Exclusive: Dumarey confirms bid for Commodore and Elizabeth
Crunch time is now for Aussie automotive icons as Belgian entrepreneur reveals 'Project Erich'
Project Erich, Belgian entrepreneur Guido Dumarey’s plan to save the locally-developed Holden Commodore from death at the end of 2017 will kick into high-gear in the New Year.
In an exclusive interview with motoring.com.au at his Strasbourg, France, headquarters last Thursday, Dumarey said his shock bid to keep Commodore, and the Elizabeth plant in which it is built alive, must be signed off in 2016 with most of the heavy lifting completed in the first six months of the year.
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In the interview last week at Punch Powerglide, the automatic transmission plant he purchased from GM in 2012, Dumarey revealed he had intentionally not approached Holden.
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Dumarey negotiated supportive terms for his takeover of the Strasbourg plant, which had been announced as closing in 2014 at the cost of 1000 jobs. GM provided purchase guarantees for the first two years of operation and free license to develop the 6L40 and 45 automatic transmissions.
The plant is now ramping up to 1350 employees and is expanding courtesy of a 250 million Euro investment to build the 8HP50 automatic transmission for ZF. BMW is now its biggest customer.
But not all Dumarey’s business ventures have been successful. His ownership of BBS wheels was a bust and his involvement with another transmission company, Punch Powertrain, hit the rocks in the global financial crisis.