Heron White. That's a damned good summation of what is behind the failure of the Holden brand. It was always going to be extra hard for Holden to maintain its market presence once local production ceased. After all, Holden was the company that really kicked off the sense of confidence in our secondary industrial capacity after the war. It started amidst an incredible sense of national pride that is a bit difficult to understand these days, but it was "Australia's Own Car", built by Australians for Australians and that national identuty carried it for over forty years.
Ford were here earlier but only as an assembler, whereas GMH had been designing and building local bodies for years before the Holden. Chrysler, Ford and the Japs started local production long after GMH and were never identified as local in the same way, though they all made cars specifically intended for our market.
Regrettably, that national pride has diminished over the years, partly because of dreadful product decisions by GM, and the bean counters in New York or Detroit have never appreciated its importance to the Holden brand. And they probably never will.
