Last Australian car ever turns 20
By Byron Mathioudakis · 17 Jul 2026
The final-ever car to be designed, engineered and built in Australia was released 20 years ago this week, on July 16, 2006 – just three days after production commenced in Elizabeth, South Australia.A perfect excuse to see the Holden VE Commodore with a fresh perspective.Not as an infamous failure with timing chain issues, an eternal engine light on and broken heater controls, but as one of the world’s last affordable family cars with a body builder presence, great chassis, loping performance and rock-solid safety.Find a good one today and the VE’s muscular, dynamic strength can still disarm. In a world of same-same SUVs, don’t you miss hunky world-class Australian cars made for our environment?Understanding why the final Commodore was what it became may make some people reassess this model’s incredibly complicated story, because one day, future generations will be clambering for a slice of bygone automotive history.Here are 10 reasons why Australia’s last car deserves more respect. The VE revival starts right here.The 1948 formula on repeatEvery Holden family sedan from 1948’s first 48-215 to the final VF II of 2017 followed the same template. To a tee. A large three-box four-door rear-wheel-drive family car with at least five seats and six cylinders.At the start, the formula was an obscene money-spinner. General Motors-Holden’s (GMH) became so profitable with 50 per cent market share within its first decade that people actually called for the government to rein it in.That didn’t last. Rivals led by Ford’s thematically identical Falcon swooped in, the market fragmented as the population diversified driven by Japanese cars, then fuel prices soared, GMH went bankrupt (but was bailed out by Detroit in 1987) and Holden had to be content with half its late 1950s market share (or less).The writing should have been on the wall by the late 1990s, as a new kind of family car, defined by the pioneering Toyota RAV4, steamrolled across the globe.The VT Commodore illusionIsn’t it funny that, in 2026, while the VT Commodore is admired, the AU Falcon that embarrassingly flopped against it is what’s revered as the era’s ultimate Australian family car.This Commodore’s phenomenal sales emphatically put Holden on top again after years of to-ing and fro-ing with the EF and EL Falcon series.It was such as success not because of any enduring loyalty to the brand, but because people hated the then-new AU’s styling. And, at the time, Holden was GM’s most profitable division on the planet – the darling of Detroit.These are important distinctions to make in understanding Holden’s desire to go all-in with the next-gen model, because by 1999, following a bumper volume year that saw a record-breaking 94,642 Commodore registrations, GM thought sedans would prevail against SUV imports.Project 2686, that became the VE, was headed by engineering veteran, Tony Hyde, and was Holden’s biggest investment in an Australian vehicle since the 1971 HQ (one of Hyde’s earlier jobs), and the first all-new, non-German Opel-based big Holden since then too.In 2001, that 1948 formula was yet-again set in stone more-or-less, while the fail-proof Commodore was still riding high on top of the pops.“VE Commodore is the car we always wanted to build,” Hyde said.But even back then, SUVs were already decimating sedan demand across the world, including here. Clearly, Holden didn’t want to believe it – and there was still five years of VE development that lay ahead. The 2005 oil crisisJust as today’s soaring fuel prices have kicked the door wide open for electric vehicles, the world’s third biggest oil crisis after 1973 and 1979 then went on to pull the rug from under the VZ Commodore, BF Falcon and its Territory SUV offshoot.None really ever recovered. By the eve of the VE launch on July 16, 2006, tensions must have been unbearable down at Holden’s Fishermans Bend headquarters. The gala launch eventAfter five years of anticipation, on an overcast Sunday morning, a VE SS V and its WM Caprice long-wheelbase luxury sedan sibling stormed a Melbourne stage before the media, to the incongruous tune of UK indie band Republica’s Ready to Go – a 10-year-old hit by then.This was meant to signal the 14 model Commodore’s retention as the number-one selling model in Australia, following strong competition from the surging Mazda 3 and Toyota Corolla small cars. One. Billion. Dollars!The VE was proudly proclaimed Holden’s “Billion Dollar Baby” (totalling nearly $A1.7 billion today), which is a colossal amount in anybody’s language for what were two similar large rear-drive sedans in a sub-million-annual-unit market that would barely take in 100,000 vehicles annually.No, the fourth-generation Commodore wasn’t just for Australian mums and dads this time.But what was meant to be Holden’s victorious return to prominence was instead undermined by the media’s insistent questioning surrounding the VE’s higher-than-expected fuel consumption compared to the much-lighter VZ it replaced.That became the main focus of the headlines that followed. And it’s all people talked about, souring the new Holden for many consumers seeking something more economical.VE product fun factsOver 1000 engineers and technicians worked on Project VE over a five-year period leading up to its launch.The VE sedan’s final design by Peter Hughes was frozen by mid 2002, and evolved from a basic sketch by styling boss Mike Simcoe in 1998.VE sedan was 18mm longer, 57mm wider and 20mm taller than the VZ equivalent.Over the VZ, the VE sedan’s wheelbase increased by 126mm, to 2915mm.The VE ute’s longer 3009mm wheelbase was shared with the WM Statesman/Caprice models.Holden estimated that the VE was tested over 3.42 million kilometres, with the electricals undergoing over 41,000 hours of testing. Surely that Alloytec V6 engine light would have driven them nuts by then!The VE’s body-in-white was by far the stiffest and strongest Holden ever built. Still on safety, the Commodore was the first to standardise electronic stability control (ESC) across the range.Technically, the VE was a front mid-engine sedan, with the engine mounted behind the front axle and steering mounted forward of the front axle centre line. Pushing the front wheels to the leading extremities helped achieve this.Suspension is independent multi-link all-round.Holden secured Ford BA Falcon/SX Territory colour and trim (and more) designer Sharon Gauci’s services for the VE; she retired earlier this year after 22 years with GM, lately as Executive Director of Global Design for Buick and GMC.In VE Series 1 cars, Australians could buy engines mated to four-speed, five-speed or six-speed automatic transmissions.The VE’s aggressively flared wheel arches were not aerodynamically inefficient as many are led to believe, though they were toned down for the VF.The Zeta platform project was officially sanctioned on April 12, 2002; GM had wanted Holden to switch to a far-more complex Cadillac architecture known as Sigma for VE, but it was too expensive and narrow in key packaging areas.The dashboard’s symmetry was deliberate to aid left-hand-drive productionAt launch engine choices were a Holden-built 3.6-litre HFV6 V6 in either 180kW/330Nm LE0 or 195kW/340Nm LY7 guises, while a Corvette-derived L98 6.0-litre Gen-IV V8 delivered 270kW/530Nm.Front and rear track increased 33mm up front and 41mm in the rear.Weight distribution was close to 50/50.Around 1500 Holden SSs received the Pontiac G8’s nose cone to clear stock as a result of the latter brand’s dissolution in 2009. An entire family of VE SUVs, coupes, crossoversOf course, a VE utility (out in 2007) and wagon (from 2008) followed, but these would only account for part of that billion-dollar VE outlay.We didn’t learn until years later that Project VE was initially conceived in the early 2000s with far, far grander scope and scale.It took in an SUV (Holden’s Territory no less, badged Nullarbor), another Adventra crossover wagon, a VE Monaro (eventually revealed by the Coupe 60 concept of 2008), a Crewman dual-cab ute and even a mid-sized sports sedan called TT36 Torana, to take on the BMW 3 Series. Car enthusiast Bob Lutz headed GM’s global product strategy and he championed Holden’s engineering knowhow. GM’s head of global large carsThese vehicles would variously also serve GM’s international brands across North America, South America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East.Using the VE’s Zeta rear-drive architecture, the so-called VE Flex Enablers strategy would see these and other Commodore spinoffs sold as Chevrolets, Pontiacs, Buicks, Opels, Vauxhalls, Saabs and Daewoos, and possibly even as Fiats, Lancias and Alfa Romeos had GM’s investment in the Italian conglomerate not sour spectacularly.It’s difficult to pinpoint precisely when the VE Flex Enabler strategy untangled, but it adversely affected Holden profoundly, as each individual project was cancelled.After the boom years of the early 2000s, GM was haemorrhaging money by mid-decade, forcing further cuts to VE, and the looming global financial crisis just made things worse.It was a perfect storm for the Commodore to be born into.Holden VE-based 2010 CamaroA survivor was the reborn Chevrolet Camaro, that was designed in the United States but engineered in Melbourne using the Zeta platform. For years before its 2009 production debut, prototypes made regular appearances on Australian roads.It is likely that the Monaro 60 Concept died so the Camaro could live. Pontiac G8The VE export program was also dramatically diminished.While there were Commodore SS-based Pontiac G8 and G8 ST ute versions announced for America, only the sedan made it across the Pacific, before GM’s May, 2009 bankruptcy and subsequent closure of the famous brand also killed that project too.VE Sportwagon’s Alfa connectionAs an interesting side note, the VE-based Nullarbor SUV and Adventra crossover wagon gave licence to create the VE Sportwagon as a ‘shooting brake’ model, instead of a boxy carryall.The handiwork of senior designer, Tony Stolfo, it was the first big Holden wagon since the demise of the HG in 1971 that shared the sedan’s shorter wheelbase.Holden design chief, Richard Ferlazzo, pointed to the tailgate opening that ate into the rear roof portion as a direct rip-off from the Alfa 156 wagon.Finally, no VE sedan ever came with a split/fold rear seat, even though the Falcon had done so since the release of the EA in 1988. The official story at the time was that the solid bulkhead that remained in place enhanced the Commodore’s handling and refinement, giving it a decisive dynamic edge.However, a senior Holden exec later admitted that the decision was made to lure people wanting extended-cargo versatility into the Sportwagon instead, since that was an untested concept.AftermathA raft of updates occurred in August 2009, headed by the introduction of a smaller-capacity, 3.0-litre V6 engine prioritising fuel economy, as well as upgraded 3.6-litre V6 units and improved transmissions.In 2010, the VE Series II brought styling, engineering and interior changes as well.Over 520,000 VEs were built between July 13, 2006 and May 17, 2013, representing the longest-ever single-model run of any Holden model, as well as the most produced.More than 350,000 were sold in Australia during that time, with the series holding on to the top-selling spot up until 2010.Happy 20 birthday, Holden VE.
