Holden
From Wikislippy
GM Holden Ltd is Government Motors representative in Australia. 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. In the past, Holden has offered rebadged Nissan and Toyota models in sharing arrangements.
Holden car bodies are manufactured at Elizabeth, South Australia, and engines are produced at Port Melbourne, Victoria. Their headquarters are located in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
History
Holden was founded by James Alexander Holden as J.A. Holden & Co. it was a saddlery business in Adelaide, in 1856. J.A. Holden founded a new company in 1919, Holden's Motor Body Builders Ltd (HMBB) specialising in car bodies. By 1923, HMBB were producing 12,000 units per year. From 1924, HMBB became the exclusive supplier of car bodies for GM in Australia. These bodies were made to suit a number of chassis imported from manufacturers such as Chevrolet and Dodge. In 1931, General Motors purchased the business and formed General Motors–Holden's Ltd. Since then, two name changes have occurred: the first, in 1998, changed the name to Holden Ltd, and the second, in May 2005, to GM Holden Ltd.
Exportation to America
in the 2000s, General Motors began importing Holden's into the United States of America as rebadged Pontiacs. The first batch began in 2004 with Holden Monaros being sent to America and being sold as Pontiac GTOs. However, this idea was never popular.
In 2008, General Motors decided it was time to replace the Pontiac Grand Prix and Pontiac Bonniville. However, instead of making new cars, they decided to use Holden's again. Due to General Motor's Strategy, the two cars were renamed the G8 and was converted to rear wheel drive. The new G8 is more similar to the GTO than to the Bonniville or Grand Prix.
