HOLDEN has assured employees there will be no changes to its Australian and New Zealand operations as a result of the financial woes of its American parent company General Motors.
GM confirmed its decision to file for bankruptcy protection last night, following months of rumours and immediately after an announcement on the deal by the US president, Barack Obama.
The move was triggered when the company was unable to reach a deal with bond holders by a government-enforced deadline on June 1.
This morning, Holden managing director Mark Reuss has told a press conference in Melbourne that Holden is "not planning any job losses", although he said he could make no guarantees on the effects the international market might have on the company.
He said half the company's production went to export "and I can't say what's going to happen in the Middle-East or the US".
But he stressed that Holden in Australia operated as an individual business and "we're making our own luck".
Earlier, Mr Reuss said Holden "will continue normal operations in Australia and New Zealand and does not expect changes to its business''
"GM has clearly stated that all of its businesses in the Asia Pacific region - and that includes Holden - continue normal operations and are not directly impacted by this process in the US.''
"No operations outside the US are included in the court filing or court supervised process,'' Mr Reuss said.
"Holden is a subsidiary of GM but we are a corporate entity in our own right - an independent company under Australian law.''
Mr Reuss said GM would reform under bankruptcy protection with Holden part of the transition.
Leading the way will be the new small car, the launch of the four-cylinder Holden Cruze next month and the introduction of a locally-built four-cylinder car next year to revitalise sales in the wake of a big car slump that has affected sales of its Commodore range.
"Beyond that, GM has indicated that Holden will be an important part of the new GM. We intend to maintain our focus on Holden product programs and activities,'' Mr Reuss said.
"We continue to run full operations at Elizabeth and Port Melbourne, producing cars for our 300-strong independent dealer network. We don't anticipate this decision will have any direct impact on Holden's workforce, dealers, or suppliers.''
The largest US car maker will close 11 plants and idle three others as it slashes its operating costs in order to lower its break-even point by 40 per cent in terms of overall US industry sales.
Holden has not made a profit in Australia since 2004, but benefitted from a taxpayer-funded $149 million to build a second car manufacturing line for its locally-built small car under the federal government's Green Car Innovation Fund.
The company supports many other jobs in companies that supply it with components and other necessities for local car manufacture.
Despite the large car sales slump, its Commodore range has been Australia's best-selling model since 1996.
