HISTORY AUSTRALIA's OWN CAR Part

HISTORY AUSTRALIA’S OWN CAR Part Two Wwick Budd With General Motors now in control of Holden’s, Edward Holden remained at the helm. In August 1931 he was appointed joint managing director of GMH and later the sole managing director following the introduction of a new administration structure. Some Standard agents in Australia continued to use Holden bodies and initially it was business as usual as the 1930s rolled on and the economy continued to improve. In March 1934, General Motors appointed Lawrence Hartnett as the new managing director. Edward Holden was removed from his manager’s position but remained the chairman of directors. He subsequently held this position until ill health forced his resignation in 1947. He was reported to be ‘bitter and disappointed’ at his removal from the day to day running of the company and turned his attention to other business interests. From 1935 he served in the Legislative Council of South Australia and was knighted for his services in 1945. With Edward Holden effectively sidelined, the choice of Hartnett was a logical decision by GM and would prove to be an interesting one from an Australian point of view. Hartnett was born and educated in England and came to the attention of GM management while working as a field representative for the company in southern India. After some training in the US he achieved good results in their Swedish operation and his entrepreneurial skills led to his appointment to the board of Vauxhall Motors Ltd in the UK. According to one biographer, Hartnett was given the job of reforming GMH. He claimed the company was ‘rent by internal bickering’ and ‘widely resented as a rapacious foreign profiteer’. His success in Australia led to his appointment as GMC’s regional director for Australia and New Zealand and in 1936 he became a vice-president of the corporation’s export company. Hartnett set about restoring the image of GMH following the takeover. He publicised the contribution the company made to local employment and industrial development. Under his watch two new assembly plants were built and four others were reopened. As the economy was recovering, Fisherman’s Bend in Melbourne was selected as the new headquarters for GMH. Through his use of SCR July 1947 ‘adroit book-keeping’ he also reduced the ‘perceived profitability’ of the company. His personal contribution to the Australian war effort also placed GMH in a good light. Hartnett was appointed a director of the Department of Munitions and chairman of the Army Inventions Directorate. He also showed an interest in the production of aluminium and played a role in aeronautical research and the founding of the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation. The CAC was jointly owned by an Anglo-Australian consortium and GMH. Behind the scenes he had been actively lobbying the Australian government to take advantage of the increase in industrial capacity and exert pressure on GMC to build an Australian car. To this end, his local team drafted a proposal for a new Australian design and made an announcement of the company’s intention in January 1945. His proposal was not received well by the parent company. It was dismissed by GMC as ‘crazy’ and ‘a waste of time’ and he was removed from his position in December 1946. After his dismissal, his successor noted that ‘the old regime under which there was insufficient consideration given to company policy is ended’. 10 December 2020 The Triumphant Standard Though Hartnett’s pressure to build an Australian car was unwelcome at GM headquarters, he was offered an executive post in the US with GMC, an offer which he declined and subsequently resigned in April 1947. He preferred to live in Australia where he continued to reside and follow other business interests until his death in 1986. Hartnett’s dream of an Australian designed and produced car may well have ended there with that crucial veto from GMC. As we now know, GMH began production of the Holden 48-215 in November 1948 and prime minister Ben Chifley was invited to greet the first of the new model off the production line. His comment; ‘she’s a beauty’. Hartnett was reported to have been devastated by his dismissal which deprived him of the prestige of launching the Holden car. The launch of the new Holden, only 18 months after Hartnell’s resignation, raises the question of whether the car was already in the design stage back in the US. The alternative could be that due to Hartnett’s lobbying efforts, GM was faced with an expectation from the Australian public that a new car with a Holden badge would soon be available. Standard was also well under way with plans for their new export model, the Vanguard. It managed to outsell the Holden in the 1948-49 years on the back of record sales of the 8hp model in 1946. Perhaps a modified North American design could be used to fill the gap and catch up in record time? 11.

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