Holden highlights in New Zealand: part 1
Saturday, 22 February 2020
By curtailing its right-hand drive programme, General Motors is also ending a long and rich history in New Zealand that began well before Holden came along. This weekend we take a look at some of the highlights of the last 94 years of General Motors and Holden in this country.
So, when did the 'General' first stake a claim in this country?
Almost a century ago. It was on January 4, 1926, that General Motors New Zealand (as it was until renaming, in 2004, as Holden NZ) was incorporated and a contract to erect two buildings was signed.
The Bouverie St factory in Petone near the north shore of Wellington Harbour was a big deal in terms of size - with a total area of 41,542 metres, it was a large undertaking for the area – and also for GM, being the very first overseas plant it owned rather than leased.
Completed within eight months and rolling out the first vehicles even before an access road was completed, it initially assembled American GM vehicles - Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, and Oldsmobile - followed by British Vauxhalls, starting with the VX, five years later. It also produced Frigidaire refrigerators, this brand being owned by GM from 1919 to 1979.
**READ MORE:
* Holden highlights in New Zealand: part 2
* Holden demise sparks interest online
* Holden Museum owners in shock over news the brand is to be scrapped
* Five slightly obscure Holden Commodore facts**
By 1939 the factory was expanded for a total floor space under one roof of 2.4 hectares, nearly double the original space, fortuitously as it turned out as almost immediately after completion World War II began. The place very soon turned over to the war effort, producing Bren gun carriers, mortar bombs, metal radio cases and battery boxes. More than 900 US Army trucks from the South Pacific combat zone were also reconditioned there.
Following World War II, Vauxhalls continued to keep the plant running together with limited numbers (restricted by currency shortages) of Chevrolets and Pontiacs. Buick and Oldsmobile were dropped.
So this was also the home of Holden?
To start with. By 1950 GMNZ had recognised need to move to a fresh site and zeroes in on land adjacent to the NZ Army's camp at Trentham, in Upper Hutt and the much larger factory there, opened by Sir Keith Holyoake in 1967, is the birthplace of the majority of NZ-assembled Holdens.
Don't you mean NZ-made?
Well, it's a semantic. We were rarely car-makers in the strictest sense. Rather brands which had factories here were in the business of taking vehicles that came in CKD (for 'completely knocked down') format - meaning every required part arrived in a crate - to be locally assembled and painted. Local production did encompass making tyres, glass, wheels, seats and wiring looms.
Anyway, in its heyday Trentham was one of the country's largest car plants and in the 1960s' and 70s', the Wellington area, with Todd Motors in Porirua and Ford (also in Petone), was in effect our 'Motown'. GM was the regional kingpin, with 47 hectares of property and around 930,000 square metres' floor space, situated on three (Petone and Trentham: assembly/manufacturing plant, parts, and later, assembly, warehouse and office facilities) properties in the Hutt Valley. By the late 1950s the Vauxhall, Chevrolet, and Pontiac cars have gone. This was a wholly Holden haven.
Car assembly closed in 1990 with the last light truck rolling off the line seven years later. The company's administration and parts warehousing remained another two years.
The facility still stands today. It's owned by Peter Jackson's Weta group of companies. Bouverie St was demolished in 2004 and no trace remains.
Were Kiwis always keen on Australia's first car?
Holden got off to a delayed start, in that it wasn't officially represented here until almost a year after release in Australia.
Still, we stand as Holden's first (and most faithful) export market and though just 321 FJs were shipped in by the end the first year of sale, 1954, some resourceful Kiwis had also by then also managed to secure a handful of the landmark 48-215 models as private imports. Interest in the brand grew quickly and GMNZ was in confident mood when, in 1957, the FE became the first of many Holden models to be assembled here.
What was our best-selling Holden?
The Commodore. From its local launch in August 1979 until 2005, this Aussified Opel design consistently placed as a top three best-selling car in every year save for two. In that period, Holden NZ sold more than 100,000 Commodores. Good times.
So Holden was the brand to have?
Well, not entirely. The Ford faction was as strong here as in Australia and Falcon also flew high.
But, certainly, even when the Oil Shocks of the 1970s' hit sales of large six- and eight-cylinder sedans (and influenced Holden to consider a smaller alternate to its HQ), and some Japanese brands – Mitsubishi, Datsun, Honda and Toyota – were starting to raise their profiles, Holden remained a hugely influential player. And Commodore ran remarkably well for a very long period, holding as one of the country's top three sellers even when Holden was down to being the sixth most popular brand.