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CORRECTED - CORRECTED-GMAustralia unit hires 1,000 for U.S. exports

In SYDNEY story headlined "GMAustralia unit hires 1,000 for U.S. exports", please read dateline as ....Jan 25.... instead of ....Jan 24 (correcting date).

A corrected story follows.

SYDNEY, Jan 25 (Reuters) - Holden Australia, the Australian unit of General Motors Corp , announced on Saturday a hiring drive to recruit 1,000 workers to help build the new Pontiac GTO muscle car for the U.S. market.

Holden aims to run assembly lines around the clock at its suburban Adelaide plant in South Australia as of June, building right-hand drives for the domestic market, and left-hand drive GTO models for North America.

The carmaker aims to boost its annual production 38 percent in the next five years to some 200,000 vehicles a year, building on a robust domestic economy that has been powered by the lowest interest rates for 30 years and strong consumer spending.

By exporting a planned 18,000 Pontiac GTOs, Holden intended to restore the one-time muscle-car brand, last seen in 1974, to its "flagship status in the U.S.", said Jason Laird, national manager corporate affairs.

The new hiring would push Holden's workforce to 5,200, Laird said.

Holden led Australia's car sales last year with a 21.6 percent market share, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries reported earlier this month. It sold some 178,000 vehicles in 2002, the largest sales ever by an Australian carmaker.