'Iconic' Holden safe as GM restructures: Reuss
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Mark Reuss says there are no plans to sell off Holden. (Inside Business)
Holden Australia's managing director Mark Reuss says the car maker will not be sold, despite parent company General Motors (GM) filing for bankruptcy protection in the United States.
Holden Australia is a wholly-owned subsidiary of GM and employs thousands of workers in South Australia and Victoria.
Mr Ruess has told ABC1's Inside Business that for now, Holden will remain a closely held asset.
"This is one of the iconic brands in Australia," he said.
"I think it always will be as long as we take care of it and feed it with the products and the different dealer services we do today, which are very good."
Mr Ruess says there are no plans to sell off Holden.
"[It] will not be sold. I can't say forever because some day when I'm not here anymore perhaps someone may have that idea," he said.
"But we have not been approached, nor have we been offered, nor are we pursuing any sale."
Mr Reuss would not say if Holden's future in Australia would always be assured, but he says it has still been profitable.
"We made a profit this last month. Are we profitable every month right now in a global recession? No," he said.
"I don't know any company in here, everybody's off double digits in Australia in this market.
"We saw a little bit of moderation of that here this last month."
Different business models
He says the structure of Holden in Australia is very different to in the United States, which means the company has seen differences in profits.
"If you look at Holden here in this country we've got one brand, we've got a little over 300 dealers," he said.
"We've got variations of that architecture here that we make, we're going have another full blown architecture here in our plant next year with the J300 or Delta or Cruise, as you may know it.
"And then we have vehicles from Asia Pacific, from different subsidiaries in Asia Pacific that come in to fill in those gaps.
"That's a very different business model than what happens in the United States."
Meanwhile, Mr Reuss concedes that GM is going have to undertake a massive culture shift in the US.
"We're actually going to set the company up with a very honest look at what we produce and what our competition produces," he said.
"What we think customers want next and then flawless execution on how to do that.
"I think a very honest assessment of what our cars really are and what they are not, what our competition are and what they are not, is the ground floor of what we really need to [do]."
Mr Reuss says the psychological impact of GM's bankruptcy is going to hit the US.
"The company has been on a very dangerous path in terms of market share loss and profitability here for quite a few years and so for me as an employee of the company I feel very relieved right now," he said.
Based on a report by Alan Kohler for Inside Business.
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