Holden Forges New Design and Engineering Partnership with China

VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA – Apr 16, 2012: Holden signed an historic agreement today with Shanghai General Motors (SGM) and the Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center (PATAC) to develop new vehicles for SGM and its affiliates in the growing Chinese market.

PATAC is a 50-50 joint venture between GM and Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp (SAIC). It provides automotive engineering services including design, development, testing and validation of components and vehicles to SGM and its affiliates in China.

The long-term partnership will see a Holden team drive the development of at least two new vehicles for the world’s largest car market.

The Holden designers and engineers working on the program will be based in Holden’s Technical Centre in Port Melbourne. The team will develop the new vehicles, which will be underpinned by GM global platforms, and tailor them for the Chinese market.

Holden Chairman and Managing Director, Mike Devereux, announced the partnership to employees in Melbourne today with the leaders of SGM and PATAC.

“Holden is a valuable source of expertise within GM International Operations and we’re one of only seven fully-integrated design, engineering and manufacturing operations in the GM world,” he said.

“We have worked with SGM and PATAC in recent years on smaller projects, but this is the first significant, long-term project to partner our organisations.

“It gives the Holden workforce a great sense of pride to work on global vehicle programs like this and to see Australian design, engineering and manufacturing expertise exported around the world.