Holden announces more Australian jobs

Holden has announced an $8.7 million upgrade of its Australian emissions testing centre, in a move that will support up to 106 jobs and drive more local involvement in the General Motors engine-calibration process.

Weeks out from the long-anticipated closure of its Melbourne-based V6 engine plant, which will see up to 180 positions gone by Christmas, a Holden spokesman confirmed this week that the company would invest in new infrastructure at its Lang Lang emissions testing facility. The move essentially enables Holden engineers to test vehicles under the most stringent level of global emission ratings, Euro6.

According to powertrain calibrations manager David Eliott, Holden engineers will now play a part in the final calibration of up to 11 million General Motors vehicles globally, encompassing seven of the auto giant's 10 brands.

"We're upgrading one of our test cells so that we can test the latest emissions standards," he said.

"We could always test Euro6 standards in one of our two cells, we're now upgrading another cell to that same level and we've now got particulate counting in our system."

The upgraded infrastructure means that Holden engineers can now measure particulate output to comply with either European ratings or US ratings, which differ considerably in the testing process.

The development marks a significant step forward for Holden, given the company's current V6 and V8 engines built locally are about five years behind industry standards in terms of emission outputs.

"About five per cent of all General Motors product has got calibrations that have come from the Holden team. It's a pretty significant reach that we've got in terms of the work that we've done," Eliott said.

Holden's emissions lab dates back to the 1970s, when it worked almost exclusively on Holden's local product range. It then ventured partly into General Motors export markets in the 1980s before virtually working exclusively on global General Motors 'work share' product.

At the time of motoring.com.au's visit to the lab this week, the facility was working on global Cadillac and Chevrolet product, with an ability to simulate minus-40 degree Celsius temperatures.

"Our work at the moment in the global propulsion systems supports about 106 staff. Of those, about 90 are based at the Lang Lang proving grounds, 70 of which are senior engineering or high level positions," Eliott said.

"At the moment we're actually hiring staff. One way or another powertrains and propulsion systems supports about 106, we're hiring staff at the moment to get back up to that level."

Pictured: Holden's Lang Lang proving ground, from the air