Commodore export off again

The Pontiac G8 program finishes at the end of the year but there was hope of a new direction with trans-Pacific shipments from GM Holden under the luxury Caprice nameplate for use in the Chevrolet family.

GM's product guru Bob Lutz, flagged a fresh opening for the Commodore last week when he said it was being considered for a born-again export deal.

But Lutz has now back-flipped.

"The G8 will not be a Caprice after all," Lutz says.

He has just been lured from the brink of retirement, at 77, to become the marketing and public relations chief for the company now known as 'New GM'. It is emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the USA much faster than anyone predicted, although there are still doubts over some sales — including Opel of Germany — and questions about the future product line-up.

Lutz was expected to finish with GM in December and there has already been a serious shake-up among the heads of his former engineering division. But he still has big clout and is a major fan of the Commodore and its G8 clone.

"I'd mentioned it, and said we were studying it, giving it a serious look, because a car like the G8 was just too good to waste. That's all still true," Lutz says.

"But I have to say that, with my new 'marketing' hat on, upon further review and careful study, we simply cannot make a business case for such a program. Not in today's market, in this economy, and with fuel regulations what they are and will be.

"With budgets being what they are for the time being, the resources must be allocated elsewhere."

Even so, Lutz has not ruled out some future role for Commodore-based cars in the USA.

We have a tremendous rear-wheel drive team in Australia that gave us the beloved G8, a team that we will tap into at some point again in the future for its expertise and sheet metal."