Holden Car

GM Holden Ltd is an Australian automaker based in Port Melbourne, Victoria. The company was originally independent, but since 1931 has been a subsidiary of General Motors (GM). Holden has taken charge of vehicle operations for GM in Australasia and, on behalf of GM, holds partial ownership of GM Daewoo in South Korea. Over the years, Holden has offered a broad range of locally produced vehicles, supplemented by imported GM models. In the past, Holden has offered badge engineered Isuzu, Nissan, Suzuki and Toyota models in sharing arrangements.

Holden bodyworks are manufactured at Elizabeth, South Australia, and engines are produced at Port Melbourne, Victoria. Historically, production or assembly plants were operated in all mainland states of Australia: Acacia Ridge, Queensland; Dandenong, Victoria; Mosman Park, Western Australia; Pagewood, New South Wales; and Woodville, South Australia. Until 1990, GM’s New Zealand subsidiary Holden New Zealand operated a plant based in Trentham, with a plant in Petone running until 1984. The consolidation of car production at Elizabeth was completed in 1988, but some assembly operations continued at Dandenong until 1996.

Although Holden’s involvement in exports has fluctuated since the 1950s, the declining sales of large cars in Australia has led the company to look to international markets to increase profitability; in 2006, exports alone accounted for almost AU$1.3?billion in earnings.

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Type
Private

Founded
1856

Headquarters
Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Key people
Mark Reuss
Chairman and Managing Director

Industry
Automotive

Products
Automobiles
Engines

Employees
7015 (March 2008)

Parent
General Motors

Website
holden.com.au

Toyota Outcomes

Toyota is now the world?s largest automaker in terms of net worth, revenue, and profits. According to Stephen Spier, Toyota has been an industry leader since the 1960s and has consistently been more productive than its competitors. The company has been widely recognized for the quality of its products and production systems:

? In 2001, Toyota continued to maintain industry leadership. Consumer Reports rated Toyota models first in four of ten product categories. In a separate 2001 study of initial quality, J.D. Power and Associates rated Toyota and Lexus products first in 7 of 16 product categories. Toyota?s Kyushu car plant was rated the best in the world, with Toyota?s Tahara car plant second in Asia and the Kyushu truck plant third. In North America, Toyota?s Cambridge Ontario plant was first, and the Georgetown Kentucky Camry plant tied for second. Despite industry-wide difficulties, Toyota?s market share and capitalization continued to grow. Worker involving, problem-solving processes at the NUMMI plant, specifically, a TPS-managed joint venture with General Motors, were a source of performance superiority.

Wikipedia