Holden closure

There was a time Holden had to discount its V8s to shift them off the showroom floor, now some are fetching close to or more than $1 million. It’s amazing what scarcity does to the price of a car – and how we never truly value something until it’s gone. Since US car giant General Motors announced the axing of the Holden brand on this day 12 months ago, enthusiasts have gone nuts paying top dollar for pristine examples of cars they once could only dream about.

While the huge amount of money paid for the ‘last’ locally-made Holden Commodore and a HSV GTSR W1 Maloo are still sinking in after yesterday’s auction, some other iconic Australian cars also fetched mega bucks. Bids for a HSV GTSR W1 sedan – in dark grey, number 9 of 300 built, and with just 149km on the odometer – reached $407,000 before the car was pushed away for negotiations to continue behind closed doors. It is unclear if this car was passed in or if the seller agreed to let it go.

Holden reported 16,688 cars as sold in its final year – posting just 28 sales in December 2020 – after US car giant General Motors announced the retirement of the brand in February 2020, ending its 72-year run. The 2020 result represents Holden’s lowest sales tally in 71 years – since 1949, its first full year of manufacturing after producing just 524 cars at the end of 1948, according to historical data unearthed by CarAdvice from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

With Holden only five weeks away from closing its doors in Australia – and after 31 months in a row of new-car sales decline – a Senate Inquiry in Canberra has been told current franchise laws make it too easy for multinational car companies to shut-up shop locally, wipe out jobs, and leave customers high and dry.

Federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has delivered a speech in parliament commemorating three years since the closure of Holden’s assembly line in Elizabeth, South Australia. Speaking in federal parliament yesterday – three years to the day after the last Australian-made car rolled down a mass-production line – Mr Albanese paid tribute to Holden’s Bathurst 1000 win on the weekend, and the demise of the once iconic brand.