How Holden Sales Came Crashing Down

Car brand Holden will be axed in Australia and New Zealand following an announcement by owner General Motors on Monday. By the end of 2020, the iconic Australian brand will cease to exist, but GM has pledged to provide customer support for Holden owners for at least 10 more years.

The car maker said their decision was made because Holden was no longer competitive and a look at the brands' sales tell that story. While in 2017, Holden was still selling around 90,000 cars annually, that number was more than halved in just two years, according to data from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries.

In 2018, Holden posted the lowest sales since the 1960s amidst a general slowdown of the car market in Australia and barely made the top 10 of car brands sold in the country. By 2019, it had again hemorrhaged almost 30 percent of sales compared to one year earlier. The company blamed the high fragmentation of the market that was also focused on right-hand drives for the brand becoming less and less competitive.