If you’re up for a new Holden fresh off the boat … then, good news.

SOME have moved on from the franchise, many have pulled down the signage – but for the few yards still sticking by Holden, there are still cars to sell …. including a surprise final shipment.

Talk about a last-minute consignment of Astras and a couple Commodores from Opel has been circulating the traps.

It’s thought these are cars Holden tried to cancel, only to be told by the Germans ‘you ordered ‘em, you’re getting ‘em’.

They should have been here well before now but had been further delayed by Covid-related assembly and shipping issues.

What happens next to the cars has not been made clear. Unsold Holdens here already are subject to clearance sale. There’s talk that this stock might be registered by the end of the month, then on-sold – perhaps firesaled – as used vehicles. 

It’s no use asking Holden New Zealand: That operation is down to skeleton staff and one of the first out the door, at the end of June, was its corporate affairs manager. It was just how the redundancy schedule rolled.

All this occurs as Holden goes into its death throe. While the brand doesn’t officially cease until December, the new vehicle sales side might well have resolved by then.

Certainly, quite a few franchises have also moved on. The country’s oldest Holden outlet, Wagg Motors in Masterton, is now selling Hyundais. The Auckland and Wellington retailers have pulled down their hoardings. It’s thought fewer than 10 franchises are still operating as sellers of new Holden cars. 

The special vehicles operations responsible for the Chevrolet Silverado truck and incoming product including the Corvette and – according to rumour – a hot Cadillac sedan, has yet to transfer from Holden Special Vehicles to new operator General Motors Special Vehicles. Some current HSV dealers in this country are already lining up to be GMSV agents. And GMSV has already appointed a general manager for New Zealand.

Appointed by GMNZ in August, Matthew Taylor is a former Holden NZ employee. HE joined that operation on 2017 and was product marketing manager then national sales manager. Prior to that, he was with Bayford Group and had positions with BMW and Volkswagen in Australia. He has declined to be interviewed.

In Australia, meantime, the winding down process has included the sale of the iconic GM Holden Proving Ground at Lang Lang in Victoria to Vietnamese automotive maker Vinfast, which has employed a number of Holden engineers.

Also, here and there, Holden's customer-facing website has dropped all references to its vehicles and now delivers the most basic information about the brand, including warranty and service information.

The company’s Melbourne head office has been silent about plans to farewell the brand internally. 

The upcoming Bathurst 1000 will mark the last Supercars race where Holden will feature as a factory team.