City Holden is investing more than $1 million in its dealership network including a new facility at Mile End

SOUTH Australia’s largest Holden dealer network is bullish about its prospects following the end of local manufacturing, with plans to boost its workforce across an upgraded and expanded number of sites across Adelaide.

City Holden dealer principal Julian Newton with marketing manager Jess O'Callaghan at City Holden in Grenfell St. Picture - Matt Turner.

SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S largest Holden dealership is bullish about its prospects following the end of local manufacturing, with plans to boost its workforce in an upgraded and expanded number of sites across Adelaide.

Family-owned franchise City Holden operates four showrooms - in the CBD, Hillcrest, Rose Park and Nailsworth – and is investing more than $1 million in its network, including a new pre-delivery, reconditioning and retail service centre at Mile End.

The new 4000sq m site opened its doors in January, taking over pre-delivery and additional vehicle storage from City Holden’s flagship facility at Grenfell St.

Dealer principal Julian Newton said a restructure of Holden’s dealership network paved the way for further investment in the City Holden network.

“In terms of our expansion, it’s been very much based around the network repositioning and that presented an opportunity for us at Mile End,” he said.

“We’d suggest the increase in employment from late last year to completion of our expansion by June this year – we’d have employed another 20 people.

“There’s a number of businesses pulling their heads in at the moment and we’re not – we’re coming out strong and confidently heading into the new year.”

As part of Holden’s restructure last year, authorised dealers in Whyalla, Meningie, Loxton, Waikerie and Thebarton were among a list of 30 nationwide to be told their franchise agreements would not be renewed past December 31, 2017.

City Holden avoided the cuts and last year retained its title as the country’s highest-volume dealership.

The franchise sold a total of 1636 new Holdens last year, backed by strong demand for the Commodore VF – Holden’s last locally built car.

With local manufacturing coming to an end, Mr Newton is optimistic about the range of imports in line for release this year.

The new German-built ZB Commodore has already arrived on Australian shores, as has the Equinox in the competitive SUV market.

Other models to be released later this year include the Arcadia large SUV, the Silverado pick-up truck, the V8 Camaro and the SportsCat ute.

“I believe we will have the youngest portfolio of any manufacturer in 2018,” Mr Newton said.

“We’re actually more confident in the models that are coming at us now than what we’ve seen in the past – they are the best models we’ve seen.

“SUVs outsold passenger vehicles for the first time in 2017 and SUVs are definitely the focus for Holden as well.”

Mr Newton, who took over the City Holden group from his father 13 years ago, also backed Holden’s plan to roll out an online sales platform currently being piloted in Melbourne.

The website allows buyers to select a model, add options, order a test drive, organise finance, arrange a trade-in and have the new vehicle delivered to their door.