Peter Hanenberger

Peter Hanenberger
Peter Hanenberger
Born	1942; Wiesbaden, Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation	Retired

Peter Hanenberger (born 1942 in

Rüsselsheim, Germany, and retired at the age of 61 at the end of 2003 as chairman and managing director of Australian GM subsidiary, Holden, having served in a number of managerial positions at Opel, Holden, and General Motors internationally.^[1]

Beginnings

Peter spent most of his early career working for GM's

Holden Sunbird, then to all other Holdens (and the Vauxhall Chevette

in New Zealand), it transformed the overall handling dynamics of the entire Holden range for the better in Australian road conditions.

Well liked by the people at Holden for his genial and professional manner, Hanenberger left Australia to return to Opel in the early 1980s, becoming GM vice president and group executive of Opel's International Technical Development Centre (ITDC) in

Rüsselsheim, Germany. In 1998, Hanenberger was in line to replace Gary Cowger as the head of Opel. However, the Opel supervisory board rejected Hanenberger and signaled that his contract won't be renewed.^[2]

Holden

In 1999, it was announced that Hanenberger was to be the new chairman and managing director of Holden. On assignment with Holden in the 1970s, Hanenberger had assisted Holden engineers with their "European look" design briefs, and upon his return in 1999, he implemented quality control and improved production engineering principles.

After discovering that the prototype Holden Monaro had been built by a group of enthusiastic and dedicated Holden engineers in their free time, Hanenberger encouraged the development of the prototype into production-readiness, and sought out export markets to guarantee the car's production. Hanenberger also consolidated the maker's exports programmes of its VT Commodore/WH Statesman/Caprice platform, and the cars quickly became favorites in the Middle East, winning numerous motoring press awards. In 2003, he announced that he would retire, after spending about 45 years with GM.

Retirement

Hanenberger retired to his home town of

HRT front and rear spoilers (same as HRT427

) and was called "HRT Coupe 0001" this was the only "non-HSV" car to use a C4B engine.

In a 2017 interview with

Carsales, Hanenberger recounted his unrealised projects at Holden, and blamed the car maker's decision to cease production on interference and poor management from GM global headquarters.^[3]^[4]

References

^ Porter, Ian (31 December 2003). "Holden CEO steps out of driving seat". The Age. Retrieved 22 September 2008.
^ Mellor, John (8 October 2001). "Hanenberger's doing fine Down Under". Automotive News Europe. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
^ ^a ^b Bruce Newton (20 October 2017). "HANENBERGER: "It's not my GM anymore"". Carsales.com.au.
^ Bruce Newton (20 October 2020). "Why manufacturing (and Holden) failed in Australia". Wheels.

External links

Business positions
Preceded by James R. Wiemels	Holden Chairman 1999–2003	Succeeded by Denny Mooney

[1] Porter, Ian (31 December 2003). "Holden CEO steps out of driving seat". The Age. Retrieved 22 September 2008.

[2] Mellor, John (8 October 2001). "Hanenberger's doing fine Down Under". Automotive News Europe. Retrieved 3 February 2020.

[carsales-3] Bruce Newton (20 October 2017). "HANENBERGER: "It's not my GM anymore"". Carsales.com.au.

[4] Bruce Newton (20 October 2020). "Why manufacturing (and Holden) failed in Australia". Wheels.

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