A rather sad day for manufacturing in this country this week with Holden announcing it will cease production this year on Friday October 20, ending nearly 70 years involvement as Australia’s leading car maker. Manufacture of its locally-built Commodore will end at the Elizabeth plant in South Australia after starting there in 1963. Importantly, Holden also announced that nearly 70 per cent of its workforce has secured employment within 12 months of leaving the company. The company will maintain around 300 design and engineering staff plus around 700 corporate personnel as it moves to become a full line importer from early next year. The move to full importation will see a pent-up demand for Commodore performance models ahead of its closure date more so V8 examples –Holden announcing three special Commodore Limited Edition performance variants will be built which one suspects will quickly become collectable– a Motorsport edition with 1200 units built, the Commodore Director with 360 built and the Commodore Magnum with just 240 units.

I’m David Berthon

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