The iconic Holden brand will be closing their doors soon, and will build their last Commodore on October 20th of this year. Ahead of the shutdown, the bits that make up the Elizabeth manufacturing plant are up for sale. There are less than five months before the last vehicle rolls off the line, and they are apparently reading their exit and preparing to ditch their assets.
Holden has listed 131 separate apart of its manufacturing line on a global auction site under the heading “GM Holden Vehicle Manufacturing and Assembly Facility“. The ad also offers that the equipment is “is currently in use and will be decommissioned at various stages throughout 2017”.
On the list are laser-wielding robots, press lines, plastic injection moulding machines, and a bunch of door assembly line. The auction ad also mentions that Holden plans to sell off its whole car body assembly line, made up for 76 robots and “Zeta … body side assembly fixtures” for right hand and left hand cars. The auction doesn’t show what the highest bid is.
This shutdown comes after almost seven decades of Australian manufacturing. Holden actually had a chance to unload the Elizabeth plant in its entirety a little while back. Guido Dumarey had previously express interest in restarting the production of Commodore and even building other Zeta-based cars. Unfortunately, that deal fell through, and there seems to be no future for the brand after the end of 2017.