GM Holden cuts about 60 jobs

GM HOLDEN has this week confirmed another round of job cuts following its exit from car manufacturing in Australia last October, with about 60 people to be made redundant in the next couple of months.

 

The affected staff are mainly based in GM Holden’s Victorian operations, including from its national headquarters located in Port Melbourne, while the number of redundancies are significantly less than reports that up to 1000 employees will lose their jobs by Christmas.

 

Announced to employees yesterday among other operational changes, the move will specifically impact staff working in the sales and administration teams.

 

In a statement provided to GoAuto, GM Holden said the decision to cut jobs was made with future-proofing its operations in mind, with those affected to be looked after in the transition.

 

“We are making some changes to our sales and administration functions,” the statement read. “These changes are aimed at making Holden a stronger business for the future. Our people are our priority, and we are supporting impacted employees.”

 

In October last year, production of the VFII Commodore large car drew to a close at GM Holden’s factory in Elizabeth, South Australia, leading to about 950 employees from the manufacturing operation being made redundant.

 

This followed 175 staff losing their jobs after the engine plant in Fishermans Bend, Victoria, was shuttered in November 2016, as well as another 80 redundancies when production of the Cruze small car ended the month before.

 

GM Holden has struggled in its transition from local car-maker to full-line importer, with its sales this year down 22.6 per cent to the end of June. As such, it has dropped from fourth to sixth place on the overall new-vehicle sales ladder.

 

In particular, the Commodore’s volume has taken a significant hit, decreasing by 50.8 per cent, as supply of the home-grown model continues to dry up.

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