Holden Commodore 2009 News

PAUL Morris got an inside look at the opposition when he turned some hot laps last week in a Falcon from Stone Brothers Racing. The Commodore team boss was asked if he wanted to try the car during an end-of-season ride day, as his 2009 driver Tim Slade also got his first run in the Falcon he will race in 2009.BROOKE Tatnell bounced back from a very ordinary 14th place for a sprintcar win at his home track in Sydney last weekend. Engine tuning work restored his Krikke Motorsport sprinter to full power for a local series event, following the previous weeks' World Series contest, and he was able to run at the front in a race where Garry Brazier ran off the track and Robbie Farr flipped to make things easier for the WSS pace-setter.YOUNGSTER Daniel Erickson is looking for a new way to graduate to the Star Mazda series in the USA after losing the backing from the Australian Motor Sport Foundation that helped him race Formula Ford in Britain this year. Erickson is bitterly disappointed about losing the AMSF support but is looking forward and not back for the next step in his career.ANDREW Thompson will join Fabian Coulthard in a two-car Bundaberg Red Racing operation in 2009 as part of the Walkinshaw Motorsport attack on next year's V8 Supercar championship. Thompson, one of the most promising youngsters of recent years, takes the place of David Reynolds, who could be moving back to Porsche racing with a European program for 2010.A super-quick Audi R8 GT3 will add extra variety to the Australian GT Championship in 2010. The 2008 series champion, Mark Eddy, has decided to switch from a Lamborghini Gallardo to the German racer and will have the first R8 GT3 in the country, while his Gallardo will be campaigned next year by Perth driver Ross Zampatti.MARK Webber celebrated the end of his 2009 season with two honours at the annual Autosport awards in London. He picked up the Innes Ireland award for courage and sportsmanship and the Bruce McLaren Trophy for the best-performing Commonwealth driver of the season. David Brabham and Daniel Ricciardo both received Autosport awards for their successes through '09.DRAG racing fans in Melbourne have not given up on plans for a new venue in the city, despite a series of setbacks in recent years. Anyone who wants to support the move should go to www.motorvatemelbourne.com

It edged out basic black, with white a long way back in third.  Silver has been surging ahead in recent years, also topping the popularity contest in Australia in recent years despite the one-off attractions of everything from Kermit green to gold and even purple as hero colours on Australia's benchmark performance car, the SS Commodore.The colour chart emerged this week from DuPont, an American paint maker that has been compiling a similar popularity poll in the USA for the past 57 years.  "This is the first year we have run the world colour information. North America had silver at number one from 2000 to 2006, but while was number one from 2007 to 2009," says Nancy Lockhart, colour marketing manager for DuPont's original equipment paint division.Lockhart says the results vary by regions, with black on top in Europe and silver dominating in Asia and South America.  "There are still distinct regional differences in preference, but global trends are unmistakable. Colour preference can change from year to year because of a variety of factors including types of vehicles introduced, reduced vehicle size, consumer tastes and even the economy."These and other cultural, societal and demographic influences can shift regional trends over time.”  But she says silver, the top choice with prestige brands including Benz and BMW, is the dominant force at the moment with little likely change in coming years.  "Silver is likely to stay on top and will share the race with black," she says."Bright and chromatic metallic colours of high interest in North America. Purple is beginning to emerge in small volumes."  DuPont charts the colour changes partly to boost its business and partly as a way of helping carmakers identify emerging colour trends.“The auto industry is an increasingly global business, so regional and global colour data are vitally important to designers," Lockhart says.Despite regional differences, the top three colour choices rank well ahead of gray in fourth and — surprisingly — red in sixth. “The top colours become ‘aspirational’ with a universal appeal," says Leatrice Eiseman, the executive director of the Pantone Color Institute.  “There are many reasons to buy a new car, yet we know colour is often the ‘driver’ for purchasing a vehicle.  “Consumers have gotten very savvy about how and where to look for colour trends and they do look for guidance on what’s new in colour.”Silver is top in Australia in a reflection of the global results but DuPont says there are significant differences between regions.  In Europe, black is pulling ahead from silver — 27 to 19.9 per cent — but in Japan the perennial favourite, white, lost four percentage points from 2008 and silver dropped back to be equal in second with black.In China, silver is clearly the favourite with a 36 per cent score and black dropped back by four points despite remaining in second.  The big upset in the latest results is Russia, where green — only eighth with 1 per cent of the global result — was second to silver and took 18.2 per cent in the DuPont rankings.GLOBAL CAR COLOURSTop 10 choices — 20091. Silver — 25 per cent2. Black — 23 per cent3. White — 16 per cent4. Gray — 13 per cent5. Blue — 9 per cent6. Red — 8 per cent7. Brown/beige — 4 per cent8. Green — 1 per cent9. Yellow/gold — 1 per cent10. Others

Congratulations Ford Falcon

Congratulations to the winner, 2009 People's Choice Best Family Car: Holden Commodore SIDI.

There's a two-year waiting list of 60 buyers for the $580,00 Ferrari F458 Italia, and luxury brands BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi also had strong sales months.  But its just not the high end of the car market seeing good times return.   New car sales rose 20 per cent last month compared to last November.Bargain buys and the Federal Government's small business tax break for new vehicles are driving sales.  Among the star cars last month were the Holden Cruze, Toyota Corolla, Hyundai i30 and Mazda Mazda3 - all with starting prices around $20,000.Toyota's workhorse HiLux ute was the best-seller for the month, clocking up 4230 sales largely because of the small business incentive package.  More than 85,000 new vehicles hit the road, up 14,000 vehicles compared to November last year.Many businesses are in a last-minute rush to take advantage of government tax incentives for utes and vans, which ends on December 31. "This is an extraordinary result that provides further evidence that the market and the broader Australian economy are showing signs of recovery," Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries chief executive Andrew McKellar said."Business sales increased an incredible 35.4 per cent during the month; spurred on by the substantial incentives available until the end of the year," he said.  The off-roader segment was one of the most popular with sales surging 44 per cent.Top 10 cars - November1 Toyota HiLux 42302 Holden Commodore 39563 Toyota Corolla 33094 Ford Falcon 28635 Mazda3 25486 Holden Cruze 22747 Mitsubishi Lancer 20238 Toyota Camry 20039 Hyundai i30 199810 Toyota Yaris 1725

The V8 engine, once touted as a dinosaur ready to crumble beneath the weight of stringent emission laws and soaring fuel prices, refuses to die. Holden and Ford say demand for V8s is still strong despite large car sales declining. Holden's director of sales, John Elsworth, says about 12 per cent of Commodore sales are V8s and that percentage hadn't changed "for years" even if raw numbers are down in line with the falling large car sales.More pertinent is how the V8 engine concentrates itself. Elsworth says 90 per cent of Caprice models, 40 per cent of Utes and 30 per cent of Calais versions are ordered with V8s. "That's because a Caprice buyer wants the top-end car with everything, and that includes the V8, while the Calais V-series and the SS Utes appeal to sports-oriented drivers," he says. The SS and SSV models are solely V8 powered. "These figure haven't changed for a long time suggesting petrol price rises don't affect these buyers. "Today's Holden V8 is quite economical with its ability to shut fuel to four of its cylinders. Buyers are also aware that the resale value of a V8 is higher than other engines."In general terms slotting a V8 into either of the Australian-built brands will add between $5000 and $5500 to the price of the car.Fuel efficiency can vary enormously depending on how the cars are driven, although it is accepted wisom that nobody is buying a V8 to feather-foot the car around town. Ford's 4-litre inline six boasts fuel economy around 10.1L/100km while Holden's latest 3.6-litre V6 is generally good for about 9.9L/100km. Add an extra two cylinders and the extra cost is noticeable: 14L/100km for the 5.4-litre Ford engine and 12.6L/100km for Holden's 6-litre monster. That penalty is handled easier currently because petrol prices are down.Elsworth says the V8 was also historically linked to Holden since the first time it was fitted to its range in the HK of 1968. "The heritage is the thing for us," he says. "Consumers think V8 and to them, that means Holden."Ford spokesman Justin Lacy says the V8 is "definitely here to stay". "We have some exciting V8 news next year ... but we can't reveal that yet," he says.Ford and FPV report a slight downfall in V8 sales but Lacy says that's only partly to do with the retraction of the large-car sales segment. He says V8 buyers tend to ignore issues such as fuel economy, hence sales have relatively minor fluctuations. While Ford says V8 sales are relatively stable, it more than Holden has felt the effects of model changes. It also has a worthy performance equivalent in its 4-litre in-line six-cylinder turbocharged range which has attracted many would-be V8 buyers.Since moving to the FG range last year, Ford has reduced the models available with a V8. The V8 is now not available in the wagon and Ford Australia has deleted the Fairlane and LTD. The V8 is now available only in the XR8 sedan and Ute. The previous model offered a V8 in three sedan and four ute versions.So from a percentage of engine sales, Ford's V8 has slipped from 9 per cent in 2005 to about 7 per cent. "Historically for Ford - excluding FPV - V8s are a higher percentage of total Falcon Ute than they are of total Falcon sedan sales," Lacy says.FPV sales are historically weighted in favour of V8s by about 60 per cent. While the Aussie V8s dominate sales there are plenty of other bent-eight engines available for local sale.OTHER V8s INCLUDE: Audi: Q7, A8, R8 and RS4Bentley: Arnage and AzureBMW: range of modelsChevrolet: CamaroChrysler: 300CFerrari: all V8sJeep: Grand CherokeeLand Rover: DiscoveryLexus: range of modelsMaserati: all V8sMercedes: range of modelsRange Rover: petrol and dieselToyota: LandCruiser petrol and diesel 

The Melbourne-based carmaker is looking at the light at the end of the tunnel with cautious confidence, brought about by solid forward orders of its high-end Falcon range and good signs for the facelifted Territory.  Ford Australia boss Marin Burela said Fiesta has grown its share but the Falcon result — particularly the model mix and private share — was outstanding news for Ford in October."Our desire was to do something special with Falcon sedan, dating back to 2006, we outsold Falcon sedan vs Commodore sedan.  "I can't tell you what great celebration and great delight there was in this — our share on Falcon sedan has grown over the last year from 25 to 35 per cent in sedan.   We're extremely excited by that, I can't tell you how delighted we were with that."Burela is pleased with the Falcon sedan result but the good news is also coming from its imported line-up.  "The biggest challenge we had was maintaining our supply to dealers, we exceeded out targets on Focus, Falcon, Ute, Ranger, Transit, we had our best Ranger 4x4 private sales ever, the second best Ranger sales on record," he says.Burela believes the company has lost Territory sales because the factory was failing to match demand for the facelifted SUV, something the company was rectifying.  "We're focussed to get the car from build to dealer in a streamlined process.  "I think we're losing sales because we don't have enough vehicles in the right locations to meet demand," he says.The company will make a decision before the end of the first quarter of 2010 on the fate of the Falcon wagon based on market demand for long-serving wagon, which faces competition from within from the Mondeo wagon.  "Mondeo wagon has been pleasing, the wagon is now starting to attract some fleet interest, government, small business and the private buyer ... we're seeing a lot of activity on that,"  Burela says.The Ford boss is looking to 2010 with cautious optimism and says the company has no non-production days planned for 2010.  "We believe the industry will kick up from the second quarter, we can re-balance quickly if we need to."The 2010 market, I'm a glass half full guy, my view is that the industry will be soft in the first quarter, but I think it will be 920-950,000, let's wait and see — we think 2009 will finish 915,000-920,000.  "We have to be cautious with the optimism, there's a lot more work to be done to get the industry back to where it needs to be," he says.

 Rebounding new vehicle sales have - for the first month in more than a year - exceeded 2008 figures.  Last month's new car and truck sales from the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) totalled 80,813, up 1708 sales - a 2.2 per cent rise on October last year.The October total is the first month since June 2008 that there has been an improvement - all segments except heavy trucks contributed to the improvement.Holden's Adelaide-built Commodore remains the number one seller for the year so far with more than 36,000 sedans and wagons sold, but last month ran third to the Toyota Corolla's tally of 3724 - 269 ahead of the Commodore - and the HiLux light-commercial's total of 3707.Holden's results included Captiva topping the SUV sales charts for October and sales and marketing executive director John Elsworth said the Cruze recording its strongest sales month since it arrived in showrooms in June."We continue to be delighted with the public response to the Cruze - from a standing start it's now the third best-selling car in small car segment," he said.The year-to-date 2009 market of 762,787 vehicles is running behind the same period in 2008 by 11.7 per cent or 101,250 vehicle sales.Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) chief executive Andrew McKellar said the market was boosted by sales activity in private, business and rental buyers.  "The industry is looking to round out the year on a positive note and we expect a further surge in sales as businesses move to take advantage of the successful tax break prior to the end of the year," he said.Van sales were up almost 20 per cent last month and Rick Castellan has just bought the top-selling van in the segment, a Toyota HiAce.  The 47-year-old director of Castellan Plumbing Services is on his ninth HiAce and the tax rebate sweetened the deal to buy a new one."The deals are good at the moment, one of my other old vans died after being run into the ground, and with the government tax rebate makes it a bit better financially," he said.  Mr Castellan said many of his colleagues and opposition have also updated vehicles because of the tax rebate.  "One guy I know would normally go to the government auctions and gets a two or three year-old van but he worked it out that he's better off buying the new one with the rebate," he said.TOP 10 BRANDS     Sept         (YTD 2009 +/- on 2008)Toyota                      17,888       160,786    -20.6 per centHolden                     10,737        96,404     -12.2 per centFord                           8240          78,529     -12.7 per centMazda                        5637         63,332     -6.5 per centHyundai                     6281         53,906     42.0 per centMitsubishi                 4775         44,867     -14.3 per centNissan                      4484         42,930     -15.6 per centHonda                       2984         34,771     -25.1 per centSubaru                      3302         30,527     -6.4 per centVolkswagen             2626          25,343     -2.7 per centTOP 20 VEHICLES        Sept 2009    Year to dateToyota Corolla               3724              32,200Toyota Hilux                   3707              30,096Holden Commodore     3455             36,085Ford Falcon                   2841              25,411Mazda3                          2211              29,397Hyundai Getz                2198               17,389Holden Cruze                2183               8327Mitsubishi Lancer        2066                 17,071Hyundai i30                   2041              17,913Toyota Camry              1817               16,529Nissan Navara           1689               15,013Toyota Yaris                 1613               15,990Toyota Aurion                1426               11,289Holden Colorado         1378              12,157Ford Ranger               1284               11,046Holden Captiva          1255                 9133Mitsubishi Triton         1251              14,115Holden Utility             1127                 9411Suzuki Swift               1113                 9602Volkswagen Golf         1055             10,096     

The factory-backed Ford Performance Racing team is definitely set for a three-car operation in 2010 after expanding through a new deal with Rod Nash. The Bottle-O backed team owner, who is fielding a Commodore for Tony D'Alberto this year in V8 Supercar racing, is moving to the latest FPR Falcon next season with promising youngster Andrew Thompson on the shortlist for potential drivers.Mark Webber finished his most successful grand prix season in fourth place on the drivers' championship table. Two wins and a string of podium places were capped with another second for Red Bull Racing in the final race of 2009 in Abu Dhabi last weekend.David Sera and Matthew Wall have done it again in the latest major go-karting contest, sweeping their events at the Formula 100 nationals in Melbourne. Sera took his total of major championships to 10 when he won the Formula 100 light category while Wall took the 100 heavy final despite a failing water pump that slowed him in the later laps.Championship pressure has forced V8 Supercar champion Jamie Whincup to ditch his plan to compete in the Race of Champions in China against everyone from Michael Schumacher to Sebastian Loeb. Luckily, motocross star Chad Reed who, like Whincup, is backed by the Monster energy drink has agreed to fill his place at the RoC alongside retired MotoGP star Mick Doohan.A multi-car pileup took Marcos Ambrose out of action in the latest Nascar race at Talladega Superspeedway, leaving him classified 34th and dropping him to 18th in this year's Sprint Cup championship standings. But Ambrose has a firm drive for the next two seasons with his JTGD team after it renewed and extended its deal to race with Toyota Camrys from the Michael Waltrip stable.Honda rider Dan Reardon continues to lead motocross superstar Chad Reed in this year's Super X championship after beating him in the third round of the series in Perth. Reardon has a narrow two-point advantage over Reed, who won in Geelong on his Monster Kawasaki, with Jay Marmont just four points further back on his Yamaha in the open class battle.The Victorian sprintcar season fires up this weekend with some enticing prizes including a Ford Fiesta for the most successful racer in the A-main events of the Eureka Garages championship. The first race of the summer season through 2009-2010 will be at Avalon Raceway.The Australian Rally Championship will become a one-tyre series in 2010 under a new deal with the Korean company, Kumho. The move has been made to cut costs but is unlikely to help defending champions Simon and Sue Evans, who are expected to defend their 2009 crown in a new Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X.

The field for the COTY contest will be set over the next two weeks as the 100-plus new arrivals this year _ everything from the baby Suzuki Alto to Holden's latest economy-focussed Commodore and the brutally luxurious BMW X6 M, is whittled down by the most experienced team of jurors in Australian motoring.Between them, the nine COTY judges have more than 150 years of combined experience as reporters, testers and commentators on the Australian motor industry.  They also make up the only coast-to-coast crew and are drawn from News Limited daily papers and the Carsguide.com.au website.The first group of five COTY finalists will be named next week, with the final members of the 10-car field locked into place the following week.  Once the field is set, the judges will assess the contenders for their value, safety, economy, safety, style and comfort.  The objective is to find the car that does the best job in every area, at the best price, for Australian car buyers in 2009.The test process is exhaustive, from city, country and highway running to a racetrack session at Lakeside in Queensland to assess the car's dynamic and safety abilities.  The 2009 COTY will join a long and strong list of previous winners from the Holden Commodore VT in 1997 to the Ford Falcon G6E, which took the crown in 2008.This year's COTY contest begins today with the naming of the four cars which will fight for the Green Car of the Year award. For all the stories, video and photos of this year's awards, visit Carsguide Car of the Year 2009. Make One Degree of difference today by calculating your carbon footprint and finding out what you can do to reduce it.