Holden announces date for last car to roll out of Adelaide plant
Holden will finish manufacturing cars at its Adelaide plant on 20 October.
The company, which is owned by US-based General Motors, will then import all its cars from overseas, but some design and marketing functions will remain in Australia.
The Holden spokesman Richard Phillips said the company was giving its employees and suppliers advance notice, and providing certainty by announcing the date.
Holden says it will build more than 30,000 vehicles between now and the plant’s closure. Close to 1,000 employees will remain in work until production ends.
Of the 700 people who have left the plant since 2015, almost 70% have found new jobs within a year, the company says. Current employees will have access to transition services and up to $3,000 in approved training and $500 for financial advice.
The Elizabeth plant, which has been making cars for more than 60 years, has been winding back production in recent years.
Details of Holden’s new 2018 Commodore model, the first to be manufactured overseas, were announced recently, and the company is keen to stress its continuing presence in the Australian market.
The car, which was designed and engineered by Opel in Germany, although with input from Holden in Australia, will be available as a four-cylinder petrol or diesel front-wheel-drive power or a V6 all-wheel-drive. There is no V8 model.
The 2018 Holden Commodore model, the first to be made outside Australia. Photograph: General Motors
The acting Labor leader Penny Wong said it was an awful day for Holden employees and their families.
“We are thinking of you. We know this is a tough day,” she told reporters in Adelaide.
She said the focus must now shift to retraining and other employment opportunities.
Defence manufacturing and ship and submarine building would create new jobs in coming years, Senator Wong said.