Whyalla steelworks owner Sanjeev Gupta wants to make electric cars in Adelaide using Holden equipment

THE saviour of Whyalla’s steelworks now wants to revive vehicle manufacturing in South Australia by building electric cars using Holden equipment.

• GFG Alliance takes ownership of Whyalla’s steelworks
• GFG Alliance agrees to expansion of Whyalla steelworks
• No tears as Holden has its last hurrah at Elizabeth plant
• Sanjeev Gupta secures multimillion-dollar energy deal

WHYALLA’S steelworks saviour now wants to revive vehicle manufacturing in South Australia by building electric cars at the former Holden site.

The Advertiser understands that British billionaire and GFG Alliance boss Sanjeev Gupta has approached General Motors Holden to buy assets from the closed Elizabeth factory.

Treasurer Tom Koutsantonis has written to the carmaker asking it to support Mr Gupta’s plans.

The letter, obtained by The Advertiser, states that GFG Alliance “intend to develop the site as a manufacturing base for an electric vehicle, utilising the innovative i-Stream technology”.

The letter says that the company had lodged a bid to buy “certain assets from the former General Motors Holden site” before a public auction opened last Friday.

GFG Alliance boss Sanjeev Gupta has approached General Motors Holden to buy assets from the closed Elizabeth factory. Picture: Renee Nowytarger / The Australian

“We are incredibly excited and supportive of the GFG Alliance’s bid and subsequent plans to ensure the continuation of our very proud history of automotive excellence and innovation in South Australia,” Mr Koutsantonis writes in the letter dated January 17.

“We believe that the GFG Alliance’s plans would put South Australia at the forefront of the inevitable transition of the Australian market to electric vehicles and ask that all due consideration be given to their bid and the potentially significant benefits to the automotive industry and broader community in South Australia.”

It is unclear where on the former Holden site GFG Alliance proposes to manufacture the electric vehicles, when the company intends to start operations or the planned scale of production.

Mr Gupta is already known as the effective saviour of Whyalla after inking a $700 million deal to buy the former Arrium steelworks – the Upper Spencer Gulf city’s major employer - in July last year. Holden stopped manufacturing cars in Adelaide last October.

The Pelligra Group, a Melbourne-based industrial and construction powerhouse, is to turn the site into a world-class and hi-tech manufacturing hub featuring local, national and international tenants. The site – sold for an undisclosed sum – has been renamed Lionsgate Business Park and is now the focus of a 20-year master plan.

Pelligra will lease back about 30 per cent of the site to Holden so it can continue its parts and servicing operations for another decade.

Education, sport, leisure and retail precincts will be developed once the manufacturing precinct is under way at Lionsgate.

A separate Holden decommissioning process is expected to take until mid-2019.

 

GFG Alliance executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta. Picture: AAP / David Mariuz

MAN OF STEEL

■ GFG Alliance executive chairman Sanjeev Gupta is a 46-year-old British billionaire.

■ Known as the “man of steel” for rescuing 25 steel mills, car plants and engineering workshops in Britain from closure.

■ Bought Whyalla steelworks from administrators for a reported $700 million in August with plans to upgrade .

■ Bought a majority stake in Adelaide renewables company ZEN Energy in September committing to a $700 million SA investment program in solar, battery storage and pumped hydro.