Still Holden on: This is the Holden capital of Victoria

It wasn’t too long ago that Holden cars were a permanent fixture on Australian roads, with every other car back then seemingly donning the lion badge.

And though Holden left Australia close to a decade ago, new data has revealed the lion badge lives on in this pocket in Victoria.

RELATED: This country town is hiding the last Holden dealership

According to the latest data from VicRoads – which revealed the Victorian suburbs with the highest number of registered vehicles across 30 brands – Mildura had the highest concentration of Holden registrations in Victoria.

Based on registration data from the Department of Transport Victoria, of the 34,554 vehicles registered in the regional town, approximately 12 per cent – or 4138 – are Holden cars.

Despite the influx of new brands that offer a wide array of budget and luxury models, some experts point to a few demographic factors as to why Holdens are so prevalent in Mildura.

Melbourne-based demographer Simon Kuestenmacher said Mildura’s population generally has a lower income compared to metropolitan residents.

“Because these areas are [typically] lower income, these are the areas where you don’t need to replace your car as often as you could otherwise,” Kuestenmacher told Drive.

“Replacing a car is generally one of those things you can hold off for a relatively long time. Considering the cost-of-living pressures, as long as your Holden still works, why would you replace it?

“Remember that the youngest Holden is approximately 10 years old, and the average age of a car is about 15 years old.”

Meanwhile, Australian demographer Mark McCrindle said there’s a heritage precedent among an older population behind Holden’s popularity in Mildura.

“In Mildura, the average is 40 years old, and more than three-quarters of the population was born in Australia,” McCrindle told Drive

“So, you can see why they go for those more traditional Aussie cars. The brand Australia is still very meaningful to them,” he said.

This sentiment also extends to other regional communities. As reported by Drive in November 2025, journalist Zane Dobie stumbled upon one of the last surviving Holden servicing centres in the country on his trip from Sydney to Melbourne.

Located in the NSW-Victoria border town of Holbrook, Lieschke Motors is a family-run dealer and mechanic that was once a Holden dealership before the brand closed up shop in Australia.

According to Holbrook’s dealer principal David Lieschke, he was born into a Holden family, where the passion for the Aussie icon was passed down from his father to him.

“I know Holdens; I got brought up with Holdens. When I was a young boy, Dad used to go down on the train to Melbourne and pick up a new Holden and drive them back overnight, and I don’t know anything else but Holdens,” he told Drive.

“Holden is a brand that I’m seriously passionate about. I love Holden and all my life has been based around Holden – that’s what I know.”

Though the dealer principal said some Holden dealers “tried to get more compensation out of GM [General Motors]” once the brand stopped selling Holdens, Lieschke said financial compensation isn’t the be-all and end-all.

“It’s not about the money. Sure, you come to work so you can go home and make money, but we don’t come to work to make money. We come to work because we love working on Holdens, and we get financially rewarded for working on Holdens,” he said.