Holden boss to head home

GM HOLDEN chairman Denny Mooney will leave the company in August.

Mr Mooney will return to the United States after being appointed General Motors vice president of global vehicle systems and integration, based in Detroit Michigan.

The American replaced Peter Hanenberger in the top Holden job in 2002 and oversaw the development of the VE Commodore and WM Statesman and Caprice.

Mr Mooney was behind a renewed export push that will see the Commodore exported to the United States next year as a Pontiac G8.

He also implemented a new sourcing program for the company that saw it move away from European products such as the Barina and Vectra in order to tap into cheaper South Korean models.

From top: Denny Mooney at the VE Commodore launch and Chris Gubbey (below).

Mr Mooney said it had been a privilege to be involved with Holden.

“The automotive industry has undergone significant changes in recent years and the passion, skill and dedication of the GM Holden team has created products that are now sold successfully not just in Australia, but all over the world,” Mr Mooney said.

“With the launch of the VE Commodore range we saw GM Holden cement its role within GM globally and underline its future as the home of rear-wheel drive vehicle development for the company. I am very confident in GM Holden’s ability to continue to be successful in the highly-competitive global automotive business for years to come.” Mr Mooney will be replaced by Chris Gubbey, who is currently executive vice president of Shanghai General Motors.

Having started his career as an assembly manager at Ford UK in 1979, Mr Gubbey was the assistant general manager at Toyota UK from 1991 to 1995 before he joined Vauxhall in the UK as the manufacturing director and a member of the board of directors in 1997.

Mr Gubbey, who has a bachelor of science degree in production engineering from Hatfield Polytechnic in the United Kingdom, joined Shanghai GM in 2000.

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