Holden cars for sale

Overview

Holden was Australia’s own carmaker — the badge on the first car designed and built here, and for decades the default choice in Australian driveways. It no longer exists as a brand, but it remains one of the largest presences on the Australian used market and the centre of an enormous enthusiast community.

Commodore, Kingswood, Torana, Monaro: the model names still work as shorthand for entire eras of Australian life.

History

James Alexander Holden set up a saddlery business in Adelaide in 1856. The company moved into car bodies, and General Motors acquired Holden’s Motor Body Builders in 1931 to form GM-Holden. On 29 November 1948 it launched the 48-215 — "Australia’s Own Car", the first vehicle designed and manufactured here — and in 1951 added the coupe utility that made the ute a permanent fixture of Australian rural life.

V8 power arrived in 1968 alongside the Kingswood and Monaro. The Torana built a legend at Mount Panorama, and the Commodore, launched in 1978, became the company’s best-seller and the backbone of Australian Touring Car racing. Nearly 7.7 million vehicles were built across 164 years.

The end of Holden

The Elizabeth plant in South Australia closed on 20 October 2017, when the last locally manufactured Commodore was built. Holden cited a strong Australian dollar, high manufacturing costs and a small domestic market. The brand continued briefly as an importer before General Motors retired it entirely at the end of 2020.

Buying a used Holden

With no new cars since 2020, every Holden is a used Holden, and prices now split sharply. Ordinary VE and VF Commodores, Cruzes and Captivas are cheap transport; V8 Commodores, HSV cars, Monaros and anything with a genuine motorsport connection have moved firmly into appreciating-classic territory.

Two practical points: parts supply for mainstream mechanical components is still good through the independent aftermarket and GM Specialty Vehicles, but some trim and electronics are getting hard to find. And because Holden values now depend heavily on originality and provenance, build plates, option codes and documentation matter far more than they do on an equivalent Japanese car.