Secure investment

One of the great unknowns at the time of Buttner’s appointment was how much patience General Motors has for a foreign outpost with five percent market share. “One of my first questions of GM was “What’s your commitment to Holden?’ said Buttner. “Frankly, I was buoyed by the response.” Seems GM was telling the truth. Three weeks after my meeting with Buttner, Holden announced it will become a development hub for GM’S autonomous and electric vehicles. The deal will see the creation of 150 new jobs (taking Holden’s design and engineering workforce to 500) and boost R&D expenditure to $120m, with the recently upgraded Lang Lang proving ground to play a key role.