Holden bets on Epica

HOLDEN has expressed doubts about the wisdom of Ford’s decision to introduce the premium European Mondeo.

At the recent launch of Holden’s new South Korean-built (by Daewoo) Epica – the replacement medium-size car for the European (Opel-built) Vectra – marketing director John Elsworth responded to our question on prospective Mondeo sales with this: "We tested the market with an expensive mid-sized model and it didn’t work".

Mr Elsworth said the Vectra was discontinued in 2005 because its high ($34,990) base price failed to attract enough buyers. The Epica is priced from $25,990. A dollar figure is still to be placed on the Mondeo, which is due here in October.

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