Holden builds one millionth V6

The one millionth HF V6 engine built at Holden's Engine Operations (HEO) plant at Fisherman's Bend in Port Melbourne will be retained at the factory until its closure in 2017.

The milestone event is bitter-sweet for Holden, following the announcement late last year the company's entire Australian manufacturing operations will be shut down indefinitely from late 2017.

It will result in the loss of 2900 jobs and also means the Commodore will miss out on its 40th anniversary, although Holden will retain a design studio in Melbourne and its engineering and testing facility at Lang Lang to fine-tune future imported models for local conditions.

When the announcement of manufacturing closures came in December 2013, they were blamed on a "perfect storm of negative influences" including the high cost of production and a rising Australian dollar.

Holden began building HF V6 engines at HEO in 2003, and the one millionth unit is a 3.6-litre bent six that would have normally been fitted to a VF Commodore SV6.

Martin Merry, HEO Plant Manager, said the world-class V6 engines were the result of the hard work and skills of the plant's 1300 employees.

"Our mission is to build the 'World Best Engines' and we believe we do. Over one third of the engines built at Fishermans Bend are fitted into Holden's locally-produced VF Commodore and Calais vehicles," said Merry.

"These world-class engines also power vehicles in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, including the Chevrolet Alpheon, Buick GL8 and the Opel Antara," he added.

HEO builds a range of V6 engines, more than 34 variants according to Holden, and will continue to do so for the next three years. As well as 2.8-litre turbocharged V6s for Europe, the Melbourne HEO makes 3.0- and 3.6-litre V6s, petrol and LPG.

The plant is located right on the river in Melbourne's docklands making it ideally placed for logistics, and has been operating since 1936. It officially became HEO in 1948, producing the 2.15-litre inline six-cylinder 'Grey Engine' for the first Holden, the FX.

Other famous engines built at HEO include more than 4.7 million four-cylinder 'Family II' engines and the first Australian-made V8 engines, the 253 and 308 that powered HT Holdens from 1969.