V8s drive GM surge

Sales of V8 Commodores will reach a record at the end of the month, as Holden's family car celebrates its 12th straight year as Australia's favourite.

Sports utes have also boosted demand for V8 engines, with the SS and SS-V models in the latest VE family accounting for 70 per cent of deliveries this year.

“With such a strong demand for our V8s it would be no surprise that we are now seriously and actively looking at introducing active fuel management here in Australia,” GM Holden chairman Chris Gubbey says.

GM has used cylinder deactivation for more than 10 years, with systems that cut back V8s to six or four-cylinder operation during idling or freeway cruising.

Hi-tech systems are doing a similar job to cut emissions at idle and GM Holden is moving quickly to get a new computer controller system for its Commodore V8.

“It is called displacement on demand. When you don't have any demand it drops to four cylinders,” Mr Gubbey says. He has not given a timetable but the V8 update will probably be part of the mid-cycle VE update, which should come at the end of next year.

GM Holden is also working on biofuel operation for its local powerplants, flagged at the unveiling in September of its VE Sportwagon at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney. 

“We are looking across our whole range, what we need to do on going green and fuel economy,” Mr Gubbey says.

The growing popularity of V8 VEs comes as Holden celebrates a richer model mix, which is boosting its bottom line for the same number of cars sold.

“Commodore is on track for its 12th successive year as Australia's No. 1 seller, currently about 10,000 units ahead of its nearest rival,” Mr Gubbey says.

“There are some interesting facts on how this is going because private sales are increasing. We are about 40 per cent up on the same period last year, proving how popular it still is with Aussie families.”

And the V8 is doing best of all. “V8 sales are significantly up,” he says.

“Almost double in real terms. We're actually on track to have a record sale of V8s this year, even surpassing the golden years of 2001 to 2003."

“It has gone from about 10 per cent of our mix to almost 20 per cent this year.”