Holden and the Australian government will spend hundreds of millions of Australian dollars upgrade the automaker’s Adelaide plant to build a small car powered by a 4-cylinder engine. The Australian federal government will provide AU$149 million while the Adelaide state government will top up another AU$30 million, and this amount will be matched by Holden for a total of AU$358 million.
The car will be build from Q3 2010 onwards and will be powered by direct injection petrol and diesel engine engines, with planned support for E85, LPG and CNG in the future. This model could be a badge engineered version of the new Chevrolet Cruze. The Chevrolet Cruze’s predecessor (Chevrolet Optra) is currently sold in Australia as the Holden Viva sedan.
The delay in production could be due to Holden waiting for the next generation engine family for the Cruze to be released, since their press released mentioned direct injection across the board. The Cruze was originally promised to debut with a 1.4 litre turbocharged direct injection engine but so far launches have only featured a line-up of normally aspirated “old school” engines. The new family of “downsized” Ecotec engines may be in final stages of testing.
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Holden doesnt make their own car ke? always copy someone else car. i see this type of company in malaysia too.. what is the name aa?? pero..pero..pero something… when want to grow up???? useless laa
this is a good example government. they cooperate with the automaker itself, not giving loans. so they can share the profit aa…win-win situation.
very interesting development. the govt is really showing big time their commitment to their local car industry with this, matching dollar for dollar the investment of holden.
even more interestingly, when proton spends RM500million in R&D, and gets a grant from the govt to the tune of RM100 million or something, everyone screams bailout..
I don’t get it. Who actually owns Holden, the Aussie or the US and why would the Aussie put money into a US based company in the first place?
Like asking malaysian government to fund perodua as well??
Confused
Small car name Viva? Inspired by perodua i guess.
From what I know, Holden is an Aussie comp. But GM bought majority shareholding. So like the rest of the GM marque (Chevrolet, Opel, Vauxhall, etc.) They all share the same Body, the same look, and the same interior, just change the badge and the name. But even that couldn’t save them from going bankrupt.
mystvearn said,
December 22, 2008 @ 7:22 pm
I don’t get it. Who actually owns Holden, the Aussie or the US and why would the Aussie put money into a US based company in the first place?
Like asking malaysian government to fund perodua as well??
Confused
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although majority owned by GM, the bread and butter commodore is as australian as it gets. They have the capability to design and built their own cars and not solely rebadging. there are no other cars in the world like aussie V8 muscle cars.. with the sole intention of winning the australian touring car championships against their main rival, ford. Other cars they sell are of course rebadged opels..etc. they’ve even sold rebadged toyota camry and corolla as a holden in the 90’s. likewise, the commodore is also sold in other GM markets outside of australia.
wat 4 cyliner? where’s me v8?
holden is an australian company.
Extracted from wikipedia –
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 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 Isuzu, Nissan, Suzuki and Toyota models in sharing arrangements.
a 4 cyl holden is fine as they produce a range of cars from 4 to 8 cylinders. i’d like them to do a retro styled tarana though. that was one of their budget muscle cars of the past.
oops, i meant holden torana. not tarana.
some supporting what australian govt did…
if our govt say the same thing, curse is what they get… haha… weird malaysian…
usually proud of others….
i want the holden vxr8