About Holden
The history of Holden dates back to 1856 when it started as a saddlery business in South Australia. Today Holden is one of only seven fully-integrated global General Motors operations that designs, builds and sells vehicles for Australia and the world. Holden has its headquarters in Port Melbourne, with an engine manufacturing plant on-site and vehicle manufacturing operations in Adelaide South Australia and is represented by more than 300 dealerships.
Holden's Vehicle Operations produce 51 models, across six body styles and nine variants in left and right-hand drive. It is one of the few facilities able to produce so many models and variants, including short wheelbase, long wheelbase, sedans, wagons, utility, short wheelbase notch, short wheelbase hatch, right-hand drive and left-hand drive. HVO includes a press plant and metal assembly operation, body hardware facility, paint shop, plastics operation, body assembly and vehicle assembly operations. In 2011 the Adelaide plant began production of the Cruze, a new small fuel efficient global vehicle, which has also helped grow Holden’s expertise in small vehicle engineering and manufacturing.
Holden's Global V6 Engine plant is located in Port Melbourne, Victoria. It opened in 2003 at a cost of $400 million - GM’s single largest investment in Australia for more than 20 years. The state-of-the-art facility gives Holden considerable flexibility in the range of engines it can produce for local and international customers including: 2.8, 3.0, 3.2 and 3.6 litre variants. Holden exports its V6 engines to China, Korea, Thailand, Germany, Mexico and South Africa for Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, Vauxhall, Opel and Saab vehicles.
Holden is a centre of expertise in design and engineering for GM globally. Holden is one of GM’s nine global design centres responsible for vehicles such as the Holden Commodore and Chevrolet Camaro. Holden is also the centre of expertise for large, rear-wheel drive vehicles in the GM family as well as a major powertrain engineering centre with expertise in R&D and customer programs in V6 and V8 gasoline, CNG and LPG applications.
