Not a surprise announcement, but an official announcement from General Motors. “The Holden brand will be retired from sales in Australia and New Zealand and local design and engineering operations will wind down by 2021,” read the official statement. In addition, Maven and Holden Financial Services operations will also wind down in Australia.
File photo (October 2017)
GM has taken this difficult decision after an exhaustive analysis of the investment required for Holden to be competitive for the long term in Australia’s and New Zealand’s new car markets. Regrettably, this assessment determined such an investment could not meet GM’s investment thresholds, including delivering an appropriate return.
GM said that Holden will honour all existing warranties and guarantees, honour all free scheduled servicing offers, continue call centre support, provide servicing and spare parts for at least 10 years (through national aftersales networks in Australia and New Zealand), and recall for safety-related issues if necessary.
The official statement further added that the impacted Holden employees will be provided separation packages and employment transition support.
File photo (October 2017)
The Holden production ended on October 20, 2017, with the final VFII Commodore Redline rolling off the Elizabeth line at 10.45 am (Adelaide time). The Elizabeth plant was the only remaining car factory in Australia following the closure of Ford and Toyota plants in October 2016 and October 2017, respectively.
While the lacklustre sales seems to be the obvious thing to blame, the disappearance of import tariff and cheaper production from other countries contributed equally to the end of car production in Australia, according to reports.
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