GM (Holden closing it's doors)

[6pakdave]

GM(H) has come clean with news in Australia that it will not be building local Holden's from 2017. That's a heck of a lot of people out of work here and 2 major plants shutting down.

Ford Aust has announced the same. Looks like auto globalisation has arrived in OZ

[Lynn]

sad...

[wheelhop]

Cars will probably be built in China or some other South East Asia country.

[ZLP955]

Sure it's sad to see local Holden production will cease here, but when all but a (relative) few supporters are buying imported models, it's just not a sustainable market. I've had more Holdens than I can remember, and even a few Fords, and they are truly great cars, especially in recent years, but with a population of only 23 million, there has to be a strong export program to reduce the cost per unit off the assembly line.
But my thoughts are with all the workers who will lose their jobs in a few years time.......

[markinnaples]

That is really a shame, as Holden was the leader of GM for rear wheel performance cars other than the Vette for many years.

Now's the time to get a Holden ______ (insert whichever hot performance car you want here) as I'll bet they're going to be hot collectibles in the years coming, especially the HSV versions.

[jannes_z-28]

I can' understand why GM didn't sell the Holden cars in Europe, they did sell some models abroad with left hand steering. In some Arabian countries they sold Holden with Chevrolet badges, left hand steering. A few of them have found their way over here to Sweden.

The big Holden cars would definitely have a place on the European market, badged as Opel to compete with the upper class Audi's, BMW's and Volkswagen's. The Holden cars would be very competitive in price, you got more bang for the buck.


GM in the UK imported a few models, mostly the high performance Holdens, easy since the Englishmen are driving on the same side as the Aussies. And they were popular, got high remarks by Top Gear.