The proud owner of six Holdens at the moment - he has owned about 30 through the years - Mr Tierney said he was concerned the very brand name could disappear altogether.

''From a purely Australian point of view, I'd say Holden is bigger [as a brand name], but GM is always working in the background. There's no secret that it's owned by GM,'' he said.

''There's a chance that the Holden name would go, which would be a shame.''

Mr Tierney said he had always loved Holdens, though he did not know why. This year he helped organise the ACT Holden Day, and he is a member of Holden car clubs - all of which, he said, would be talking about Wednesday's announcement.

He owns a 1998 Commodore ute for work, an old FJ, two FEs, and a HD. He also races an EH. All his cars were made in Australia, something Mr Tierney said people associated with the Holden name.

He thought there would be more of a fight to save the company's Australian production line.

''I was expecting [Holden to pull out], let's put it that way, but I'm surprised that it's come, and surprised that it's been made formal,'' he said. ''I thought that they would give it a better go, considering that it's an Australian name.''

In his eyes, it's not just the loss of skills locally, but also the loss of yet another quality Australian-built machine. ''To me I think it's a pretty big deal, personally. Just for the local manufacturing thing. It is a local car, and you can say the same about the Ford, too. It's a shame that the Falcon's going to go, too, because it is a local car and it's a good car,'' he said. ''My wife's got a Mazda, and I reckon personally the car we got rid of to buy the Mazda was a better car, and it was a Holden, a Commodore. From what I've seen of the later models, the Holdens are just as good if not better than the imports.''

Commonwealth Motors dealer principal Ross Armstrong said the dealership, now based in Phillip, had been selling Holdens in Canberra for about 55 years, and it was a shame the company had decided to put an end to its Australian production line.

''I've been in Holden dealerships all my life and I've basically got motor oil running around in my veins,'' he said.

''As a long-term employee of Holden dealerships and a long-term dealer it's always been that Holden's been built in Australia, it's a Holden product and we're very proud of it. But everything's changed and the world has changed.''

Mr Armstrong said people recognised Holden as an Australian brand and knew the Commodore in particular as an Australian car, a selling point for many Canberra customers.

But he said Holden had assured the dealers that even after local production ends in 2017, the company would continue to provide vehicles suited to the Australian market.

''I think it'll work. I'm not negative about it at all. It's a fact of life, it's been coming for a long time. I didn't like the news when I heard it, but it's a fact of life. It's not viable to build vehicles in Australia. We'll still continue on and sell a lot of cars as we always do, and it'll be business as usual.''