Holdens destined for scrap

Two-door Monaros, four-door Commodore sedans and commercial Rodeos and other Holdens with a retail value of more than $6.7 million have been shipped to New Zealand from GM Holden Australia to become scrap metal in the name of emergency safety.

The cars will be crushed and wrapped around poles next month as part of the 2005 Australasian and World Rescue Challenge, in which participants will show their emergency skills in crash simulations.

The Holdens, previously used for engineering evaluation by GM Holden Australia and not for sale, will be damaged to recreate road accidents and provide hypothetical crisis situations.

Teams from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, South Africa and Spain will compete.

The first 85 of 150 Holdens have been shipped from Australia for the challenge, which will be held in Hamilton from October 8-15.

Holden New Zealand managing director Brian Mynott said he was delighted to extend the company's support for the emergency organisations.

"Since 1998, GM Holden in Australia has provided the State Emergency Service (SES) with a wide range of vehicles for use in team training exercises such as jaws of life simulations," Mynott said.

"Supporting this challenge is a meaningful way for Holden to demonstrate our commitment to safety and assist an organisation which helps so many Australians and New Zealanders every year."

World Rescue Challenge New Zealand project manager Chris Walbran said the challenge was all about saving lives.

"The ability for rescue firefighters to develop their road rescue skills on modern vehicles helps to raise the overall standard of road rescue training and that means more lives saved. It's that simple."

Organisations participating include Australia's State Emergency Service (SES), World Rescue Organisation (WRO), the Australian Road Rescue Organisation (ARRO), the United Fire Brigade Association and the New Zealand Fire Service.