Official: The Holden Brand Will Be Killed Off For Good
Having been kicking around in one form or another since 1856, Holden will be retired, parent company General Motors has announced. In Australia and New Zealand, all sales along with “local design and engineering operations will wind down by 2021”.
The brand took a big hit when it stopped building its own vehicles in 2017, before Holden announced it would drop cars altogether to focus on SUVs a few months ago. However, even in this scaled back form, the company was deemed to be unviable.
Speaking about the move to shut down Holden for good, GM International Operations Senior Vice President Julian Blissett said:
“Through its proud 160-year history, Holden has not only made cars, it has been a powerful driver of the industrialization and advancement of Australia and New Zealand.
“Over recent years, as the industry underwent significant change globally and locally, we implemented a number of alternative strategies to try to sustain and improve the business, together with the local team.
“After comprehensive assessment, we regret that we could not prioritize the investment required for Holden to be successful for the long term in Australia and New Zealand, over all other considerations we have globally.”
GM has pledged to honour any outstanding warranties and service agreements, while aftersales networks will remain to provide servicing and spares for “at least 10 years” in Australia and New Zealand. It’s not yet known how many jobs are due to go, although affected employees will be given redundancy packages.
Some roles may be saved, with dealers given the chance to transform into service outlets for Holden customers.
Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.
Comments
Cries in Kangaroo
aussies be smilin if u kno what i mean
if u aussies downvote me, ur giving me upvotes
Maloo ute, you will be forever in our hearts :’(
Press F to pay respect
🦀🦀🦀🦀
crabt
Yay, I never liked Holdens anyway.
Aussies are mad! Too bad their crap cars weren’t viable choice anyway…
GM, shutting down brands due to their own failed stupid planning moves since 2004
Commodores/V8 cars are selling fine
Replace them with FWD badge-engineered cars
“Why are they not selling?”
Typical GM smh
Don’t let GM fool you!
They knew this would be the outcome if they ditched the Commodore and halted domestic production. They probably started planning the wind down of the Holden brand 10 years ago. Now they can position Chevrolet as a global brand (something GM has declared as their intention) without having to compete with themselves in Australia. They lied to us about their plan for Holden to save face!
-No internal competition
-No badge engineering costs
-Reduced marketing costs
It’s a no-brainer from a business perspective but, as always, it’s we enthusiasts who suffer.
I’m pretty sure they’re stopping pretty much all RHD GM production world wide, not just holden.
After this, Utes became a top-notch investment
Man that’s sad. All the more reason to snap up a vxr8 though.