Real story behind Monaro Holden won't build

A modern version of the Holden Monaro has gone viral after a secret design study was accidentally leaked via social media. The images were meant to appear briefly on a big screen during the 35th anniversary celebrations of the Monaro Car Club SA last Saturday night -- and never be seen again.

But the photos have since appeared in the mainstream media after they were posted on a Holden designer’s Facebook page. Holden fans calling for the revival of the homegrown coupe -- almost eight years after the last Monaro rolled down the Holden production line at Elizabeth -- have been told it will only ever exist on a computer screen.

The photos look like a real car because they were created using the same technology Holden uses to design production vehicles. The image of the modern Monaro was originally used in a Holden design training exercise.

Melbourne-based Holden designer David Kaylor blended existing “parts” from the new VF Commodore with the Coupe 60 concept car that was unveiled in 2008 to celebrate Holden’s 60th anniversary.

Senior Holden designers Mike Simcoe and Peter Hughes -- who were instrumental in the 1998 Commodore Coupe concept car that led to the rebirth of the Monaro in 2001 -- were so impressed they took the images with them to surprise the SA Monaro Car Club at its anniversary bash in Camden Park.

The 104 guests at the gala event were briefly shown the images of the cyber Monaro and were told it’s what the two-door coupe version of the VF Commodore would have looked like had it been approved.

“We couldn’t believe our eyes and of course we said Holden should build it,” said Fiona Schulz, the president of the Monaro Car Club SA, who owns three Monaros with her husband Don. “But they were very quick to point out it was never going to happen. It’s a tragedy but General Motors says a new Monaro won’t sell in big enough numbers.”

Kaylor got permission to post the images on his Facebook page after the SA event -- but Holden wasn't expecting them to attract such attention. "We don't want people to hold out for a car we're not going to build. We want them to buy a Commodore," said a Holden insider, who insisted the leak was not a publicity stunt.

The last Holden Monaro ever made was sold at auction six years ago for $188,000 to raise money for charity. But the last brand-new Monaro in dealer stock was sold only last year. The burnt orange HSV GTO Coupe with just 15km on the clock was kept by Holden dealer Alan Mance as a collector’s piece. But the dealership in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray was urged by Holden to get the car “off the books” because it was old stock.

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling