Co-investment or government assistance in various forms is a fact of life for the global car industry, Holden boss Mike Devereux says.

Mr Devereux has defended the allocation of government funds to the company as it starts to build the new VF Commodore range at its Elizabeth assembly plant for sale both in Australia and overseas.

The company last year secured $275 million in assistance from the federal, South Australian and Victorian governments to ensure the future of its local operations until at least 2022.

That includes a commitment from Holden to develop and build two new vehicles which Mr Devereux said would inject $4 billion into the Australian economy.

"Co-investment, government assistance is a fact of life for every automaker in every country in the world," he told reporters in Adelaide on Friday.

"Whether it is a tariff wall, whether it is a central bank systematically weakening its currency or whether it's co-investment or government assistance to attract billion dollar investments."

Mr Devereux said Holden took its taxpayer assistance very seriously and wanted to provide a great return on investment.

"We believe we're doing just that," he said.

His comments were supported by Premier Jay Weatherill who said the co-investment program had secured the long-term future of Holden in SA.

"On anybody's reckoning that is a great deal for this state and a fantastic deal for this company," he said.

But both Mr Devereux and Mr Weatherill sidestepped the question of whether or not further government assistance would be required in coming years.

The Holden boss said the company was in constant contact with its government partners but could not predict the economic conditions of the future.