Holden increases V6 production

Production of Holden's locally-manufactured V6 is set to increase with the announcement of a second shift to commence work at the company's Port Melbourne facility.

In a press release issued today, Holden estimated that output would rise from between 240 and 320 units a day to as much as 440 per day. The company attributes export market orders for the increased demand, supported also by a short-term lift in Commodore sales in Australia.

"Holden has received an increase in orders for our Global V6 engines which are exported to markets including South Korea, China and Mexico and we are lifting production of our engines as a result," said Powertrain Lead Executive, Martyn Cray.

"We are also seeing increased local demand for Commodore after launching the new advanced Spark Ignition Direct Injection (SIDI) engine in 3.0 and 3.6 litre variants."

Holden had pulled production at the plant back to one shift only, in June, as a consequence of the Global Financial Crisis and its effect on demand. The second shift doesn't result in new staff being employed, because the company had retained workers even once the plug was pulled on the second shift.

"We managed to retain a skilled workforce through difficult times because we were confident things would turnaround," says Cray. "We are now able to lift production from within our existing team."

While the news is not as good for the car-building plant at Elizabeth, that facility did raise output from 310 cars a day to 340 earlier this month. Part of the extra engine production will be diverted to Elizabeth for these additional vehicles, which are being built to cater for higher demand in recent months. Holden understands that the extra demand results from the 50 per cent investment allowance, which is due to end on December 31. Holden also intends for extra cars to be built to keep dealers in supply over the Christmas holiday period.

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