GM Lines Up Buyer for Australian Plant

General Motors Co. says it has found a buyer for its Holden manufacturing facility in Adelaide, Australia, which will cease production on Friday.

The site will be converted into a business park. Tenants are expected to include engineering, construction, defense, logistics, food and beverage, renewable energy and staffing specialists, according to GM.

The carmaker plans to retain a presence at the site with a spare-parts operation. Holden also plans to open a heritage center and hospitality venue in Adelaide.

GM says the unnamed purchaser, which was selected during a six-month process, will be identified once the contract has been finalized. The carmaker has begun a “decommissioning process” that is expected to go through mid-2019.

The closure marks the end of car and light truck production in Australia. Toyota shuttered its assembly plant in Melbourne earlier this month and Ford did the same last October. Analysts attribute the moves to a combination of Australia’s relatively high costs, low productivity, unfavorable currency exchange rates and growing competition from low-cost imports from Japan, South Korea and Thailand.