GM Holden cars R.I.P.

[cfz2882]

Looks like holden is about to cease producing cars in Australia-The first complete car built by Holden around 1949,reportedly a modification of a stillborn Chevy design and much like a Chevy of the era,including a rugged OHV inline six.~1968,Holden introduded an American style V8(252 and 308 C.I.) of their own design to supplement the Chevy v8s installed in some cars.This engine design was used up to ~1999,then replaced with GM "LS"type engine imported from U.S. or Canada.The Buick 3.8 v6 series2 was also common in a lot of Holdens-mounted length wise for RWD instead of transverse FWD mounting in most U.S. applications.

 

[johnrk]

Holden

I remember reading period road tests when the Ford Falcon came over in 1960 and it looked and acted so much more modern than the Holden of the time.

I've seen old road tests of when the Citroen ID/DS was assembled in Australia. That must've been really amazing to see mixed in with cars like those old Holdens.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

My Matchbox El Camino was a "Holden Pick-Up"--and nice to gradually learn Holden was Australia's Chevrolet...

Some show that my mom watched was done in Australia and there was a kidnapping, done w/ a Chevy Nova, that Down Under had to be a Holden 'Nova'-equivalent...

-- Dave

 

[jamiel]

There were some kind of touching videos etc from the final day (the final production day was the 20th; the celebrations on the 20th were only for employees). They had a "dream cruise" on Sunday the 15th in and around the Adelaide plant neighborhood with a couple hundred thousand people lining the route. If you go to holden.co.au they have what they're going to do in the future (about a thousand engineers/designers/marketers are still going to be left--they still have full design capabilities there)

 

[vacerator]

fate of western world auto production

They have all closed up shop in Australia. Ford, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Honda, and Nissan.
A member voiced last year that Holden was building cars no one wanted.
That was also George Bush's excuse about GM going bankrupt last decade.
Ironic that after his 2004 tax cuts, the economy tanked, so we know that's not the entire truth. I just don't think they sell enough cars there to sustain the cost of production.
Before the Holden "48"/215, which was initially a compact Buick concept, Holden had been assembling GM cars form ckd (complete knockdown) kits.
Holdens had always been based on Opel and Vauxhall mechanically, but all came to be similar eventually.

More to follow. have to run out on errands.

 

[cfz2882]

South African "Chevys" too

saw that Holden had an assembly plant in South Africa for a while-some(or all ?) of the cars made there were badged as Chevys including an "El Camino"Holden ute.

 

[vacerator]

Yes, also in ZA (South Africa)

and in Petone New Zealand. Holdens were marketed as Chevrolet's, and the "Ranger" was the Opel Rekord B produced in Port Elizabeth. The Constantia and Kommando models. GM divested in 1982 from pressure in it's US plants, etc. of Apartheid when Nelson Mandella was sent to prison.

When the 1963 EJ Premier came out, it's intitial domestic content was 92%. The Holden Lang Lang proving ground was also new then.
The first V8 Holden used was the Chevrolet 307. Opel used the 327 in the Diplomat.
It was available from 1968 in the HG and HK series Kingswood, Premier and Brougham models.
Following the Holden HQ through HZ models which are my favorites, very similar in design to the then GM rear drive X bodies (Nova, etc), they moved to a more Opel Rekord "D"/Senator design. The HQ-HZ had a front sub frame, and all coil spring suspension with long travel front control arms. The Statesman and DeVille models had a split grille similar to a 1972 Pontiac Lemans. Wheelbase was 112" for the Monaro coupe and Kingswood sedan. Wagons and Statesman was 114".
Mazda installed a twin rotary engine in the large Holden sedan, calling it Roadpacer for the Japanese market.
Holdens best sales year was 1973, @ 200,888 units. John D Rock from Oldsmobile took over as Holden chairman during the change to the Opel Commodore/Rekord/Senator change in 1981. The final Statesman DeVille and Caprice HZ models were in 1982. The J body fwd Camira was plagued with quality problems.
Australia had a button badging plan enstated by the Govt. which saw shared cars between Holden, and Toyota in the 1980's.
The final Holden V8's were imported from St. Catherines Ontario. The last Pontiac GTO, and the G8 were Holdens. The Vectra was an identical to the Opel car, as is the Insignia, The Cruze is identical to the north American model.
China builds the Buick Park Ave. which is a lengthened Holden Commodore/Staesman/Caprice. Daewoo in Korea now builds the North American Cruze and Malibu for Holden and Australia.
South Africa used Chevrolet the Lumina name for the last Monaro, and Caprice for the Statesman.

 

[vacerator]

The 4 corners- end of the line for Holden, etc.

on youtube. Especially the last 25 minutes explains a lot more.

The Govt. ended import limits, and the billion dollar per year industry subsidy.
It almost happened in the UK, but the govt. had a change of heart. Vehicle exports are the UK's largest export market, or at least they still were a decade ago.

As small as the Australian auto industry was, the trickle down unemployment will be devastating for a time. Many in their 40's and 50's will not ever find permanent work again. Many are already in the occasioanal or temporary job market.
Component makers will also suffer. Some have moved their production to Thailand in order to survive.
The service fields are not large enough to absorb the trickle down losses.
A vending machine company is losing 40 percent of it's business which was with Holden.
If another 35% was Ford, and 25% Toyota, they are also finished, unless they get into colleges, hospitals, etc.
We know all about that scenario here also don't we? Years 2004 through 2009, or '10.

 

[cfz2882]

Bosch,Borg Warner,Timken...

those are just a few of the companies that made parts in Australia for the auto industry there- I know Australian assembled Mitsubishi Diamante,sold in U.S. ~1998-2000,has a Bosch alternator marked"made in Australia"