Holden Auto done?

[Sooner or later]

https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/guid/F657473A-512F-11EA-B5C7-52AF3B60D99D

DETROIT — General Motors says it’s pulling out of Australia, New Zealand and Thailand as part of a strategy to exit markets that don’t produce adequate returns on investments.

The company said in a statement Sunday that it will wind down sales, engineering and design operations for its historic Holden brand in Australia and New Zealand in 2021.

[sc_rufctr]

Unfortunate but not unexpected. A few years ago they closed the local factory.

The now very rare 1970 Holden Monaro HG GTS Coupe.



"We love football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars"

[sc_rufctr]

[gulf908]

two things to think about as to the regard of GM to Australia and Australians
first is that for the last 25 + years our federal government has been propping up the local car industry via subsidies to keep the local factories alive - at the taxpayer's expense - so GM and Ford can send their annual dividends to Detroit while at the same time crying poor and asking for more subsidies
the second is that our PM and senior ministers had only a half an hour notice that this withdrawal announcement from GM was to take place
this leaves a very bad taste in the mouth towards GM in the way this was handled
1948 to 2020 has several generations of Holden fans - what now ?
our government has said NO to any further subsidies and this is the result
Ford is next ? - lets hope the severance is done a little better

Dennis

[sc_rufctr]

AdelaideAZ / CARS, INDUSTRY

Holden was not the only Adelaide saddlery business that made the ambitious switch to making cars in the early 20th Century. From a store (pictured in 1907) in Grenfell Street, Holden’s Motor Builders’ Woodville car factory was biggest of its type outside the US in the 1930s before the Depression struck, causing the sellout to General Motors. Duncan & Fraser, builders of horse carriages and Adelaide trams from the 1870s, was equally bold in car making but was choked by Ford starting its Geelong plant. T.J. Richards, with a car plant at what became LeCornu’s Anzac Highway site, kept 100% ownership until Chrysler Corporation bought control in 1951.

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

AdelaideAZ / CARS, INDUSTRY

Holden was not the only Adelaide saddlery business that made the ambitious switch to making cars in the early 20th Century. From a store (pictured in 1907) in Grenfell Street, Holden’s Motor Builders’ Woodville car factory was biggest of its type outside the US in the 1930s before the Depression struck, causing the sellout to General Motors. Duncan & Fraser, builders of horse carriages and Adelaide trams from the 1870s, was equally bold in car making but was choked by Ford starting its Geelong plant. T.J. Richards, with a car plant at what became LeCornu’s Anzac Highway site, kept 100% ownership until Chrysler Corporation bought control in 1951.

what a fantastic building !!

[tcar]

Originally Posted by rusnak

what a fantastic building !!

Ditto...

Demolished in the 60's, sadly....

[Otter74]

So what were pre-GM Holdens like? Did they have proprietary chassis? Engines?

[gulf908]

mainly Fords in the 1930s

[fnqvmuch]

In 1923 Holden's Motor Body Builders expanded from King William Street to a new factory at Woodville.

Chairman of the company, Edward Holden, signed an exclusive deal to build General Motors bodies in Australia.

New General Motors plants were built in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth where the complete cars were assembled using the Australian-made bodies and imported engines and chassis.

By 1929, Holden was employing 3,500 people and was the largest car body builder in the Commonwealth.

Then the Great Depression hit.

In 1930, they'd made 34,000 cars. A year later, they only produced 1,600.

by Mike Ladd ABC RN Oct. 2017 - i.e. upon becoming importer-only

[onewhippedpuppy]

Congrats GM on buying, destroying, and killing yet another international automaker.

[gwood]

Does this mean Australia won't be getting any of the RHD C8 Corvettes?

[sc_rufctr]

Originally Posted by gwood

Does this mean Australia won't be getting any of the RHD C8 Corvettes?

You can order them right now but after what's happened I don't see a good future for GM in Aus.

Holden will become another failed manufacturer and we've had a lot of them lately.

Australians have always been pragmatic. We'll just move on and buy mostly Korean made cars.
FYI: Mercedes Benz/BMW sell a lot of cars in Australia and the Ford Mustang is doing well here.

[sc_rufctr]

A very simplistic view of our car making industry but there no mention of Chrysler/Mitsubishi or Leyland and VWs and Bolwell and...

We've had many different cars "assembled" in Australia.



Right now the Brabham BT62 is being "assembled" in Adelaide, South Australia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brabham_BT62

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by sc_rufctr

You can order them right now but after what's happened I don't see a good future for GM in Aus.

Holden will become another failed manufacturer and we've had a lot of them lately.

Australians have always been pragmatic. We'll just move on and buy mostly Korean made cars.
FYI: Mercedes Benz/BMW sell a lot of cars in Australia and the Ford Mustang is doing well here.

What will you race in the AU Super Car Series?

[mocha07]

https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2020/02/21/which-was-the-coolest-holden-concept-car/?refer=news&utm_source=edaily&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2020-02-21#&gid=1&pid=2