Last Monaro fetches $187,600

THE last current-generation Holden Monaro coupe, which was up for grabs in an on-line auction on eBay, was sold for $187,600 when the bidding closed last Sunday.

Organisers were confident the car would sell for more than $250,000, however, the sale price still represents more than three times the price of a standard $60,490 CV8 Monaro.

For the time being, the highest bidder is identified by the user ID "shelda0" and is known to be from Emerald, Queensland.

"Shelda0" placed the highest bid at 11.59am on February 19 when the auction concluded and will see his/her Torque-coloured custom coupe for the first time at midday on Friday, February 24 at the GM Holden Queensland state office in Cannon Hill, where it will be officially presented.

The opening bid was be made by Tony Garnett, dealer principal of NSW’s Heartland Holden chain and high-profile Sydney philanthropist.

All proceeds raised will be donated to The Leukaemia Foundation. Adrian Collins, CEO of The Leukaemia Foundation, will also attend the event.

The sale of the car will mark the end of Monaro domestic production in Elizabeth, South Australia after more than four years and 47,000 sales in Australia and overseas representing four General Motors brands.

Since being unveiled by Holden as a concept vehicle in 1998 and then launched in late 2001, Monaro was Australia ’s best selling sports car for each of the past four years.

Vehicles based on the Monaro have been sold in the United States as the Pontiac GTO, United Kingdom as the Vauxhall Monaro and the Middle East as the Chevrolet Lumina Coupe. Holden Special Vehicles also released several variants.

Some 12,829 Monaros have been sold in Australia since October 2001, while 1065 have gone to New Zealand since February 2002.

A further 990 left-hand drive Chevrolet SS Lumina Coupes were shipped to the Middle East from February 2003, while a big 31,548 Pontiac GTOs were wholesaled to the US - where a 6.0-litre 298kW engine and more aggressive styling were introduced for the 2005 model - between December 2003 and December 2005.

The UK also took delivery 798 Vauxhall Monaros post-March 2004.

Meantime, aS expected, General Motors Holden set a new vehicle export record in 2005, when it broke the 60,000-vehicle mark for the first time.

GM Holden exported 60,518 sedans, utes and coupes in 2005 – up 16 per cent on its previous record of 52,372 set in 2004.

The Middle East remained the strongest export market, with a record 30,556 vehicles, including 19,438 long-wheelbase Chevrolet Caprice models, while the Pontiac GTO coupe accounted for 11,729 exports.

A total of 31,548 have been shipped to the US in three years – about 2.5 times the number of Monaros sold locally in that time. New Zealand was the third biggest export market last year (8280), while China took 5976 Buick Royaums and South Korea accepted 1878 Daewoo Statesmans.

In other Holden news, GM Holden chief Denny Mooney is upbeat about the prospects of Australian components suppliers winning international contracts with General Motors, following a meeting earlier this year with GM chief executive Rick Wagoner and other top brass in Detroit.

Mr Mooney, who joined representations from Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane and Australian components manufacturers, said Australia rated highly among GM’s internal supplier score rating system, although he would not reveal exactly where among a "top" list.

"Certainly in the ‘top’ ... I don’t know the exact number and I don’t want to be quoted as getting it wrong ... but it certainly surprised me," Mr Mooney said.

"The score card looks at quality, it looks at delivery, it looks at price, as well as technology and what it takes to keep the business moving forward."