Holden name set to disappear

It appears that the Holden name will have no place in General Motors’ ongoing involvement in Australia. According to a report by whichcar.com. au, GM has decided to rebrand its remaining Holden service centres with the ACDelco name, GM’s parts and accessories division.

The existing Holden Service Centres have been retained as part of GM’s legal obligation to offer parts and service support for Holdens for a decade after its exit from the new car market.

There is a logic to the switch from the Holden brand to ACDelco in that it represents a more direct alignment of the service centre branding with the imported GM vehicles (such as the Chev Silverado ute and Corvette) which will be sold under the newly established General Motors Specialty Vehicles operation.

The whichcar.com.au report claimed that GM won’t force dealerships to drop the Holden branding, but would encourage the switch. With sentiment now being the only tangible reason remaining for service centres to retain the Holden name, it’s likely most will follow GM’s suggestion and make the switch sooner rather than later.

Given that the Holden marque itself ceased to exist at the end of 2020, the question of the branding of the ongoing service centres is not a matter of great consequence.

But the symbolism is clear: this essentially will be the nal nail in the coffin – the rst step in the complete removal of the name Holden from GM’s Australian operation.