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Sam Armytage's outburst at Holden fans over brand's shock collapse

Sunrise host Samantha Armytage has come out swinging amid the shock news that beloved car brand Holden is shutting up shop in Australia due to dwindling sales.

The outspoken TV personality had little sympathy for Aussie fans of the iconic company on Tuesday morning, placing the blame squarely on customers for their lack of support.

Sam Armytage wearing a polka dot dress on Sunrise on Channel 7.
Sam Armytage 'blames' Holden fans for the brand's shock collapse. Photo: Channel 7.

“It is sad...” Sam’s co-host David ‘Kochie’ Koch said of Holden’s demise.

“But they’ve got no one to blame but themselves,” he added.

“Yeah!” Sam agreed.

“And for everybody out there saying ‘We love Holdens’, why didn't they buy Holdens? Then we wouldn’t be in this problem,” she said.

Viewers slam Sam

Angered viewers have taken to social media to hit back at Sam’s comments.

“‘Why didn't we buy Holdens’ - I bought two of them, everyone in my family owned one, I was part of a local Holden club sponsored by Holden themselves. What more were we supposed to do???” asked one person on Twitter.

Others pointed out that Sam herself does not appear to own a Holden.

“Hey @sam_armytage when did you buy your last Holden?” pointed out one.

“How's her Audi going?” asked another.

A red Holden 4WD
The iconic Holden has been axed. Photo: Instagram/holdenaustralia.

Holden’s Aussie demise

On Monday, General Motors (GM) announced that Holden will close down and stop selling cars in Australia, with nearly 600 jobs to go by June this year.

Despite exploring several options to keep the brand in the country, GM international operations senior vice president Julian Blissett revealed that the local sales, design and operations teams will be wound down by 2021.

He added that the Aussie team’s performance was not to blame for the closure.

“This decision is based on global priorities and does not reflect the hard work, talent and professionalism of the Holden team,” he said.

At this stage, the future of hundreds of jobs across Holden’s 200 strong dealer network remains unclear.

Ethan, a manager at Zupps Holden in Queensland, told 2Day FM hosts Stav, Abby and Matt on Tuesday that he and his team were not informed by Holden of the news and discovered it online.

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