Holden Commodore 2007 News

Small, economical cars powered record January sales, 9.9 per cent up on the same month last year. VFACTS show it was a close contest at the top of the chart, with the small Corolla beating the big Commodore by 11 sales — 3485 to 3474.Holden played down the defeat — five months after the new model went on sale — noting that few businesses buy cars so early in the year."In January, fleet sales are softer so it is no surprise that the whole large-car segment is slightly down," GM Holden marketing manager Alan Batey says.He says there is a strong future for Holden's best-selling car, despite the surge in sales of small cars, such as the Corolla."The Commodore remained the best-selling car in the country last year for the 11th year in a row," Batey says.There were not many smiles at Ford either — it sold only 1974 Falcons last month, despite a drive-away deal and free six-speed automatic and stability control.Ford Australia says the Falcon result is the worst since 1990, when it began to keep accurate sales records.Ford Australia spokeswoman Sinead McAlary says the drive-away Falcon deal was not successful.Sales in the light-car segment (which includes models such as the Toyota Yaris) were up 14.3 per cent on last January.Sales of small cars (including models such as the Corolla) were up a huge 26.3 per cent, and large cars were down 0.9 per cent.The Mazda3 continued to sell strongly; January sales of 3347 put it third on the chart, 138 behind the Corolla. Other small cars to make the top 10 included the Astra (2239) and Ford Focus (1665). Mitsubishi's Lancer finished just outside the top 10 with 1527 sales, the company's best-selling car.The Hilux (2781) and Yaris (2498) were strong again, but Toyota's larger cars were off the pace. The Camry did not make the top 10 with 1347, and the new Aurion continued its slow start with 1125.The Falcon ute struggled with 834, but outsold Holden's Commodore ute with 697.Ford's Territory responded to a $4000 cashback deal to notch 1343, in front of the Holden Captiva (577) and Toyota Kluger (389). WHAT'S SELLINGTOP 10 MAKES1 Toyota 16,2382 Holden 11,2583 Ford 75014 Mazda 66275 Honda 54356 Nissan 50857 Mitsubishi 45548 Subaru 30979 Hyundai 306710 Volkswagen 2034TOP 10 MODELS1 Toyota Corolla 34852 Holden Commodore 34743 Mazda3 33474 Toyota Hilux 27815 Toyota Yaris 24986 Holden Astra 22397 Ford Falcon 19748 Nissan Navara 18749 Ford Focus 166510 Holden Barina 1563

Motorsport guru Tom Walkinshaw has opened a new aftermarket "fun factory" specialising in turning Commodores and Astras into fast track and street machines.Walkinshaw Performance was launched last week with a range of upgrades, including superchargers, sports exhausts, AP Brakes packages, and suspension and lowering kits.The new division is completely (and deliberately) separate from Walkinshaw's official Holden-based performance company HSV, operating from the same Braeside factory as the Elfin sports car company.Walkinshaw Performance CEO Chris Payne, formerly of HSV, says there is no clash between Walkinshaw's aftermarket add-on department and HSV. He says the new department is for more extreme modifications than a manufacturer such as HSV is allowed to do."You could say that HSV has created this thriving aftermarket industry of copy and replica high-performance Commodores."HSV customers, like Commodore customers, have been buying the extra stuff from hundreds of tuning shops, so Walkinshaw Performance is an alternative to those aftermarket shops."Modifications start from $590 for lowered sports springs to $11,690 for a supercharger kit fitted to a VE Commodore V8.All upgrades are supplied and fitted by the company rather than handed over to do-it-yourself home mechanics. Most of them are performance-related.GM Holden spokesman Jason Laird says people will have to consult the carmaker before fitting any aftermarket product."The warranty on the parts and quality of workmanship is 12 months, so we don't support any better warranty than the best aftermarket companies out there," he says."In a lot of cases, the customer is not overly concerned about that because they are just looking for ways to make their cars a little bit sweeter, look a bit more aggressive, to handle better and to have a better exhaust note," Payne says."Some of those things may not affect a new car warranty, while in some cases we are doing older cars close to warranty expiry anyway."Unlike some tuning shops, all products have been tested by Walkinshaw Performance and racing drivers Rick and Todd Kelly."Quite often in the backyard operations, the customer's car is actually the prototype. In our business we run development cars," Payne says."This is aftermarket but it is designed with a mind to OE (original equipment). It's not just about kiloWatts because we look at reliability, durability and the total car. With every product you have to own it for five years — still going to the track, but also down the street."

Jack Perkins, 20, will contest the V8 series alongside another 20-year-old in Shane Price, even though the boss concedes his rookie son lacks experience."No he's not ready, but when is anyone ready? You have to do something for the first time at some stage," Perkins Sr says."I believe another year in the development series would have been just marking time. To move up to the main series standard you have to practise, qualify and race with the best drivers."Perkins Sr chose to go with the youngsters after talks broke down with experienced drivers, and he warns that ballooning driver salaries are damaging the sport."The problem for the V8 Supercar teams is we can all hire top-shelf drivers, but only one of the 10 will win, and that makes nine losers."I tried top-shelf drivers last year and it didn't give me race wins even though the machinery was good enough to win."The V8 Supercar bubble is about to burst, but team managers are too stupid to realise it. The sport's two most important sponsors, Holden and Ford, are on their knees and cutting costs. You can't afford to spend huge salaries on racing-car drivers."There are, of course, some downsides with the lack of experience: the performance level and the potential for more crashes. But Shane and Jack will only get better, not worse."Perkins Jr says he is a bit apprehensive about the promotion. He had expected to contest the development series again after finishing third last year behind Adam Macrow and Price."I'm really excited because this has been my dream as a kid, and it's happened much quicker than I expected."But I'm nervous about it too because I don't want to make a fool of myself."Obviously (sponsor) Jack Daniel's would prefer some sort of lead driver, but they have said they are happy with me," Perkins Jr says.Perkins Sr received a belated Christmas present when he was able to buy a second licence to run as a two-car operation this year. But the delay means the Jack Daniel's team will struggle to complete two VE Commodores in time for the Clipsal Adelaide 500 in March, potentially forcing Jack to run the previous model VZ model at the season opener.

General Motors product chief Bob Lutz confirmed the high-performance Commodore SS, the sporty V8 version of Australia's favourite sedan, would sell as the Pontiac G8 in the US, with the export car due to be unveiled at the Chicago motor show next month."We're seriously planning to import a lot of Commodore SSs in the guise of Pontiac G8s," Mr Lutz said at the Detroit motor show yesterday. "It's such a logical thing to do."The export drive comes at a critical time for the nation's vehicle industry, which has been hit by a sales slump as consumers, mindful of higher petrol prices, shift to smaller imported cars.This has forced three of the four big local manufacturers - Mitsubishi, Ford and Holden - to cut jobs in response to tougher market conditions and search for cheaper parts overseas.Mr Lutz, a prime mover behind the Monaro export scheme, said GM's global strategy now required every model to be feasible for any market. He said the flipside for Australia would be an increasing variety of vehicles imported from the US, including the new Camaro.He refused to say when Commodore shipments would begin, but the February unveiling in Chicago suggests work is well advanced.The Monaro sold beyond expectations in Australia but failed to reach sales forecasts in the US, where it was criticised as being too bland to resurrect the famous Pontiac GTO muscle car.Exchange rates, with the rising Australian dollar, were another problem. "With the GTO we made a mistake because we passed on the deterioration in profitability that we took through the appreciation of the Australian dollar," Mr Lutz said.However, the Monaro had helped change thinking at the car giant."While the GTO program may not have fulfilled all our hopes and dreams in terms of volume and profitability, it did break the ice on global programs," he said. "It got everybody in North America understanding that the engineering groups in the other regions can do excellent vehicles for the North American market."

Holden will introduce its new VE Commodore at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide in March while Ford's BF Falcon will also make its debut the same weekend. Both models have passed rigorous testing over the past several months to be allowed to contest next year's V8 series - with Holden Racing Team supplying the Commodore and Triple Eight Racing the Falcon for recent aerodynamic testing at Woomera. All Ford teams next year must adopt the new BF Falcon, with the current BA model only allowed in the development series. Holden teams however will be permitted to run either their VE Commodore or current VZ model - but it is expected every team will have the new version built and ready to go for the season opener in four months. While the BF Falcon is considered a basic cosmetic change to the front end of the vehicle, with new front splitter, side skirts and greater rear wing adjustability, the VE Commodore is almost a complete redesign. Kelvin O'Reilly, the chairman of the Touring Car Entrants Group (TEGA), said the streamlined process of the testing had allowed for a new-look start to next year's 14-round series. "It was a very streamlined and efficient process," he said. "The two manufacturers and the teams were tremendous in preparing the cars, assisting the process and ensuring that final approval was seamless. "It's fantastic that because of this the championship will present a whole new look for the start of the 2007 season." Ford driver Jason Bright believes the Falcons will start 2007 at an advantage for only having superficial changes to deal with while Holden, like its road model which has been recalled twice, could have some early teething difficulties with the new Commodore. "It's always good to keep some stability," said Bright. "There's a lot of good things in what they've been able to update on the Commodore, whether those teams can make the most it's hard to say." Bright has been criticised for his decision to quit the flourishing Ford Performance Racing outfit next season to race in his own team Britek, one of the current series backmarkers. But Bright says the naysayers could be eating their own words very quickly next year. "We have got a lot of work to do," he admitted. "Up until now we've not really had the budget to do what we needed to do but now the budget for next year is twice as big as what it has been because we have been running two cars off less money for the last two years whereas now we've got more money and only one car to concentrate on. "That allows you to do a lot more things and I think the speed will come quicker than what people think." AAP

Australia has injected excitement into the Paris Motor Show with one of the most outrageous concept cars in the French capital.The Chevrolet WTCC Ultra Concept Car is the work of talented young GM Holden designers Ewan Kingsbury and Breony Crittenden, who stood beside their creation in Paris this week as it was revealed to the world.And there is more to the outrageous new coupe than just a potential motorsport program. The Chevrolet-badged newcomer will probably become the next Holden Viva.It was displayed in Paris with a turbo-diesel engine and stripping away the pumped-out bodywork reveals a good-looking coupe that could easily be turned into a South Korean production car.It is also a fully operational car, not just a plastic body dropped over a set of wheels.The WTCC racer is the latest work from a Holden team that has won a worldwide reputation for its talent and commitment on a range of concept and production cars stretching back to the Suzuki-based Cruze and including the latest Efijy show stopper, VE Commodore and the conversion work on the production model of the Chevrolet Camaro.Kingsbury was the lead designer on the body of the new Chevrolet and Crittenden did the cabin, renewing a partnership that saw them working together on the Torana concept car that was produced in Australia and is still the model for a mid-sized future car stretched out of the VE Commodore mechanical package.The Australian connection on the WTCC car includes designer Max Wolff, who developed the original concept and early design work in South Korea, and the design department workers at Fishermans Bend, who produced the scale and full-sized clay models for the car.The interior was done in Melbourne by a digital sculpting team working entirely on computers.They were not in Paris this week, but the last big international motor show this year was flooded by Australians touting the cars that will be coming Down Under in the next few years.Australians led the work on the WTCC Ultra but Peter Bramberger, design manager at GM Holden, says the car is the most global project undertaken by General Motors."The way the WTCC Ultra took shape is indicative of Chevrolet's international alignment and intentions as a brand," Bramberger says.Apart from the Australian and South Korean input, the WTCC Ultra includes model work in India, technical input from Chevrolet's race team in Britain and a final construction team in Japan, which also builds the Daewoo T2X and S3X four-wheel-drive concepts.And the project was co-ordinated from the United States by GM's global design chief, Ed Welburn.But it is Kingsbury and Crittenden who know the most about the car and what it means."A car's proportions are the biggest factor in its appearance, so all the early work concentrated on this area. Correct proportions are vital, they can make a car look fast even when it's standing still," Kingsbury says."The intention was to give the concept a fresh, exciting and aggressive combination of surfacing and graphics. All the lines on the car accelerate rearward of the front door, to give the car more speed, and keep the visual weight in the correct position."The work on the interior was matched to that concept.Crittendon notes, "We opted for raw dark surfaces by using unpolished metal or matte carbon fibre inserts. By doing this, we kept a little secretive about the material, and called this design principle the 'stealth them'."

Simcoe led from the front on styling of the new Holden before winning promotion to his current job with GM design in Detroit. Walkinshaw is tapped into the performance end of the VE envelope through Holden Special Vehicles and the V8 Supercar racing program he directs. The two men were in Melbourne for the unveiling of the VE, Simcoe on home leave and Walkinshaw going to the HSV dealer preview on the Gold Coast. Then he took in the Queensland 400 where one of his men, Garth Tander of the Toll-HSV Dealer Team, cleaned up. Simcoe was happy to watch as his successor, Tony Stolfo, and the rest of the Holden design team talked journalists through the car's development and received the praise they deserve. He was just as happy to talk about the latest developments at Elfin, reported on Page 52, and the new-age sportscars he designed for the company. But he was happiest talking about his growing collection of classic cars, which now runs to an Aston Martin and a couple of rare Lancias. Simcoe, a big wheel at GM these days, can talk about almost anything, from the reason there are no cupholders in the latest Astra to the latest generation of style-driven new models. He can't be specific but gives strong hints that GM has finally realised the only way out of its current crisis is to build cars that people really want. That means cars with emotional design, such as the VE Commodore. There has been a lot of talk since the first VE previews about fuel economy, and it was good to hear, finally, that the car is about line-ball with the outgoing VZ. Some models are slightly up and some are slightly down. But the bottom line is still good if you remember the VE is bigger and heavier and has a much larger front area. The results will not be enough for some, and Toyota is sure to slam the economy message as it takes its all-new Camry four -- and the V6 Aurion in September -- up against the VE. But it is important to remember that all the crucial decisions, including weight and economy targets, were made long before the current fuel crisis. Simcoe says it is important for people to give the VE a chance, to test drive it and feel the changes. But Walkinshaw, who never holds back on something important, cannot help being blunt. "You have to get behind this car, not just for Australia, but for the world," Walkinshaw says. "This car deserves to go overseas and to be a success in Australia. "But I'm worried about some of the reaction. "In the 1980s it was a bit of sport to poke fun at the British motor industry. And now we don't have one . . ."

More than 1000 engineers pored over the car, drove it more than 3.4 million kilometres in Australia and overseas, subjected it to minus-20 degrees and more than 50 degree heat and crashed it 79 times.GM Holden executive director of engineering Tony Hyde said the $480 million engineering project had produced a quieter, safer, more reliable and refined Commodore than the VZ model.However, he also revealed that the longer, wider, taller car is now more than 100kg heavier at 1690kg.Weight gains were in the chassis up 33kg, body up 70kg, doors 5kg, exterior 6kg and electrics 10kg, offset by savings of 16kg in the interior.Hyde said the added mass made the car stiffer and safer.However, together with extra power and torque, it had also made it thirstier in some models.The base model four-speed auto Omega is a marginal .1litres per 100km more fuel efficient than the VZ base model while the biggest saving was .4l/100km in the six-speed manual SV6.However, five models with the new American-made six-speed auto from Cadillac recorded 0.3l/100km more.While Holden will release a dual-fuel LPG/petrol Commodore later this year, a fugal diesel-powered model is at least 18 months away."We have a diesel engine on test in a Commodore at the moment, which we bought from Germany," he said."Its pretty good and we've asked how much, but GM (in Detroit) would have to make a decision and I have no idea how long that would be."In the current circumstances of high fuel prices where it is a pressing issue, it would still be 18 months to two years before we could have a diesel in a Commodore."He dismissed suggestions of a hybrid in the near future."The car hasn't been designed with a hybrid in mind at all," he said.Hyde was speaking during the second week of a three-week media launch program at their Port Melbourne headquarters.Last week it was revealed the Commodore would come in seven models: the new base Omega, Berlina, SV6, SS, Calais and two special V variants in SS and Calais.There will be five transmissions, including the new US six-speed auto, with all other transmissions upgraded.This week, engineers have revealed a host of other facets about the new CommodoreThe body is 50 per cent stiffer than VZGaps and margins in the exterior panels and interior trim have been reducedRepairs will be reduced thanks to a bolt-on front module and hinged doorsNew flat-blade wipers will include washersThe French-made windscreen is made of sound-deadening glassThe headlight projections are whiter and widerThe heating system warms up 15 per cent fasterThere are more air vents inside the cabin The glovebox is 50 per cent largerThere are more storage bins and bigger drink holdersThe battery is now located in the boot with jump-start posts in the engine bay.

Electrical engineering group manager Paul Gibson said one of the engineers sought the help of his mother to make sure controls for the information systems were easy to use. The result is an intuitive system that even includes a help button modelled on the Microsoft help button. When pushed, the help button will describe how to operate various functions. The new electrical functions are co-ordinated by a GM Local Area Network (GMLAN) which not only allows communications between functions, but also allows simple dealer retro-fitting of functions such as satellite navigation. Gibson said that although the system was twice as complex, it was also faster and more reliable thanks to substantial testing on a new $500,000 simulator. Features of the cars new electrics include: Three instrument illumination colours. A Saab-inspired night lighting system which only displays crucial information. Roof-mounted aerial for stronger AM reception. Roof-mounted DVD system which can be retro fitted in all models. Bluetooth mobile phone connectivity standard in most models and available in Omega. Fully integrated satnav available later this year. A more accurate fuel gauge system. Front and rear parking assist on selected models. Auto headlights and rain-sensing wipes on selected models. Holden has also boosted its telematics security systems through GPS and mobile phone technology with the addition of a fleet control system so owners can monitor whereabouts, speed and other information. The private security system has also been boosted with Holden Assist Ultra offering the ability to immobilise the vehicle if stolen.

After more than six years and $1 billion, GM Holden has finally ripped the wraps off its all-new VE Commoore. The car was unveiled in Melbourne this morning ahead of sales from the middle of August and production is already building rapidly at Holden's factory at Elizabeth in South Australia. The VE is a dramatic change from the outgoing VZ Commodore, with a much more angular and European look. The cabin is a huge improvement in design and finishing. The VE was previewed to Australia's motoring press and an invited audience of Holden executives at the Melbourne Convention Centre, where three cars   the Calais, new SS-V muscle car and long-wheelbase Caprice -- shared the spotlight. "Today is a big day for the Australian car industry and VE Commodore is a big car for the future of Holden," the chairman of GM Holden, Denny Mooney, says. "A car more Australian in its design and engineering than any Holden before it. A car which carries more global significance for us than anything we have done before." Mooney revealed a few tidbits on the VE but refused to discuss a range of subjects from fuel economy to final pricing. But he did confirm that there will be a new base car, the Omega, which replaces the Executive and the Acclaim and that V-series models will sit at the top of each series. GM Holden has already confirmed that Electronic Stability Program will be standard on all VEs and both side and curtain airbags will be available. He also confirmed that power has lifted a little to 180 and 190 kiloWatts in the 3.6-litre Global V6 engine, with 270 kiloWatts and 530 Newton-metres of torque in the SS. The V8s will also have a six-speed automatic and 20-inch alloy wheels will be available on the SS, with 19s as standard. The VE also has all-new front and rear suspension and its microprocessor power has been more than doubled over the VZ. GM Holden will show the car to its dealers on the Gold Coast this week, when Holden Special Vehicles will also preview its cars. But HSV chairman, John Crennan, would say nothing about the work at the hot Holden factory beyond confirming that details would be public on August 21.