RELATED CONTENT: Holden fans sad to see Australian factory close
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When news broke about Holden closing its last Australian factory, AMH Ulladulla sold more than half of its annually-allocated commodores.
The last Commodore rolled off the production line of the Adelaide factory on Friday, October 20.
AMH Auto Group Sales Manager Richie Bardon, who has been in the job for 10 years, said 40 orders for V8 Commodores were placed in January and February.
“We sold over half of our yearly target in the first two months of the year,” he said.
“They only allocate a certain amount of Holden V8s for each dealership and we were allocated 58 for the year.
“Whatever you see here is it, we have about five or six left.”
Although sad to see the Holden V8s disappear, Mr Bardon was excited for the future of Holdens.
“It is a sad day to see the Holden V8s disappear, but I think with the new stuff they are bringing in from overseas, there will be some nice little turbos coming in and some bigger coupes,” he said.
“Everyone is saying it is a shame that they are going but every other brand is not made in Australia and they are doing okay.
“I am not concerned about the quality. The robots that build them don’t know where they live.
“It will all still be up to Australian standard by the time they get here.”
Mr Bardon said Holdens had changed dramatically throughout the years.
“The change of the Commodore has been massive. I have been here for 10 years and the VE model was just about to come out when I started,” he said.
“That was one of the most popular Commodores. They have only had a few changes since then but, over the years, they have changed hugely with technology, safety and power.”
The price of V8 Holdens has already increased, Mr Bardon said. The dealership began buying second hand V8s when news the Adelaide factory would cease operation, and the cars would be made overseas, broke.
“Because we knew the closure was coming this month, we had been stocking up and buying a lot of second hand V8s. Our yard is full of V8s that people can’t get knew,” he said.
“The price of those have already started to go up. We were buying second hand cars out of auctions last year at brand new price.
“If you are going to put them away, look after them and they still have low Ks, I am sure people will pay good money for them.”
The power was Mr Bardon’s favourite feature of the Holden V8 Commodores.
The one everyone is going to miss is the 6.2-litre V8, which used to be a 6-litre,” he said.
“They sell for anywhere between $40,000 and $70,000
“People bought the special motor sport edition Commodore sedan, which they only made 1200 of. We sold six in Ulladulla out of all of Australia.
“They are collector cars, those six people will keep them as a collectors item or show them off. They were $80,000.”
Mr Bardon said Holden was just “following suit” with the decision to move the production offshore.
“A lot of people think Holden is closing. That’s not true at all, no one else builds here and unfortunately they are just following suits,” he said.
“Every other model is already made overseas, it is just the Commodore.
“It will be exciting to see what they have to come. I have been selling these Commodores for a while and I am looking forward to seeing what is coming next.”
A red Holden Commodore SS V-Series Redline sedan was the last vehicle to be produced in Australia.
The Adelaide factory has been the sole source of Australian-made Holden vehicles since 1994.