United Australian Automobile Industries (UAAI) was an automobile model sharing firm that operated in Australia between 1987 and 1996 as the result of an agreement between

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thr ...

(the Australian subsidiary of

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

) and Toyota Australia. The joint venture resulted in the two companies sharing production of locally produced automobiles by selling their models under both brands. UAAI produced three rebadged vehicles: the Holden Apollo (based on the Toyota Camry), Holden Nova (based on the

Toyota Corolla The is a series of compact cars (formerly subcompact) manufactured and marketed globally by the Toyota Motor Corporation. Introduced in 1966, the Corolla was the best-selling car worldwide by 1974 and has been one of the best-selling cars in ...

) and

Toyota Lexcen The Holden Commodore is a full-size car that was sold by Holden from 1978 to 2020. It was manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of the locally manufactured versions in Australia endi ...

(based on the

Holden Commodore The Holden Commodore is a full-size car that was sold by Holden from 1978 to 2020. It was manufactured from 1978 to 2017 in Australia and from 1979 to 1990 in New Zealand, with production of the locally manufactured versions in Australia endi ...

History

The formation of UAAI can be traced back to the May 1984 announcement of the

Button car plan The Button car plan, also known as the Button plan, was the informal name given to the Motor Industry Development Plan, an Australian federal (Labor) government initiative intended to rationalise the Australian motor vehicle industry and transi ...

, the work of Senator John Button, the Minister for Industry under the then current

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

led

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

government. The plan envisaged to rationalise and make the Australian automotive industry more competitive on a global scale by means of reducing import

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and p ...

s. Under an obligation to amalgamate, Holden and Toyota formed the UAAI joint venture on 11 December 1987 that resulted in model sharing between both automakers. These cars were released to the market in August 1989. As consistent with the government mandated plan, UAAI operated under the framework of coordinated design, engineering and product sharing whilst maintaining independent marketing operations and dealership networks. For Holden, it replaced the earlier joint venture with

Nissan , trading as Nissan Motor Corporation and often shortened to Nissan, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Nishi-ku, Yokohama, Japan. The company sells its vehicles under the Nissan, Infiniti, and Datsun bra ...

that had resulted in model sharing from 1984. Toyota commenced manufacture of the Nova for Holden in June 1989 and the Apollo in July. Both companies held back certain marketing advantages to produce a greater level of model differentiation, for example the Toyotas were positioned as slightly more upmarket and equipment levels differed. Irrespective of this, many buyers could tell that the cars were merely rebadged versions of other cars available on the market, and sales figures generated by the disguised versions reinforced this. That is, the version of the car produced by the original manufacturer far surpassed the sales figures for the rebadged version. Poor sales of the rebadged cars and an unwillingness to embrace the forced relationship led to dissolution of UAAI. This occurred in March 1996. Production ended later in the year, although a large enough stockpile remained for some vehicles to remain in showrooms until 1997.

Products

Holden Apollo

Introduced in 1989, the Holden Apollo was basically a badge-engineered Toyota Camry sedan and station wagon. The second generation model was introduced in 1993 and remained in production until 1996. File:1989 Holden Apollo (JK) SLE sedan (2015-07-06) 01.jpg, 1989–1991 Holden Apollo (JK) sedan, based on the

Toyota Camry (V20) The Toyota Camry (; Japanese: トヨタ・カムリ ''Toyota Kamuri'') is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese auto manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact in size (narrow-body), the Camry ...

File:1991-1992 Holden Apollo (JL) GS sedan (2009-05-09) 01.jpg, 1991–1992 Holden Apollo (JL) sedan, based on the Toyota Camry (V20) File:1993-1995 Holden Apollo (JM) SLX station wagon (2010-07-19) 01.jpg, 1993–1995 Holden Apollo (JM) wagon, based on the Toyota Camry (XV10) File:1995 Holden Apollo (JP) SLX sedan (2015-07-09) 01.jpg, 1995–1996 Holden Apollo (JP) sedan, based on the Toyota Camry (XV10)

Holden Nova

The Holden Nova sedan and hatchback, like the Apollo arrived in dealerships in 1989 replacing the Holden Astra (LD), a joint development with

also producing the Nissan Pulsar (N13). The Nova was a rebadged Toyota Corolla (E90) with the front panels, grille and headlamps from the Japanese-specification Corolla FX hatchback. This was a similar approach to the then contemporary Geo/Chevrolet Prizm sold in the United States and Mexico, which utilised E90 Sprinter panels to differentiate between GM and Toyota models. While the Nova was a Toyota design, the factory producing it in Dandenong, Victoria was a Holden factory closed in 1988 in preparation of production of the Corolla/Nova. In 1994, Holden released the second generation Nova based on the Toyota Corolla (E100), now manufactured at Toyota's

Altona, Victoria Altona is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Hobsons Bay local government area. Altona recorded a population of 11,490 at the . Altona is a large subur ...

facility. Production ended in 1996, with the Nova being replaced by the TR Astra, a rebadged version of the Opel Astra F built by

Vauxhall Motors Vauxhall Motors LimitedCompany No. 00135767. Incorporated 12 May 1914, name changed from Vauxhall Motors Limited to General Motors UK Limited on 16 April 2008, reverted to Vauxhall Motors Limited on 18 September 2017. () is a British car compa ...

in the UK. File:1990 Holden Nova (LE) SLX hatchback (2015-11-11) 01.jpg, 1989–1991 Holden Nova (LE) hatchback, based on the Toyota Corolla (E90). File:1993-1994 Holden LF Nova SLX Limited hatchback 04.jpg, 1991–1994 Holden Nova (LF) hatchback, based on the Toyota Corolla (E90). File:1995 Holden Nova (LG) GS hatchback (20684982061).jpg, 1994–1996 Holden Nova (LG) hatchback, based on the Toyota Corolla (E100).

Toyota Lexcen

The

reached Toyota dealerships in 1989, the same year that Toyota models arrived in Holden showrooms. The Lexcen was Toyota's version of the

, available in the same sedan and station wagon body styles, but only in the V6 engine and

automatic transmission An automatic transmission (sometimes abbreviated to auto or AT) is a multi-speed transmission used in internal combustion engine-based motor vehicles that does not require any input from the driver to change forward gears under normal driving ...

guise. The Holden however, was available with a

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

option, and had the availability of

manual transmission A manual transmission (MT), also known as manual gearbox, standard transmission (in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States), or stick shift (in the United States), is a multi-speed motor vehicle transmission (mechanics), transmission ...

for both the V6 and V8. Holden stopped supplying Toyota with the Lexcen in 1997. File:1989 Toyota Lexcen (T1) GL station wagon (2010-07-25) 01.jpg, 1989–1991 Toyota Lexcen (T1), based on the

Holden Commodore (VN) The Holden Commodore (VN) is a full-size car that was produced by Holden from 1988 to 1991. It was the first iteration of the second generation of this Australian made model, which was previously a mid-size car, as well as the first Commodo ...

. File:1991-1992 Toyota Lexcen (T2) CSi sedan (2010-12-28) 01.jpg, 1991–1993 Toyota Lexcen (T2), based on the

Holden Commodore (VP) The Holden Commodore (VP) is a full-size car that was produced by Holden from 1991 to 1993. It was the second iteration of the second generation of the Commodore. Its range included the luxury variants, Holden Berlina (VP) and Holden Calais ( ...

. File:1993-1995 Toyota Lexcen (T3) CSi station wagon 02.jpg, 1993–1995 Toyota Lexcen (T3), based on the

Holden Commodore (VR) The Holden Commodore (VR) is an executive car which was produced by Holden from 1993 to 1995. It was the third iteration of the second generation of the Holden Commodore. The VR range included the luxury variants, Holden Commodore Berlina (VR) ...

. File:1995 Toyota Lexcen (T4) CSi sedan (22644600913).jpg, 1995–1996 Toyota Lexcen (T4), based on the Holden Commodore (VS). File:1997 Toyota Lexcen (T5) CSi sedan (2015-11-11).jpg, 1996-1997 Toyota Lexcen (T5) based on the Holden Commodore (VS II).

Sales

By the end of 1993, the UAAI venture cars realised sales of 21 percent at best when compared to the models retailed by their original manufactures. Nova production in 1992 totalled 3,697 units (16.6 percent of the Toyota Corolla figure); 3,016 Novas were manufactured in 1993 (12.6 percent), and in 1994 production amounted to 3,581 units (16.5 percent). Fujimoto (1998), p. 26. Apollo production in 1992 totalled 4,490 units (17.5 percent of the Toyota Camry figure, excluding exports); 5,314 Apollos were manufactured in 1993 (18.2 percent), and in 1994 production amounted to 5,519 units (14.7 percent).

References

Bibliography

* * * {{General Motors Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1987 Vehicle manufacturing companies disestablished in 1996 Car manufacturers of Australia Defunct manufacturing companies of Australia Organizations established in 1987 Toyota factories Holden 1987 establishments in Australia 1996 disestablishments in Australia