Holden Cruze production to end October 7, ahead of new Astra debut

Details of the plan were first made official in February this year, although the knowledge that Holden would be ending all Australian production by 2017 meant that was little doubt that the end was nearing for the Elizabeth-built small car.

This week's news sets in stone the date of October 7, along with confirmation that the end of Cruze production will mean an end to "approximately" 320 jobs, to be carried out initially through a voluntary redundancy process.

"Holden’s key priority at all times is to support our people and to manage this scheduled wind-down of manufacturing in a way that treats our employees with respect and dignity. All Holden employees have counselling services available to them, as well as career coaching, training and job searching assistance," the company said in a statement.

The end of Cruze production will occur on the same date that Ford Australia has confirmed for its own local manufacturing shutdown. CarAdvice has been assured the day and date are aligned specifically for weekend tooling changes and to assist the national supply chain in its own forward planning.

Above: the new Astra hatch

A Transition Centre operates at Holden's Elizabeth plant, set up to support employees looking for new work, both before and after leaving employment with the car maker.

As Ford has done, Holden will hold a jobs fair in August that will help to introduce employees to other companies that may have an appropriate opportunity on offer for workers with transferable skills.

Holden has also reaffirmed that there is "absolutely no change" to its plans to continue producing the Commodore range locally until late next year. An exact end date is still to be confirmed.

The new Astra hatch will make its Australian debut later this year as part of a plan to refresh or replace 24 models in the Holden line-up by 2020. The Astra will be joined in the small-car space by the new Cruze sedan, which, like the Astra, will be a fully imported model.

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