For decades, Holden was the pride of Australia, producing cars designed and engineered by Australians, for unique Australian conditions, in Australia. Cars that were so good they surprised engineers from Germany, Japan, the USA and just about everywhere else.
And then suddenly – too suddenly – Holden just disappeared.
We all know how the last Aussie-built Holden, a red VF Commodore SS-V Redline, finished assembly at the brand’s production line in Elizabeth, South Australia, at 10.45am on October 20, 2017.
We know that on December 31, 2020, Holden ceased to exist altogether in Australia as an entity from which you could buy a car. The same year, Holden’s legendary Lang Lang Proving Ground was also sold to Vietnamese start-up car company, Vinfast.
But what about the Holden brand today? Does it still exist in 2024, and who owns it?
The Holden brand is in safe hands, owned by General Motors (GM) which originally purchased it in 1931.
GM Australia and New Zealand, based in Port Melbourne, is the spiritual successor to the Holden brand. With its offices just a stone’s throw from the old Holden HQ on Salmon Street, Port Melbourne, it now facilitates Holden Parts & Service, one of its many brands including Chevrolet, Corvette, GMC, Cadillac, Isuzu Trucks, ACDelco, GM Trade Parts and Chevrolet Racing.
GM Australia and New Zealand will have to keep the lights on for Holden, in a sense, for a while yet. Many of the former 185 Holden dealers are now Holden Certified Service Outlets, needing to offer warranty support and servicing.
In 2020, the Holden range still included the Astra, ZB Commodore, Trax, Equinox, Acadia, Trailblazer and Colorado, and as they all came with five-year warranties, there will still be Holdens under a new car warranty until 2025.
GM has also promised to provide servicing and spare Holden parts for “at least 10 years”in both Australia and New Zealand. Although we’ve heard from some quarters that some Holden parts can be more than a bit tricky to acquire. Don’t crash your late model Holden, put it that way.
Many former Holden dealers have, of course, adopted GMSV branding in order to sell GM products such as the Chevrolet Corvette and Silverado. In the not-too-distant future they could add the Cadillac brand to that list, and the incoming GMC Yukon. These cars are the closest you can get to buying a Holden in 2024.
We can only hope, as well, that GM continues to hold on to the Holden brand and keep it parked. Curiously, in 2020, GM declined a request by a Queensland Senator to sell the Holden brand ‘to Australia’ for a symbolic dollar.
Senator James McGrath was fearful it might be sold to, and resurrected by, another automaker – in the same way iconic British brand MG is now owned by Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor.
Then Holden boss Kristian Aquilina told a Senate Inquiry at the time there were no plans for such a thing – and let’s hope it stays that way.
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