Friday, 20 October 2017

Australia's Holden is no more

BBC reports that Australia has called time on the nation's production of Holden vehicles.

Following the departures of Ford and Toyota, Holden has also now withdrawn from manufacturing vehicles in Australia.

The Australian brand started off as a saddle maker before moving to supply upholstery for motorbikes an cars, before being bought in 1931 by General Motors. Backing by the Australian government after the end of World War Two allowed the brand to start car manufacture and the birth of the first Holden 48-215 in 1948 began the public's love affair with 'Australia's own car', which soon took off.

'It's what we grew up with, it's just what we know,' explains Jason Fischer from Gosford Classic Car Museum, as he shows me their collection of vintage Holdens, from one of the first 48-215s to a classic Aussie ute.

'I came home from hospital in a Holden car, my dad had one, my grandfather had one and so on, so you know - it's just a natural progression.'

Holden was the first car made by Australians for Australians, able to withstand the tough conditions of the Australian outback.

Holden continued its reign over the Australian car market until the late 1980s, especially as import tariffs kept foreign-built cars mainly unaffordable for the majority of the country.

But that same protectionist policy may have created complacency, according to Prof Roy Green, the dean of UTS Business School in Sydney.

'In a sense, the Australian local assembly industry was destined to fail because it was established originally behind very high tariff barriers,' he argued.

'It couldn't become export competitive when the tariffs were reduced. This is when imports started to flood in and the local industry was very slow to adapt, very slow to take on new ideas and methods.'

Holden managed to hold only it's market dominance for some years but by 2013, with government subsidies depleting, Holden was no longer able to afford to remain competitive and was forced to move manufacture overseas.

Manager of Australian Car Sales garage in western Sydney, Shayne Hennessey is concerned about how people will respond, 'I think it's going to be a huge loss for Australia,' he said. 'I don't think the public are going to take lightly to this, they might go to a different brand.'

At the moment around 70% of customers at his used car yard are looking for a Holden Commodore, and he anticipates there will at least be an initial spike in sales for the last Australian-made Holden cars.

'The only thing it's going to be now is a historic car,' he said. '[For] people who can afford to put it away in the garage, it might be worth a fair bit of money in years to come.'

With the rapid growth in electric vehicles threatening to disrupt the market, there is at least some hope Australia could one day produce its own cars again.