Supercars legend Mark Skaife says the looming demise of the Holden brand is akin to a death in the family.
Holden's parent company General Motors announced on Monday it was "retiring" the iconic automotive label after years of declining sales.
The news sent shockwaves across Australia and particularly those involved in motorsport.
After a brief dalliance with Nissan at the start of his driving career, five-time Supercars champion Skaife became synonomous with the Red Lion.
He even ran the brand's Holden Racing Team for a period during the mid-2000s.
"My best analogy is that it's like a family member dying," Skaife told AAP.
"It's such a big part of the social fabric of Australia. There wouldn't be a family in this country that doesn't have some Holden story.
"I'm absolutely gobsmacked.
"If you think about the market share and what's transpired over the last couple of years, you understand the reasoning but it still doesn't make it any easier to accept losing one of the iconic brands in this country."
There are eight teams in this year's Supercars championship, including factory-backed Red Bull Holden Racing Team, set to run Commodores in 2020.
Despite admitting the decision ends the long-running Holden vs Ford rivalry which had sustained Australia's premier motorsport championship for so long, Skaife is confident Supercars will find a way forward into 2021 and beyond.
"It's incumbent on us to come up with a plan that keeps Supercar racing as the biggest and most popular form of car racing in this part of the world," he said.
"There's been lots of changes of models and different sponsors and cars across that journey for 60 years.
"This is clearly a pothole in the road but it's something that we've got to deal with and I'm sure we're capable of it."
Australian Associated Press
