Holden

Holden is an Australian vehicle manufacturer.

Overview
Holden formally known as General Motors Holden, is an Australian automobile importer and a former automobile manufacturer with its headquarters in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was founded in 1856 as a saddlery manufacturer in South Australia. In 1908 it moved into the automotive field, becoming a subsidiary of the United States-based General Motors (GM) in 1931, when the company was renamed General Motors-Holden's Ltd. It was renamed Holden Ltd in 1998, and General Motors Holden in 2005.

Holden sells the remaining stock of the locally produced range of Commodore vehicles, and imported GM models. Holden has offered badge engineered models in sharing arrangements with Chevrolet, Isuzu, Nissan, Opel, Suzuki, Toyota and Vauxhall Motors. In 2013 the vehicle lineup consisted of models from GM Korea, GM Thailand, GM in the US, and self-developed Commodore, Caprice, and Ute. Holden also distributed the European Opel brand in Australia in 2012 until the Opel brand's Australian demise in mid-2013.

From 1994 to 2017, all Australian-built Holden vehicles were manufactured at Elizabeth, South Australia, and engines were produced at the Fishermans Bend plant in Melbourne. Historically, production or assembly plants were operated in all mainland states of Australia. The consolidation of car production at Elizabeth was completed in 1988, but some assembly operations continued at Dandenong until 1994.

General Motors assembly plants were operated in New Zealand from 1926 until 1990 by General Motors New Zealand Limited in an earlier and quite separate operation from Holden in Australia. Although Holden's involvement in exports has fluctuated since the 1950s, the declining sales of large cars in Australia led the company to look to international markets to increase profitability. From 2010 Holden incurred losses due to the strong Australian dollar, and reductions of government grants and subsidies. This led to the announcement on 11 December 2013 that Holden would cease vehicle and engine production by the end of 2017. However, the company will continue to have a large and ongoing presence in Australia importing and selling cars as national sales company. Holden will retain their design centre, but with reduced staffing.

On 20 October 2017, the end of the era for the Australian manufacturing industry came with the closure of the vehicle plant in Elizabeth, South Australia. The brand will continue as an importer of vehicles.