The automotive industry in Australia officially shut up shop last Friday 20th with a Holden Commodore V8 being the last car to roll out of the Elizabeth factory. Toyota and Ford bailed out over the last two years citing rising costs; now Holden, the GM subsidiary and an Australian icon has gone as well.
Holden, in spite of being an American-owned company, blended incredibly well with the Australian psyche. Holden’s signature cars, the Commodore muscle car and small low slung Ute, were built specially for the Australian market.
The closure marks the end of 69 years of local production for Holden and almost a century of car making for Australia.
The final tally for Holdens built since the first car was assembled in Port Melbourne in 1948 is 7,687,675. A significant percentage of them also came to NZ.
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