Holden formalises Cruze shutdown

Holden has announced a date for the cessation of manufacturing for its Cruze small car. The last Aussie built Cruze will come off the line on October 7.

“October will bring to an end five and half years of Cruze production that saw nearly 125,000 Cruze models built and sold in Australia. At its peak, 33,000 Cruze vehicles were sold annually in the most hotly contested segment of one of the most competitive car markets in the world,” Holden commented late Friday.

motoring.com.au flagged the timing of the shutdown last year and it was confirmed by Holden in February.

The car will be replaced by a new Astra hatch range and (eventually) a new generation Cruze sedan.

With the axing of the local Cruze, Holden will shed another 320 workers.

“These are the same redundancies confirmed by Holden in February this year, when the company notified staff, suppliers and external stakeholders of the advanced schedule for ending Cruze production,” a Holden statement said.

The company will reportedly also offer “voluntary separation packages” to reduce its Elizabeth production facility workforce to “closer to 1000”.

The departure of Cruze takes Elizabeth’s production level down from 240 cars per day to 165. There has been no change to the timeline of the end of Commodore production, Holden stated.