Holden won't go early

Holden has re-reiterated its commitment to continue local production until 2017.

In a news conference this morning (May 1), where it announced it would retain its Lang Lang (Vic) Proving Ground and around 70 engineering positions, the car maker’s local boss, Gerry Dorizas, and President of General Motors International Operations, Stefan Jacoby, restated that Holden would continue local manufacturing operations with current staffing levels.

“It remains 2017,” Jacoby stated when asked when asked when local production of Commodore and Cruze would cease.

Answering whether he would “guarantee” that vehicles will be continued to be made in Australia until 2017, the GM International boss was emphatic, adding only: “Yes.”

Jacoby also confirmed that no changes or reduction in Australian government funding would affect the timeline.

“We are not influenced by any government budget discussions... And we are making our business discussions based on business case and opportunities,” he told motoring.com.au.

“We believe that Holden has great opportunities in this market, if we do things right. And the key for this success are products, and that’s why we made the decision here for the proving ground, for engineering [resources] and the design centre,” he stated.

Jacoby also confirmed the full workforce of 2900 would be retained until the production cessation.

While year to date, Holden Commodore volumes are up over 60 per cent with 8108 registrations (VFACTs March), Cruze sales are more than 20 per cent down at 4447 (including imported variants). Facelifted US and all-new Chinese versions of the small car have also already been debuted overseas. While not confirmed, Holden is unlikely to significantly change the Cruze that will be sold here through to 2017.

Nonetheless, local boss Dorizas says Cruze sales will bounce back and support the Elizabeth (SA) factory’s volume base.

“The product team has created certain special versions [of Cruze] that will be coming out. So the objective is to catch up on the sales with the special versions,” Dorizas stated.

Jacoby believes Commodore will also play its part in keeping Elizabeth open, holding or improving current sales levels through to 2017. He would not, however, confirm any plans for the nameplate post local production.

“The Commodore runs better than expected, so we can offset [reduced Cruze volume] with this. It’s a normal ‘clock’ that OEMs [manufacturers] are doing. It’s not working everything like expected, and so on...

“But the Commodore, fortunately, is very well perceived and is running beyond our expectations -- and that means that we can continue our manufacturing until 2017.

“It’s not a dead car. I think it’s a very attractive car, and we see this also from the consumer response. It has high acceptance it has a very good appeal here and we will keep this car attractive over the lifetime,” Jacoby stated.