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GM Holden Ltd is an
automaker that operates in
Australia, based in
Port Melbourne, Victoria.
The
company was founded in 1856 as a
saddlery business, but later
moved into the automotive field,
becoming a
subsidiary of the U.S.-based
General Motors (GM) in 1931.
After the GM takeover, the
company was named General
Motors-Holden's Ltd,
becoming Holden Ltd in
1998, with the current name
adopted in 2005.
Holden has taken charge of vehicle operations for GM
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 imported GM models. In the past, Holden
has offered
badge engineered
Chevrolet,
Nissan,
Suzuki,
Toyota, and
Vauxhall Motors models in sharing arrangements, with
Daewoo,
Opel and
Isuzu-sourced models sold currently.
Currently, all Australian-built Holden vehicles are
manufactured at
Elizabeth, South Australia and engines are produced
at the Fishermens Bend plant in
Port Melbourne, Victoria. Historically, production
or assembly plants were operated in all mainland
states of Australia, with GM's
New Zealand subsidiary
Holden New Zealand operating a plant until 1990. The
consolidation of car production at Elizabeth was
completed in 1988, but some assembly operations
continued at Dandenong until 1996.
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.
Above courtesy of
Wikipeda
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Holden
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