Holden Piazza YB
Reviewed by Unique Cars and Parts
Our Rating: 1
Introduction
Since
1975 Holden had been importing and selling the
Isuzu built
Gemini with great success, and so it seemed logical that they would continue to enjoy such sales success with the importation of the sporty "Piazza".
Designed in Italy by Giorgetto Giugiaro, the Piazza was, for the time, a thoroughly modern and sporty 2 door coupe which featured a
turbocharged 2.0 litre OHC engine - the first time a
turbocharged vehicle was available at the Holden showrooms!
The most distinctive features of the Piazza were undoubtedly the wedge shaped hatchback with its enormous glass area at the rear, and its semi-concealed headlights up front. It came fitted with a 5 speed manual gearbox; however a 4 speed auto was available as an option.
Despite the bravado of the Italian design, under the skin lurked a thoroughly conventional small Japanese sedan with double-wishbone front
suspension, five link live-axle rear
suspension and four-wheel disc brakes.
While the rack-and-pinion
steering was power-assisted,
handling and braking were only average and Isuzu had failed to upgrade their effectiveness in line with the upgraded performance offered by fitting the
turbo!
The motoring press soon realised the Piazza was 'mutton dressed up as lamb', and the expected sales were never to materialise.
GM were forced to reduce prices in an effort to stimulate sales, and disgruntled purchasers who had already forked out top dollar were refunded up to $5000 to help ease the pain of plummeting re-sale values.
The price reductions were, however, too little too late, and the Piazza suffered an early demise - released in April
1986, it would be phased out in late
1987 and relegated to the history books.
