Australia’s domestic auto industry has been in a slowly-accelerating decline, and recent years have been tough enough for one major player, Ford, to bow out of the market entirely with Aussie-manufactured vehicles. That leaves GM’s Holden division as one of the few automakers still actually building cars in Oz, and if the rumors are true, the division is about to do some serious downsizing.

Australia’s CarGuides reports that after 65 years as a market leader and international icon, the Holden Ute model will soon retire. This is sad news for El Camino fans, who had hoped the car-based truck might make a comeback here in the United States. That’s not looking terribly likely anymore.

Like much of the rest of the developed world, Australia is dealing with higher gas prices and mandatory fuel efficiency standards that make it increasingly expensive to operate a car like the once-popular Holdens. Sales have plummeted, and Holden’s future in Australia beyond 2016 is in doubt. If Holden does keep making cars in Australia, it will likely be of the smaller, global-platform variety.

There just aren’t as many buyers opting for big, thirsty, V8-powered Commodore sedans, and especially not the Ute model. Holden Ute sales are down 31% versus last year, the lowest of all time, while sedan and wagon versions are both seeing sales climb 15% since the new model debuted. But so far in 2013 Holden has only sold around 4,100 Ute models, down from a 2004 high of more than 20,000.

With those low numbers looking to go even lower, the Holden Ute model could be put out to pasture soon… and with it go the hopes of an El Camino revival.