JA Holden & Co was first established in Adelaide in 1856 by James Holden as a leather and saddlery business. Henry Adolph Frost joined as a business partner in 1885, and the company was renamed Holden & Frost Ltd. Many thanks to the ABC and caradvice.
What I did not know what that the American company General Motors sold cars in Australia since 1902, setting up an Oldsmobile dealer near Adelaide. Motor vehicle bodies were produced by the company in 1905 and its upholstery was produced a couple of years later. By 1917 Holden’s Motor Body Builders was established and soon grew to be one of the biggest car body makers in the British Empire. The-horse-and-cart era was ending.
Throughout the 1920s Holden also supplied Melbourne’s iconic tramcars.
From 1924, America’s General Motors did a deal with Holden to produce car bodies only for its vehicles. In 1927 the company needed a logo, similar to the lion emblem used for Empire Exhibition held at Wembley in 1924. Adapting the myth about how the wheel was invented when a lion rolled a stone, this symbol was the perfect visual analogy for a car company, embodying the strength and grace of a lion with the invention of the wheel. It was applied to all Holden bodies built from 1928 on.
Alas the Great Depression started, with devastating effects across the world. General Motors purchased the Australian company in 1931 and formed the locally-based General Motors-Holden’s Ltd. By the mid-1930s GMH begun planning full scale local production, with cars assembled in Port Melbourne using foreign US parts. But WW2 delayed those plans as the company had to shift its manufacturing expertise to support the military. Only post-war was GMH was able to make its own engines, chassis and vehicle bodies.
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The Prime Minister Ben Chifley launched the very first home-grown Holden
in Port Melbourne, 29/11/1948
theaustralian.com
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What I did not know what that the American company General Motors sold cars in Australia since 1902, setting up an Oldsmobile dealer near Adelaide. Motor vehicle bodies were produced by the company in 1905 and its upholstery was produced a couple of years later. By 1917 Holden’s Motor Body Builders was established and soon grew to be one of the biggest car body makers in the British Empire. The-horse-and-cart era was ending.
Throughout the 1920s Holden also supplied Melbourne’s iconic tramcars.
From 1924, America’s General Motors did a deal with Holden to produce car bodies only for its vehicles. In 1927 the company needed a logo, similar to the lion emblem used for Empire Exhibition held at Wembley in 1924. Adapting the myth about how the wheel was invented when a lion rolled a stone, this symbol was the perfect visual analogy for a car company, embodying the strength and grace of a lion with the invention of the wheel. It was applied to all Holden bodies built from 1928 on.
Alas the Great Depression started, with devastating effects across the world. General Motors purchased the Australian company in 1931 and formed the locally-based General Motors-Holden’s Ltd. By the mid-1930s GMH begun planning full scale local production, with cars assembled in Port Melbourne using foreign US parts. But WW2 delayed those plans as the company had to shift its manufacturing expertise to support the military. Only post-war was GMH was able to make its own engines, chassis and vehicle bodies.
in Port Melbourne, 29/11/1948
theaustralian.com
Holdens coming off the assembly lines in Fishermans Bend Melbourne, 1949
Photo: Pocket Oz
The government believed a local car industry could raise employment, improve workforce skills, reduce the country’s dependence on primary industry and make Australia more secure in the event of another war. With the Australia Federal Government’s warm support, the parent company General Motors went on to release the Holden on 29th Nov 1948, widely advertised as Australia’s Own Car. It was actually a scaled down version of a Chevrolet design that had been discarded in the US but was perfect for Australia. The Prime Minister Ben Chifley proudly launched the very first home-grown Holden in Port Melbourne!
The iconic FJ Holden went on sale in 1953 and everyone’s father at my school bought one. The next iconic car, the EH Holden, went into production in the 1960s and was the biggest selling Holden to date. In the same decade the famous Holden Kingswood went on sale, bringing with it Holden’s first V8, popularised with the introduction of the Monaro. The Kingswood was hugely popular.
Note that Australia was the first country outside Japan to produce Toyota cars, starting in 1963 in Port Melbourne, now the site of the company’s corporate headquarters. Other famous car names to be produced in Australia by Toyota includes Crown, Corona and Corolla. Sadly Toyota Australia closed its manufacturing operations in 2017.
General Motors switched to a smaller sedan because of oil shortages in the later 1970s; the Holden Commodore was in fact an adaptation of a General Motors sedan from Germany. The Commodore started its long run as absolutely Australia’s favourite car, ever!
Holden surprised the industry when it unveiled a smooth two-door Commodore concept car at the 1998 Sydney motor show. Originally designed to divert attention from the new Ford Falcon, the public and the media instantly labelled it the modern Monaro. Holden, which had no intention of producing the car, started analysing the situation to see if it could make a business case.
Holden launched its VE Commodore sedan in 2006. Unlike every Commodore before, these vehicles were totally designed and engineered in Australia. The base was to be used for the new Chevrolet Camaro sold in the US, but engineered by Holden in Australia. But most plans were scrapped during the difficult Global Financial Crisis.
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Holden symbol, lion and the stone
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Holden FB Special Sedan, 1961
Wikipedia
The end neared in 2016 when the last Holden Cruze rolled off the Elizabeth production line, the same time that Ford closed its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants. Holden shut its Port Melbourne engine plant after 68 years of unbroken operation and more than 10 million engines produced. There was no V8 in Holden showrooms for the first time in decades.
By late 2019 Holden announced the Commodore would be dropped from local showrooms and the model would be phased out as dealers cleared remaining stock. Holden had dominated the Australian car market for 50 years and had shaped the nation’s culture and identity. It closed down totally in 2020.
The history of Holden in Australia was an important aspect of the country’s manufacturing history. But the major memory of the history has to be sought out in the National Motor Museum in Birdwood, an hour’s drive from Adelaide. But my generation will never forget how the Holden transformed suburban Australia, boosted national pride and quickly become a national icon. If I live forever, I will never forget the Holden advertisement sung by a chanting crowd 'We love football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars’.
In National Policy, Global Giants: How Australia Built & Lost its Automotive Industry (2019), John Wormald and Kim Rennick illustrated the globalisation of car makers. They analysed the Australia's car history and its shifting relationship with the Federal government, a textbook-perfect case of policy failure. The demise was started during the Hawke years when they unveiled plans to unwind tariffs and forced consolidation. The intention was to make Australian factories better able to succeed alone, but it had the opposite effect. Ultimately Australia had little control over its own car destiny and had to comply with parent company priorities in distant Chicago (or Tokyo).
The iconic FJ Holden went on sale in 1953 and everyone’s father at my school bought one. The next iconic car, the EH Holden, went into production in the 1960s and was the biggest selling Holden to date. In the same decade the famous Holden Kingswood went on sale, bringing with it Holden’s first V8, popularised with the introduction of the Monaro. The Kingswood was hugely popular.
Note that Australia was the first country outside Japan to produce Toyota cars, starting in 1963 in Port Melbourne, now the site of the company’s corporate headquarters. Other famous car names to be produced in Australia by Toyota includes Crown, Corona and Corolla. Sadly Toyota Australia closed its manufacturing operations in 2017.
General Motors switched to a smaller sedan because of oil shortages in the later 1970s; the Holden Commodore was in fact an adaptation of a General Motors sedan from Germany. The Commodore started its long run as absolutely Australia’s favourite car, ever!
Holden surprised the industry when it unveiled a smooth two-door Commodore concept car at the 1998 Sydney motor show. Originally designed to divert attention from the new Ford Falcon, the public and the media instantly labelled it the modern Monaro. Holden, which had no intention of producing the car, started analysing the situation to see if it could make a business case.
Holden launched its VE Commodore sedan in 2006. Unlike every Commodore before, these vehicles were totally designed and engineered in Australia. The base was to be used for the new Chevrolet Camaro sold in the US, but engineered by Holden in Australia. But most plans were scrapped during the difficult Global Financial Crisis.
Wikipedia
The end neared in 2016 when the last Holden Cruze rolled off the Elizabeth production line, the same time that Ford closed its Broadmeadows and Geelong plants. Holden shut its Port Melbourne engine plant after 68 years of unbroken operation and more than 10 million engines produced. There was no V8 in Holden showrooms for the first time in decades.
By late 2019 Holden announced the Commodore would be dropped from local showrooms and the model would be phased out as dealers cleared remaining stock. Holden had dominated the Australian car market for 50 years and had shaped the nation’s culture and identity. It closed down totally in 2020.
The history of Holden in Australia was an important aspect of the country’s manufacturing history. But the major memory of the history has to be sought out in the National Motor Museum in Birdwood, an hour’s drive from Adelaide. But my generation will never forget how the Holden transformed suburban Australia, boosted national pride and quickly become a national icon. If I live forever, I will never forget the Holden advertisement sung by a chanting crowd 'We love football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars’.
In National Policy, Global Giants: How Australia Built & Lost its Automotive Industry (2019), John Wormald and Kim Rennick illustrated the globalisation of car makers. They analysed the Australia's car history and its shifting relationship with the Federal government, a textbook-perfect case of policy failure. The demise was started during the Hawke years when they unveiled plans to unwind tariffs and forced consolidation. The intention was to make Australian factories better able to succeed alone, but it had the opposite effect. Ultimately Australia had little control over its own car destiny and had to comply with parent company priorities in distant Chicago (or Tokyo).