The famous brand was infamously shuttered at the end of 2020, though General Motors has continued to be present in Australia, mainly with Chevrolet but later expanding to include Cadillac and GMC.
While some vehicles are made in right-hand drive from the factory such as the Chevrolet Corvette and Cadillac Lyriq, others are converted to be sold locally by Walkinshaw Automotive Group in Melbourne, with the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Yukon undergoing that process.
Despite still having a local presence, General Motors doesn’t sell any cars specifically for Australia, with all its showroom offerings available in multiple overseas markets.
That’s unlike markets such as China and South America where General Motors offers vehicles not available at home in North America.
However, speaking to UK publication Autocar, General Motors Europe CEO Pere Brugal said the door could be open for the car giant to make cars for specific markets – including Australia.
“We craft cars that we don’t have in the US, but we have them in other markets,” said Brugal.
“We have cars that are specific for the South America region, and we can have cars that are more of an Asia or China portfolio.
“Not all of them are available in the US, and not everything which is available in the US is available for China customers or European customers.
“In the future, can it be that [we create a] car that is [just] for Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan or Korea? Maybe it can be.”
Of course, it’s unlikely that a model made just for Australia would also be produced here, as local manufacturing facilities have been largely repurposed. Holden’s former main production plant in Elizabeth is now a mushroom farm, while its long-used proving ground in Lang Lang is owned by Vinfast with GWM holding permanent residency.
GM has also sold off some of its former plants overseas, such as the Rayong factory in Thailand where the Zafira and the final generation of Holden Colorado were built. This facility is now used by GWM to build its vehicles for South East Asia and now Australia.
It’s likely a new Australia-specific GM model would come from one of its existing brands, giving the car giant a multitude of options in how to distribute it.
General Motors Specialty Vehicles (GMSV) has its own retail network for the Chevrolet and GMC brands, while Cadillac is distributed separately. Australia is yet to see Buick, one of the four core GM brands in the US and overseas.
According to Brugal, a difference in regulations between regions – namely the US and Europe – are the largest limitations to selling more vehicles across wider markets.
“If the regulations between the US and Europe harmonise, it will make our life easier,” said Brugal. “We will bring a lot of benefit to the final customer, because that will increase the range of options.”
Out of all the brands operating in Australia, some claim to make local specific engineering changes – such as ride and handling tuning, active driver safety testing and the like – while others have a deeper connection to the buying public, such as Ford which has an extensive R&D team in Victoria.
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