More sad news coming out of Australia as Holden has announced the time has come to let go another 270 workers from its Elizabeth plant in South Australia.
The report comes from News AU, and follows the dipping sales of the 2015 VF Holden Commodore and 2015 Holden Cruze. Commodore sales are down 17 percent while Cruze deliveries fell 5 percent. Making matters worse is the news the Australian auto market posted its strongest first three months on record. It doesn’t paint the brightest picture for the brand.
Staff numbers at the Elizabeth plant will fall from 1,530 to 1,260, a loss of 270 employees. Vehicle production will be scaled back as well with numbers falling from 290, to 240 vehicles. The shift will take place on May 25th, and be carried out until further notice. Holden has said it hasn’t ruled out more job losses this year either.
“We’re hoping the majority of the redundancies will be on a voluntary basis, that will be our first priority,” said Holden spokesman Sean Poppitt. “As difficult as this process is, the contraction of the manufacturing will happen on a sliding scale. One of our priorities is to not release everyone onto the job market at the same time.”
Holden says it has established counseling services, career seminars and computer courses for employees to take part in, in hopes of rebounding in the job market.
As much as this process hurts, we commend Holden executives for taking the right steps to ensure the transition from a manufacturing base to a national sales brand, goes as smoothly as possible.
Holden will officially shut its doors on manufacturing operations in late 2017.
Comments
“The report comes from News AU, and follows the dipping sales of the 2015 VF Holden Commodore and 2015 Holden Cruze. Commodore sales are down 17 percent while Cruze deliveries fell 5 percent. Making matters worse is the news the Australian auto market posted its strongest first three months on record. It doesn’t paint the brightest picture for the brand.”
I honestly don’t know what else GM is expecting to happen, Ive said it many times before so i wont say it again but i will say that GM ignoring any negative comments as trolls is hurting them. Start paying attention to your consumers here in Australia GM before they all disappear.
Think it might be a tad too late for that. My partner’s VE will most likely end up being our last Holden, just like my WHII Statesman which I sold last year was my last.
And this is news ?
The only people surprised by this would be GM…. How long have people been saying that GM have seriously underestimated Australian sentiment on this issue.
The VF was designed to translate the VE into a vehicle that reflects future GM so we can all get used to it.
Holden’s will be in our hearts and minds forever…. Just not as our daily drives.
In the future you’ll have to go to a car show to see a real Holden and the cry will be “classic Holden car show…. Let’s go there !”