Holden Commodore 2007 News

The traditional six-cylinder family sedan is clawing its way back into the minds of car buyers.In doing so, family car buyers are helping the market continue its record run, according to the latest Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries sales figures.Last month, large-car sales rose 1945 vehicles, or 18.6 per cent, medium-car sales increased 1323, or 21.7 per cent, and compact crossover-wagon sales were up 1468, or 23.7 per cent.The Holden Commodore continues to be the most popular six, and 5134 sold last month. Ford sold 3186 Falcons, Toyota's Aurion managed 1925 and Mitsubishi sold 949 of its 380.Vfacts industry figures for July show that a record 86,291 cars, trucks and buses were sold, up 8729 vehicles, or 11.3 per cent, on the same month last year.Though most segments enjoyed reasonable growth, the strongest additional sales were in the family-oriented segments of large and medium cars and compact off-roaders.FCAI chief executive Andrew McKellar says sales growth this year is more widely spread across segments than last year.“In 2006 the dynamics of the automotive market were dominated by small and light-car sales but this year sales action has been more broadly based,” he says.So far this year the market total of 610,667 vehicles is running 8.9 per cent ahead of the same period last year.The FCAI continues to forecast a record sales year of more than one million vehicles.McKellar says the continued sales buoyancy is pleasing, but he is cautious about the future because of economic challenges ahead.“The overall strength of the market in July is a tremendous result and we are on track for record annual sales, but we shouldn't take the strength of the motor-vehicle market for granted,” he says.“In particular, there is nothing in these sales figures that in any way supports the case for an interest-rate increase. There is no evidence of excess demand in the motor-vehicle market.“Supply has responded strongly to meet consumer demand, competition is intense and vehicle affordability is at record levels.”  Top 10 makes1 Toyota 19,0472 Holden 12,3433 Ford 90064 Mazda 64565 Mitsubishi 53086 Honda 56327 Nissan 45978 Hyundai 40059 Subaru 300710 Volkswagen 2383 Top 10 models 1 Holden Commodore 51342 Toyota Corolla 44603 Toyota HiLux 33004 Ford Falcon 31865 Mazda3 29096 Toyota Yaris 24497 Toyota Camry 19908 Toyota Aurion 19259 Hyundai Getz 172010 Mitsubishi Lancer 1676(Source: VFACTS) 

Check out the our feature story on the VE Ute launch, including great images and video.

With only weeks before Holden pulls the covers off its VE ute the internet is buzzing with speculation about just how the tradesman's sports car will look. And it doesn't stop there. One particularly clever blogger with time and talent to burn on a computer graphics program has come up with a range of possible VE models that may not be too far off the mark.Now circulating via email, the blogger's series of pictures reveal a new Monaro, hatch-back Commodore, utes, a sporty wagon and Crewman.The computer generated images are not pinched from a secret file in the heart of the Holden design centre, but rather morphed out of official Holden press photographs from the launch of the VE Commodore last year. The images take plenty of licence with Holden's corporate design language but have enough reality to them to raise an eyebrow or two.The Holden aficionado site LS1 has been running hot with comment on the CGI models, with most web chat centred around the proposed Monaro comeback styling and the sleek-looking sportswagon.Reaction has been split about the look of the cars but the overall impression is that any Monaro would be a good Monaro and that the wagon should come with the mystery designer's low-riding sporty styling.“Ooo, I like the wagon,” says LS1 poster belz-V8, while dazz5.7 takes the view: “Not much cargo area in the back of the wagon! Needs to be strrreeettccchhhed.”The General “killed off” Monaro as a model with a much publicised auction of the last VZ car, but Holden management was evasive enough at the time to leave open the possibility of some type of future Monaro.Holden will officially reveal its new ute, based on the VE Commodore, on August 22.It is unlikely that the real-world ute will have the apparently-truncated load area evident in these artist's impressions.It is also expected that as well as the standard ute shape, Holden will add the twin-cab Crewman to the line-up. And it is probable that a commercial range of one-tonne derivatives will also be on the market by next year.While there has been no confirmation of a wagon model in the VE line-up, it has been a key player in Holden fleet sales in previous Commodores and speculation is running high that one will join the VE family early next year.“With only a matter of weeks until the VE ute is officially revealed, it's very encouraging that there is already so much excitement ahead of its launch,” says Holden South Australia corporate affairs manager Andrea Matthews.“There's certainly been a great deal of speculation about what it might look like, and all will be revealed soon enough.”While Holden VE ute production is taking place at the Elizabeth plant, the only images of the new machine to emerge have been of heavily disguised vehicles.“Beyond the ute, Holden has not confirmed any other VE derivatives,” Matthews says. 

With the local car industry now at the halfway point in the 2007 sales race, it is easy to see who's winning and who's losing.Toyota is basking in the glory of not only being No.1, but also cementing its sales lead so convincingly that — barring a catastrophe — it will take out the sales crown this year.The Altona-based Japanese company is 40,404 vehicles clear of its nearest rival, Holden. It is also relishing the positive spin of the Corolla knocking off the Holden Commodore last month.But apart from Toyota, other players are also revelling in the good times.Of the importers, Mazda, Subaru, Suzuki and Peugeot managed strong June sales.Mazda sold 6932 cars, with the Mazda3 being the strongest seller on 3037.The company experienced the biggest market share gain of any importer.Its record half-yearly result is 20.3 per cent up on the same time last year, lifting market share from 6.7 per cent in 2006 to 7.5 per cent, a gain of 0.7 percentage points.Subaru's tally was 4085 for the month, with the Forester, Impreza and Liberty all breaking through 1000 sales.Suzuki, like many importers, was buoyed by keen end-of-financial year deals.It sold 2368 cars for the month, bringing its year-to-date tally to 10,910 vehicles, a 43 per cent lift over last year.Of the French, an ever-expanding Peugeot line-up continues to bolster sales, but Renault flops around due to a lack of new product.Peugeot sold 1016 vehicles last month, bringing its year-to-date run-rate to 4549, a 13 per cent lift over last year. The 307 continues to be Peugeot's best seller.By contrast, Renault has a year-to-date total of 1431 vehicles, 32 cars fewer than last year.Even Saab experienced some solid growth, albeit off a low base, as the 9-3 turbodiesel helped lift the marque's appeal.Saab sold 336 cars last month, its best month for 10 years, taking its year-to-date tally to 1148, a 170 per cent lift over last year.The X-Trail, Tiida and Navara continue to drive Nissan sales. The Japanese importer sold 5845 vehicles last month with 31,176 year-to-date, a 20 per cent lift over last year.The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries monthly Vfacts figures show that most of the extra volume last month was generated by the light, small and medium car segments.A breakdown of large car sales shows that Holden sold 5588 Commodores last month, Ford 3206 Falcons, Toyota 2626 Aurions and Mitsubishi just 877 380 V6s.All three were eclipsed by the new four-cylinder Corolla, which secured 5890 sales.But a finer look at the figures shows that much of the Corolla's success was down to fleet purchases and pent-up demand for the new car, which spiked figures.But a sale is a sale. Holden's own figures point out that 29 per cent of VE Commodores are bought by private buyers, as opposed to 18.6 per cent for the VT Commodore.Apart from the Corolla, other small car stars were the Mitsubishi Lancer with 2143 sales, Holden Astra 1763 and Ford Focus 1550.Of the tiddlers, Toyota again ruled last month. The Yaris managed 2926 sales against 2486 for the Hyundai Getz, 1361 for the Kia Rio, 1351 for the Suzuki Swift and 1392 for the Honda Jazz.Despite the dominance of the light, small and medium segments, large cars were up 3.7 per cent in June and, in year-to-date terms, are running 5.1 per cent ahead of last year.However, Ford's overall market share has slipped 2 per cent and Holden's by almost 1 per cent, despite its Korean strategy, which was hoping to deliver an increased share.Mitsubishi is a bit stronger, experiencing a 0.6 per cent overall drop in share and, despite Toyota's increasing sales, its share has increased by only about 0.6 per cent.One of the more interesting results was for the Ford Fairlane.Ford sold 149 Fairlanes, bolstered by the news that the long-wheelbase sedan will be axed at the end of the year.Dealers are also reporting a slight pick-up in interest for the car from fleets.Overall, the year-to-date sales figure of 524,376 means that a record 1 million market is likely by December.   Top 10 makes  1 Toyota 24,5392 Holden 14,2563 Ford 10,3044 Mitsubishi 81945 Mazda 69326 Nissan 58457 Honda 57508 Hyundai 50239 Subaru 408510 Volkswagen 2848 Top 10 models1 Toyota Corolla 58902 Holden Commodore 55883 Toyota HiLux 42494 Ford Falcon 32065 Mazda3 30376 Toyota Yaris 29267 Toyota Camry 26458 Toyota Aurion 26269 Hyundai Getz 248610 Mitsubishi Lancer 2143 

The Holden Commodore is facing the toughest challenge yet to its long reign as Australia's favourite car.An all-new version of Toyota's Corolla has landed and took less than a month to overtake the Commodore.More than 5800 Corollas were delivered in Australia last month, against around 5500 Commodores, although official Vfacts sales figures will not be public until later today.It is the fourth time in the past year that the Corolla has stolen No.1 spot from Commodore for an individual month.However, the GM Holden flagship has not been beaten over a full year, since it ended the last serious challenge from the Ford Falcon more than a decade ago.But the change to an all-new Corolla means Toyota will be able to mount a sustained threat to the Commodore, instead of relying on value prices and rising fuel costs to lure converts and win occasional months.The Vfacts results will also show the best half-yearly industry total on record, at more than 525,000 vehicles, with industry forecasts of the first one-million year looking increasingly accurate.Ford did well with its Falcon and Territory, sales of Mitsubishi commercials were strong, and many brands will claim record months.Toyota and GM Holden are playing down the potential for a Corolla-Commodore contest.“We're pleased at the large car market stabilising, and showing some growth. We've never had a stronger mix and we're getting fantastic retail response,” Alan Batey, Holden's executive director of sales and marketing, said yesterday. 

Car companies are struggling with a $1000 problem — buyers want the latest safety technology but don't like to pay for it.In fact, they'd rather have bling rims than a certain, potentially life-saving active safety measure.The issue is over stability control, a hi-tech system that can prevent a skid. Most experts rate it as the single biggest advance in car safety in a generation. However, the Australian car industry has found it is popular only when standard, not when an extra-cost option.So far this year, only one in 100 buyers of the Hyundai Getz, from $13,990, have added the safety pack option including stability control.A “sports pack” of alloy wheels, roof spoiler and bright interior trim has proved twice as popular.In the $21,000-plus Mazda 3, demand for the stability control option has reached five per cent this year, up from two per cent last year.The US intends to make stability control mandatory on all new cars and Europe reportedly has plans to do the same.European research found the move could reduce by 80 per cent the number of crashes caused by skidding, saving 4000 lives a year if fitted to all cars there, according to Germany's University of Cologne.But in Australia, the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries, representing car makers and importers, is pressing the Federal Government not to make stability control mandatory.“That just tends to lock in old technology,” said FCAI president and Toyota Australia chairman emeritus, John Conomos.He said self-regulation would allow companies to switch to better systems as they were developed.Stability control is expected to be in 40 per cent of new cars by the end of the year.Holden has made it standard in Commodore sedans and Toyota will fit it to all Camry sedans from August. It is an option in most Falcons, standard in top-level versions. But it is not available in the new model Toyota Corolla, the top-selling small car. 

The V8 Supercar school created by Paul Morris and Marcos Ambrose has always been a hit with the rev-heads.

The country's four car makers have responded coolly to suggestions they supply cars free of charge for independent crash testing. Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) chairman, Lauchlan McIntosh, says it's a big ask but it would go a long way to establishing a better partnership between ANCAP and the local car companies.However, Ford, Holden, Toyota and Mitsubishi have long held the opinion that they crash test their cars to stringent internal standards and all their vehicles pass Australian Design Rules, so there is no need to support ANCAP.McIntosh's suggestion comes on the back of a trend by European carmakers to donate cars for EuroNCAP testing. Depending on the size of the vehicle, it costs between $50,000 and $60,000 for each Australian crash test, involving a front offset, side and pedestrian collision, he says.“We're up for $150,000 in total plus administrative costs that go with it,” he says.“In Europe most of the manufacturers donate the cars to the EuroNCAP process. Half of their total costs are met by the manufacturers.”Local carmakers refuse to endorse EuroNCAP or ANCAP testing but as safety increasingly becomes a factor in new car purchases, they are under pressure to show some acceptance of the procedure. However, they still refuse to share their own crash data with ANCAP and providing cars could be seen as a tacit endorsement.Toyota spokesman Peter Griffin says giving cars to ANCAP is “not on our agenda” but says anything could happen in the longer term. He says the company would also have issues with releasing internal crash test data publicly because it could provide an advantage to rivals.Holden spokesman John Lindsay says the ANCAP process lacks the detail of Holden's own internal testing. In developing the VE Commodore, Holden crash tested 80 cars, performed 5000 computer simulations and did 500 seatbelt restraint tests.ANCAP performs just the three tests.McIntosh says if the carmakers come on board the cars will still be selected randomly.This would avoid any allegations of testing bias or the use of specially built vehicles designed just to pass the crash test process.In EuroNCAP testing, the carmakers can request their car be tested and in such circumstances they pay for the testing.However, they have no control over the publishing of the results.Once the test is complete, the car companies are given the test results and invited to comment.McIntosh says its independent crash testing is a win-win situation for the car companies as they get vital crash test information about their new products straight into the marketplace.“They make plenty of cars available for people to test for road performance, why wouldn't they make one available for crash testing?” he says. 

It has been a turbulent past year for Australia's automotive industry but one that will go down as its best, at least in numbers of cars sold.A record one million new cars are tipped to be sold here in 2007, the first time the magic million will be eclipsed.It should be good news but such sales have only encouraged new brands to flood the market and pressure the local manufacturing base and established marques - cutting margins on new cars and largely to blame for forcing redundancies in Australian factories.Good news for new-car buyers, at least.By the end of this year, Czech and Indian-built cars will be sold in Australia, with Chinese-made cars soon to follow.Those cheap imports, along with more than 40 other imported brands competing for the Australian new-car dollar, have been held partly to blame for job losses at Holden, Mitsubishi and Ford.Holden cut more than 600 jobs at its Elizabeth plant in March, Ford announced it will stop production of its long-wheel-base cars, putting more pressure on its Geelong workforce which was cut by 600 late last year, while Mitsubishi's Tonsley Park factory is operating at just 50 cars a day with a “skeleton” staff.The job losses and flow-on job cuts in the automotive industry - more than 7500 in the past three years - also have been the result of consumers shying away from the Australian-built large sedans amid high petrol prices.However, domestic carmakers are sticking to their ambitions. Holden's new VE Commodore is proving to be a viable export option, as are Toyota's Australian-built Camry and Aurion.Up to 50,000 Commodores will end up in the U.S. as Pontiacs and long-wheel-base models will be exported to the Middle East, China and Korea.Mitsubishi - rebutting speculation that its SA plant will close - says it is tracking to its business plan, despite less than 900 of its 380-model sedans selling each month recently.Anthony Casey, general manager of national sales for Mitsubishi Australia, said the business, at the end of the first quarter of its fiscal year, looked like “a reasonable distance in front of where we had to be”.“We've stabilised (380-model sales) and, certainly from an imported product point of view, we were able to launch a number of new cars at the end of last year and they have been good for us,” Mr Casey said.“I think we've done a lot of work to consolidate our position. We did a lot of work last year in terms of right-sizing the business.”Mr Casey said Mitsubishi was gaining ground in the all-important eastern states in terms of sales and establishing a solid dealer network.Both Adelaide carmakers, Mitsubishi and Holden, have quietly revealed they have considered and studied bringing diesel powerplants to their range . . . even hybrid cars.Imported brands, particularly from Europe, are capitalising on a growing Australian passion for diesel, while improving hybrid technology has encouraged a growing green brigade of motorists here.GM Holden boss Denney Mooney said the economic climate had made it tough for the Adelaide carmaker to deliver a brand-new-model Commodore in the past financial year.The start-up costs for the VE Commodore and tough times for new-car trading sent GM Holden $146.5 million into the red in 2006. 

Craig Lowndes drove a near faultless race to take top spot on the podium, at the Hidden Valley raceway in Darwin yesterday.The 33-year-old Ford star, whose birthday was on the weekend, finished second in race one, before going back-to-back yesterday to hold off championship leader Rick Kelly, with the barnstorming Mark Skaife third.“It feels nice to finally win a round,” said Lowndes, after putting his birthday celebrations on hold.“Winning up here for the second year in a row, and especially for a new sponsor in Vodafone, is doubly special.“If I had it my way, I'd pick up the track up and have it trucked around the circuit.”The win took Lowndes to 213 points and sixth in the series standings, still 123 points in arrears of leader Rick Kelly in the Toll Holden.Holden drivers Garth Tander, Todd Kelly and Skaife also fill out three of the next top four placings.While Lowndes finished the weekend on a high, the ageless Skaife, who took the major points at Eastern Creek a fortnight ago, again took the honours in the opening race on Saturday. In a dramatic race, Will Davison, in the second of the Jim Beam Falcons, fell foul of the stewards.Davison was excluded from the results of race one and was fined $5000 (suspended) for his part in a dingle that took four cars out of the reckoning.But Lowndes, who started race three on pole, proved unstoppable yesterday, at one point opening up a 4.5-second gap, leaving a swag of Holden drivers to race for the minor placings.“The team mechanics deserve much of the credit for the improvement in the car,” Lowndes said. “I got them to make some minor adjustments to the suspension and on the rear of the car."“With 600 horsepower under the bonnet, I thought I may as well make use of it."“It certainly made the car a little bit more driveable.”Lowndes says the series is by no means over, with eight rounds still to race.“We've got a testing day organised at Willowbank to tweak the car, before we race there again in July,” he said.Kelly's podium finish in Darwin sees him open up a 39-point buffer on his Toll HSV dealer team-mate Tander, heading into the next round of the series, the Queensland 300 at Ipswich on July 22.The defending series champion has finished on the podium every round this year.