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As the saying goes, “don't speak ill of the dead”, we tend to look fondly upon Australian motoring history now that Holden has left the market.
There were some shocking cars from the brand that the general public hated when released: the UC Torana/Sunbird, Holden EK Special, and even the Holden Piazza.
Yet all of those cars seemed to grow somewhat of a cult following and classic status over the years, but nothing seemed to make the publicly perceived “worst car Holden ever made” cool - the JB Camira.
As we explored in a flashback you can read here, journalists loved how it drove, but buyers were more interested in why it was so badly put together, why every interior component rattled or squeaked, and why it was necessary to keep taking the car back for warranty work.
The way the Camira was styled gave the perception that it was closer to a Commodore than it actually was, and the unassuming buyer jumped into a cheaper car, hoping for more than what it was.
Holden had boasted that the little sedan would become Australia's best-selling car, yet sales fell as low as 10,000 a year. Holden closed the line, killed the name and stuck Holden Apollo badges on a little-changed Toyota Camry.
But compared to this other car, it makes the Camira's dismal figures look like a success. The weirdest part? There wasn’t anything inherently wrong with the car either; it was just too far ahead of its time.
What was Holden’s worst-selling car?
Holden’s worst-selling car was a rare model from the early 2010s called the Holden Volt, a car that seemingly failed because it was simply too ahead of its time. Just 246 people bought this little plug-in hybrid in its three-year run before Holden made the decision to axe it from the local line-up.
The Holden Volt was a joint development between Holden and GM to bring the Chevrolet Volt range-extender EV to Australia, and sell it here under the Iron Lion brand.
The Volt's key issue was its pricing. At $59,990, you would have had a choice between this little hatchback or a manual HSV Maloo for $1000 less.
Still, at the time of its launch Down Under, you had a choice of three EVs – an EV-converted Hyundai Getz called a Blade Electron, a Mitsubishi iMiEV, or a $241,000 Tesla Roadster, with the Nissan Leaf coming later in the year.
There wasn’t much hope for early adopters of EV technology, as buyers needed to opt for a mid-$200K Tesla to even approach a 200km electric range. The Nissan Leaf topped the charts with a range of just 175km for $46,990, but the Volt promised to change that.
It was the other end of the spectrum for hybrid vehicles; they were still heavily reliant on the petrol engine, with systems that were night and day behind what's on the market now, and a plug-in hybrid was something that only existed in Europe and Asia.
Perhaps seeing a gap, Holden and GM USA conceived an idea to bring this new piece of technology to Australia: an electric car that utilised a petrol engine as a generator.
The 1.4-litre petrol four-cylinder engine would, in very rare instances, drive the front wheels as a last-resort backup, but in almost all cases, it would generate power for the electric battery, which had a 90km range when fully charged from a wall socket.
The little petrol engine/generator managed to boost the range up to 600km, which translated to a 4.2L/100km reading when we reviewed the car in 2012, a pretty respectable number for over a decade ago.
Yet seeing them still getting around, even though they were sold in such small numbers, reminded me that I was one of the very few people who got to experience the car when my father brought one home for a test drive while they were still on sale.
A once unremarkable car to a 13-year-old Zane is now a remarkably advanced piece of technology for an adult me.
One thing that struck me as a kid, and still does to this day, was the interior. Holden was grasping at straws to make the car seem worthy of its $60K price tag, so they threw everything they possibly could at the car.
That meant leather on everything, futuristic buttons, a full-colour digital dash cluster that didn’t become a common feature on cars until the late 2010s, and a 7.0-inch touchscreen (which was big at the time).
Not only that, but the Volt was fitted with a collision warning system, lane departure warning, rear view camera, heated seats, keyless entry and start, premium sound system with Bluetooth phone, eight airbags and electronic stability control
The Volt was a bit of a car journalist car, extraordinary to those in the know, but didn’t captivate the market, especially with those interested in buying a Holden-badged vehicle.
It scored bonus points with reviewers for the way that it drove and the fact that it was uber quiet on the road, with our earlier review stating that the changeover into power generation from the petrol engine was a barely noticeable hum.
In a quest to find other owners, I joined the Holden Volt owners club Facebook group in hopes of tracking down someone who still had one and see how this little spaceship is still holding up.
The small but active group seems to still have dedicated enthusiasts who genuinely want to see these cars stay on the road, and perhaps the strangest thing is that problems rarely pop up that need answering.
Of course, batteries and modules seem to be nearing the end of their lives, but even then, there really aren’t a huge number of people complaining about a lack of range from an old battery.
Why did Holden stop selling the Volt?
As to what killed the Volt? Well, it was simply too expensive for the Australian market. It seemed GM’s plan to bring them to Australia was never a decision to make money, but to pave the way for other extended-range EVs that never eventuated into anything.
It wasn’t even Holden’s decision to kill the model either; in 2015, GM simply stopped making them in right-hand drive to make way for the next generation, now that the pathway had been paved for this type of car.
But of course, the next generation never came, and Holden soon followed the same fate as the Volt and shut up shop. But, we can’t help but think how good this car would’ve been had it been inducted into the lineup just five years later than it was.
It spawned other, more successful uses of the technology, such as Nissan’s e-Power and BMW's range-extender hybrid, yet the original still seems to hold up to this day. They rarely come up on the used market, but they seem to hover around the $15,000 mark.
It’s sad to give the title of the “worst-selling Holden ever” to the Volt because it almost doesn’t feel justified; it genuinely was a good car with a pricetag that simply could not attract buyers.
Sure, you can look at it from the specifications sheet and say $60,000 was too expensive for compact car, but it was much more than that and few realised it. Who knows what would've happened if Holden stayed in the market, they might've been a force to be reckoned with in the EV market.
Zane Dobie comes from a background of motorcycle journalism, working for notable titles such as Australian Motorcycle News Magazine, Just Bikes and BikeReview. Despite his fresh age, Zane brings a lifetime of racing and hands-on experience. His passion now resides on four wheels as an avid car collector, restorer, drift car pilot and weekend go-kart racer.
