Holden Pays Tribute to Trailblazer John Bagshaw

SYDNEY – June 12, 2012: Holden has paid homage to one of its great former leaders and industry pioneers, John Bagshaw, who passed away aged 87 on Friday, 8 June.

Hugely admired and respected in every corner of GM’s global organisation, Mr Bagshaw was the last Australian Managing Director of Holden, serving between 1987 and 1990.

Mr Bagshaw enjoyed an extremely successful 42-year career with General Motors holding senior executive roles in Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States.

After serving in the Royal Australian Navy, Mr Bagshaw joined Holden in Western Australia in 1948, following his father, a dealership sales manager in Perth, into the auto industry.

He moved to Holden’s headquarters in Melbourne and held management roles in sales and distribution before being named Director of Sales in 1972.

During his 12 years in the sales and marketing organisation, Mr Bagshaw was responsible for establishing the Holden Dealer Team and invigorating the Holden brand with hero cars such as HQ SS, GTS models, Torana XU1 and SLR 5000.

Leaving Australia in 1978, Mr Bagshaw worked overseas for nine years in corporate international marketing and for the Pontiac brand in Detroit, Michigan, as well as senior leadership positions with GM’s Vauxhall and Opel brands in Germany, eventually becoming Managing Director of Vauxhall in the UK.

After turning around Vauxhall, he returned home applying his skills for motivating and inspiring employees and marketing the brand and its products at Holden, becoming Managing Director of what was then called Holden’s Motor Company in November 1987 (his title changing to Managing Director, General Motors-Holden’s in 1988).

He was described as ‘achieving great success quickly’ (Heart of the Lion, John Wright), he drove headlines like ‘Mr Fixit goes public and tells it like it is’ and was much loved by the Holden dealer community to this day.

He is credited with leading Holden’s return to profitability with the successful VN Commodore program and its controversial joint product development program with Toyota.

Affectionately known as ‘Bags’ in lighter moments, he was a great Australian business leader, global automotive industry executive and champion of motorsport leaving an indelible mark on Holden and its people.

Holden extends its deepest sympathies to Mr Bagshaw’s wife Gillian, his three daughters Liz, Karen and Lauren, his five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. A memorial service for Mr Bagshaw will be held on the Gold Coast in the coming weeks.