Billionaire Wants to Save Holden Plant After GM Ends Aussie Production

A few years back, General Motors announced that Holden would stop all production in Australia and reduce engineering operations by 2017. While GM would still produce Holden-badged vehicles, models like the Caprice, Commodore, and Ute would be phased out.

Now, Belgian entrepreneur Guido Dumarey hopes to save the Holden Commodore and the Elizabeth plant where it is built. “Project Erich” will utilize the architecture underpinning the vehicle to produce a range of rear- and all-wheel-drive vehicles for both local and export sales. In order for this to work, Dumarey will have to rename and rebadge all the vehicles.

However, Dumarey shows his automotive knowledge with the naming of the project, which references veteran German tuner Erich Bitter, who used the Holden Commodore to create a line of bespoke, high-performance models. Dumarey is an accomplished automotive engineer and an entrepreneur with a career that spans 33 years in different industries. Given his background and financial muscle, he might just be able to make this plan come to fruition.

Dumarey spoke with Motoring, saying that “Everything is planned… The next step is to inform all the parties with the right plan.” With the new year right around the corner, Dumarey knows the first half of 2016 is critical to come up with the right solutions to keep the plant open and the vehicle alive. He went on to say that he belives Australia to be a premium industry, especially for rear-wheel-drive models. “I think with the platform you have from Zeta… It’s the perfect platform.”

Source: Motoring

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