General Motors Company (NYSE:GM) announced that Guido Dumarey intends to acquire the Elizabeth-based Holden assembly. The statement reads as follows: “This is an industry-wide issue, a number of key macro-economic factors made it unsustainable for the three car-making companies to continue local manufacturing. As we said at the time, Holden and GM left no stone unturned to continue manufacturing in Australia but the business case simply did not stack up.

Issues of scale and global competitiveness have not changed and the local vehicle market has continued to fragment, particularly with the increasing number of free trade agreements. The challenge of viability for the local supply chain will only accelerate once large-scale local manufacturing ceases. We have always said that GM will assess any detailed proposal from any party interested in the ongoing use of the Adelaide site.

An initial approach has been received by GM from Punch International (Iep Invest, NV (ENXTBR:IEP)). As requested by the Australian Government, this is being thoroughly reviewed by GM on a strictly commercial-in-confidence basis.” Gm is taking the proposal seriously. “We will do what we can as a government to help Punch in their [sic] ambition to keep making cars in South Australia,” Kyam Maher, South Australia's automotive transformation minister, told media.