'It's devastating for this country': Canberra Holden enthusiast mourns the loss of a brand

He is a Holden enthusiast, with an impressive collection of eight classic and special edition Holden cars along with an extensive memorabilia collection.

Mr Pryce has been involved with Holden car clubs since he started collecting, close to 40 years ago, and for the past 32 years he has also worked for Holden dealerships in Canberra.

So when news broke on Monday the Holden brand would cease by 2021, Mr Pryce was shattered, to say the least.

"It's pretty devastating actually, it's devastating for this country and for the history of this country," he said.

The love of Holden is a family affair for Mr Pryce, who said his father, son and grandson all share in the love for the iconic Australian brand.

Mr Pryce anticipated the demise of the Holden brand at some point, but did not expect it to happen for a couple of years.

"It has been a shock... I think it was inevitable at some point down the track but I certainly didn't think it would happen this soon," he said.

Parent company, General Motors announced on Monday that it would scrap the 160-year-old Holden brand, after it had closed the company's Australian manufacturing operations in 2017.

In a statement, GM said it had made the "difficult decision" as a business case showed investment into the brand was no longer viable.

"Over recent years, as the industry underwent significant change globally and locally, we implemented a number of alternative strategies to try to sustain and improve the business, together with the local team," GM international operations senior vice president Julian Blissett said.

"After comprehensive assessment, we regret that we could not prioritise the investment required for Holden to be successful for the long term in Australia and New Zealand, over all other considerations we have globally."

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About 600 Holden employees will lose their jobs, most by the end of June. Holden will continue to provide servicing and spare parts in Australia for at least ten years. Warranties and servicing offers will also be honoured.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said he was angry but not surprised that Holden would cease operations.

He said General Motors had taken billions of dollars in government subsidies only to let the Holden brand "wither away".

"I think that's very disappointing, that, over many years, more than $2 billion was directly provided to General Motors for the Holden operations," the PM said.

"Throwing all that taxpayers' money at them - at the end of the day they were never going to respect it."

But the Australian Council of Trade Unions secretary Sally McManus said the Morrison government had not fought "to protect local jobs".