About Holden
Holden, officially GM Holden Ltd, is an Australian automaker based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was originally independent but since 1931 has been a subsidiary of General Motors (GM). Holden has taken charge of vehicle operations for General Motors in Australasia and, on behalf of GM, holds partial ownership of GM Daewoo in South Korea. Over the years, Holden has offered a broad range of locally produced vehicles, supplemented by various imported GM models. In the past, Holden has offered rebadged Nissan and Toyota models in sharing arrangements.
Holden car bodies are manufactured at Elizabeth, South Australia, and engines are produced at Port Melbourne, Victoria (Fishermens Bend). Historically, production or assembly plants were operated in all mainland states of Australia: Acacia Ridge, Queensland, Dandenong, Victoria, Mosman Park, Western Australia, Pagewood, New South Wales, and Woodville, South Australia (body production only). Until 1990, Holden New Zealand also operated a plant based in Petone. The consolidation of car production at Elizabeth, South Australia, was completed in 1988, but some assembly operations continued at Dandenong until the mid-1990s.
Although Holden's involvement in exports has fluctuated since the 1950s, the declining sales of large cars in Australia has led the company to look to international markets to increase profitability; in 2006, exports alone accounted for almost AU$1.3 billion in earnings.
History of the marque
Early history
In 1852, James Alexander Holden emigrated to South Australia from England and established J.A. Holden & Co, a saddlery business in Adelaide, in 1856. Edward Holden, James' son, joined the firm in 1905 with an interest in automobiles. From there, the firm evolved through various partnerships and, in 1908, Holden and Frost moved into the business of minor repairs to car upholstery. The company began to produce complete motorcycle sidecar bodies in 1913, and Edward experimented with fitting bodies to different types of carriages. After 1917, wartime trade restrictions led the company to commence full-scale production of vehicle body shells. J.A. Holden incorporated a new company in 1919, Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd (HMBB) specialising in car bodies. By 1923, HMBB were producing 12,000 units per year. From 1924, HMBB became the exclusive supplier of car bodies for GM in Australia, with manufacturing taking place at the new Woodville, South Australia plant. These bodies were made to suit a number of chassis imported from manufacturers such as Chevrolet and Dodge. The Great Depression era led to a substantial downturn in production, from 34,000 units annually in 1930 to just 1,651 units one year later. In 1931, General Motors purchased the business and formed General Motors–Holden's Ltd. Since then, two name changes have occurred: the first, in 1998, changed the name to Holden Ltd, and the second, in May 2005, to GM Holden Ltd.
1940s
Holden's first full-scale factory in Fishermens Bend was completed in 1936, with construction beginning in 1939 on a new plant in Pagewood, New South Wales. However, World War II delayed car production until April 1948 when the Australian Government took steps to encourage an Australian automotive industry. During the war years, production shifted to manufacture vehicle bodies, field guns, aircraft, aeroplane and marine engines. Both Ford and General Motors provided studies to the Australian Government to produce "Australia's Own Car". Ford's proposal was the Government's first choice, but required substantial financial assistance, whereas GM's was a three-page list of the members of parliament and what each member would receive in "financial aid".
