Holden Commodore 2009 News

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Warne, whose stable of luxury cars includes a head-turning black Lamborghini Superleggera, is set to front a new series with Jeremy Clarkson. He is believed to be hosting six episodes of the popular motoring show, the Herald Sun reports.In a TV coup Channel Nine is believed to have snared the rights to the motoring franchise from SBS.Nine and SBS were both believed to have been in discussions with BBC Worldwide, which owns the rights to the motoring show fronted by Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May. First-run episodes of Top Gear regularly top one million viewers on SBS.Nine has confirmed that it has held discussions with Warne to host Top Gear Australia. No formal agreement has yet been signed, but he is their pick to host the series. A Nine source says an agreement is likely to be completed within days.Channel Nine would not confirm any plans for Top Gear. No deal has been signed, however a Nine source said an agreement was likely to be completed within days. Nine CEO David Gyngell has been chasing the rights to Top Gear for eight months and recently spent time in London to lock down a deal.The role would mark the first TV presenting gig for Warne - who has previously worked in cricket commentating roles. Warne would be well suited to the hosting gig with his passion for luxury cars well documented. Warne's collection of luxury cars started in 1996 when he bought a Ferrari 355 Spider. He has since bought another Ferrari - a 360 Spider in titanium - two Mercedes four-wheel-drives, two BMWs, and a Holden VK Commodore. and last year's Lamborghini purchase.But it hasn't all been smooth sailing for Warne, who made headlines last year when he crashed his Mercedes into a tram.The Aussie version has had two seasons on SBS, fronted by Steve Pizzati, Warren Brown and this year joined by James Morrison. 

It is the first five-star rating for any ute on the Australian market, according to the latest Australian New Car Assessment Program. The top score comes just a month after two imports, the Proton Jumbuck and Great Wall Motors utes, scored one and two stars. The five-star results has been hailed by motoring organizations and the Transport Accident Commission.TAC road safety manager Samantha Cockfield said after those disappointing results, the five-star rating was welcomed by the ANCAP partners. "This is great news for utility drivers, especially tradespeople, farmers and others who rely on utes for their work and lifestyle," she said. The ute result now means Holden has a five-star Commodore fleet.The RACV's chief engineer, vehicles, and ANCAP program manager Michael Case said the rating meant more choices for drivers who need a workhorse vehicle. "ANCAP has just awarded Australia's first five-star light commercial van rating for the Mercedes-Benz Vito and now the first five-star ute, so those motorists who need a work vehicle can now opt for five-star safety," Case said. "Having a five-star vehicle in this category means Australians can buy more home-grown vehicles that are the safest on the road."ANCAP council chair Ross McArthur said Australians would continue to see five-star ratings across a wider range of vehicles. "We know other local manufacturers are working hard to produce similar five-star utes for the Australian market and we look forward to testing those as they become available," McArthur said.The five-star ANCAP rating applies to all Commodore ute models. In testing, the ute's passenger compartment held its shape well and provided good airbag protection for the driver and passenger and no knee hazards for the driver.

It's the scene of the major law enforcement gathering where GM Holden confirms a renewed export deal for the homegrown VE Commodore.This time the red lion's hero car will be wearing Chevrolet badges, not Pontiac G8 warpaint, as it goes into action with cops in Los Angeles in a deal worth an estimated 20,000 cars a year. With more to come. It's the sort of deal which Ford should have landed years ago with the Falcon, if only Ford had killed the cop-favourite Crown Victoria a bit sooner.We have more on the police deal here but it's worth remembering the man who put it together, former GM Holden chairman Mark Reuss. He is back in the US now as the product guru for 'New GM' but before he left he promised there was something coming to keep the Commodore running as a major export after the collapse of Pontiac.Reuss kept his promise and there is more to come on the police car front, one of the biggest and most lucrative potential markets for Holden's hero across the Pacific.Follow Paul Gover on Twitter!

Car companies are about to be put to the test in the Global Green Challenge and Carsguide is going along for the ride. There are two key buzz words in today's world of clean, green motoring: more and less.Car buyers, pricked by an environmental consciousness, are driving demand for better efficiency to reduce the impact on their wallet and less emissions to reduce the impact on the environment.And there's an added caveat to this quest for green sustainability: it has to be affordable without robbing the family car of performance or driveability.Welcome to the challenge facing car designers as they chase motoring's holy grail — producing a workable, green friendly car for the future. A bookmark of just where the industry is at will be on display at the end of the month when the Eco Challenge for production cars, run in conjunction with this year's Global Green Challenge, sets out from Darwin on October 24 and heads south to Adelaide.It will be real-world 3000 kilometre reality check, albeit most of the driving will be on highways, to show buyers what more-for-less cars are available now, or the near future.This week car companies have been jostling as they line up for the starting grid — some have still to fully show their hand but organisers say 21 cars are expected to contest the Eco Challenge while a further 38 dedicated solar-powered cars will also follow the same route the following day in their own race.This year's production car field is an eclectic mix.Hyundai Hyundai is using the Global Challenge to launch its 2010 Santa Fe wagon, promising more power and reduced fuel consumption which will attract caravan owners looking for an alternative to heavier 4WDs.Hyundai's Team R has entered two Santa Fes, one of which will be driven by CarsGuide. The wagon gets Hyundai's new R turbo diesel and a new six-speed manual transmission along with a recalibrated suspension and steering package for our tougher road conditions. A six-speed automatic will be optional. The Santa Fe goes on sale at the end of the year.Skoda Skoda will use the event to showcase its new flagship, the Superb saloon. Skoda says the 2-litre direct injection turbo diesel is capable of 5.4l/100km on the highway, meaning you can marry luxury with economy.Suzuki will use the event to showcase the ability of the tiny Alto, which the carmaker claims can travel 100 kilometres on just 3.5 litres of precious fuel on the highway. Tests in India have already shown it can do better at 3l/100km.The car is being kept on the road by a team of apprentice automotive engineers from the Melbourne's Kangan Batman TAFE college.Holden Holden and Ford will be fighting each other in the Challenge. Holden had been tipped to show of a Commodore, which like Saab, can run on 85 per cent ethanol, or a diesel, but the General will instead showcase its recently launched 3-litre Omega Sportwagon, fitted with the new SIDI (Spark Ignition Direct Injection) engine and six-speed automatic transmission.Holden won't reveal what fuel economy goal it is aiming for but it maintains the SIDI is now the most fuel efficient Aussie-built six-cylinder in the market. Holden says the engine, rated at 9.3l/10km is 13 per cent more fuel efficient than the previous motor at 10.7l/10km.Ford Ford will come out fighting with an XR6 Turbo and a Fiesta Econetic which will be launched in November and has the potential to run at 3.7l/100km. Again, Ford won’t talk about economy goals.BMW BMW is another keeping its cards close to its chest until closer to race. It will have a fleet of three diesel Mini Ds, one of which is will be driven by former Le Mans winner Vern Schuppan. The 1.6-litre Mini diesel is capable of 3.9l/100km combined and 3.5l/100km on the highway.Tesla While all eyes will be on the known brands, one entry which will likely steal the limelight will be the all electric Tesla roadster — the world's first production all-electric car which is being entered by broadband company Internode.The company's managing director Simon Hackett imported the first car to Australia recently.Kia Kia has entered two LPG electric hybrid Fortes, which have a 1.6-litre four-cylinder petrol engine mated to a small electric motor and lithium-polymer batteries — a first for a mass-production small automatic car. Kia says it can return 5.6l/100km.Based on the Cerato, the Kia Forte has the potential to make it to the Australian market next year for less than $30,000. Based on the Cerato The Forte was launched in South Korea in August and displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show last month.NON-PRODUCTION AND EXPERIMENTAL CARS Independent team Deep Green Research has come to the party with an electric Honda.Students from South Australia's Annesley College have built a petrol/electric hybrid Holden Viva. The all-girl Annesley team has taken part in previous solar challenges but this is the first time they have entered the production car class. The students will be driving the car on the 3000km journey.Research and development company Intex is entering a four-cylinder petrol Ford Spectron Van with a retrofit hybrid system that converts the drivetrain to a plug-in hybrid electric.Absent This year Toyota is a notable non-starter after impressing in 2007 with its Prius.And there has been a late scratching with Volvo confirming it was withdrawn its two C30 DRIVe hatchbacks because they are stuck on a ship from Europe, a victim of stormy weather in the Atlantic. Volvo had high expectations for the 1.6-litre diesel which sips a claimed 3.8l/100km. The eco hatch will now be launched in Australia early next year. 

A Holden is being recruited to police the mean streets of Los Angeles in a deal that could eventually make the car the top choice with cops across the US. The multi-million dollar bid is for 20,000 cars and will be announced in the US today by GM-Holden chairman Alan Batey and Industry Minister Kim Carr. The law-enforcement lifeline renews the export potential of Holden's large car lineup to the US.The VE Commodore had been a major success as a Pontiac G8 until the American brand sank under the weight of General Motors' bankruptcy earlier this year.The latest deal comes after a successful pitch more than six months ago by a Holden team led by former president, Mark Reuss, who has since returned to the US to become the product development boss at General Motors.The sleek V6 and V8 Statesmans - badged as Chevrolet Caprices - are likely to replace the LAPD's ageing fleet of Ford Crown Victoria sedans. If successful, GM-Holden also stands a good chance of becoming a global supplier of GM cop cars for other countries. Batey, along with other Holden executives, are in Denver attending an international law enforcement conference.Carr said if successful, the bid would be a big money spinner. "They're talking about 20,000 cars immediately with the prospect of a much higher number in the future," he said. "I'm optimistic about the quality of the car and if accepted by the Los Angeles police it could enhance Holden's ability to sell more cars to other US police departments."Carr said the Holden police car was an opportunity for Australian initiative to be displayed ‘to show its true worth’. "I don't want to pre-empt the process though," he said. "It is quite rigorous. "However, we are very optimistic about the bid. "I'm quite sure they can persuade people how good the car is."Carr is already in the US to spruik the local car and component industry to Detroit's leading car executives. The LA police car idea was the brains of Melbourne-based company, National Safety Agency. Earlier this year it built a prototype based on the left-hand drive Pontiac G8 to show off to the LAPD. The car showcased new law enforcement technologies. It integrated many separate technologies used by police forces into a single platform to create a police station on wheels.The car has fingerprint recognition technology, video surveillance and CCTV access, traffic information and web access. It also boasted a police computer screen molded directly into the dashboard. The NSA specialises in innovative technology for emergency service vehicles. 

Originally for solar vehicles only, the 3000km trial from Darwin to Adelaide now runs a parallel Eco Challenge. Carmakers are falling over themselves to include their latest models as fuel consumption and emissions become more important to consumers. Holden is the latest carmaker to put a car on the grid for the event. It will run a direct injection 3.0-litre V6 Commodore Omega Sportwagon on the 3000km drive from Darwin to Adelaide. Holden chairman and managing director Alan Batey says the decision to field a Sportwagon will serve as a practical demonstration of the car's fuel-saving capabilities. "Our strategy of providing customers with better fuel efficiency today, and next-generation fuel advances for tomorrow is driving everything we do," he says. Arch-rival Ford is running a Falcon XR6 and its yet-to-be-released Econetic Fiesta hatch, which promises real-world economy of 3.7 litres/100km. Ford Australia chief, Marin Burela, says it is not a publicity stunt. "We wouldn't be entering unless we had something to say," he says. It will be the first time this particular Fiesta will be seen on Australian roads as it does not arrive in showrooms until November. Apart from Ford and Holden, Hyundai, Kia, Peugeot, Mini, Skoda, Suzuki and Volvo are all participating. The world's first production fully-electric sports car, the Tesla, is also entered. The Eco Challenge is aimed at giving carmakers with conventional and alternative-engines an opportunity to showcase their advances in economy and low-emission technologies. A spokesman for the Global Green Challenge, Mike Drewer, says there are about 20 practical family cars taking part. "There is a greater emphasis on alternative fuel-efficient cars coming on to the market," he says. However, Drewer says the Eco Challenge part of the revamped Global Green Challenge will not take anything away from the 44 pure solar cars participating. "It's important for the solar cars to showcase new technologies," Drewer says. Since the South Australian Motor Sport Board took over the World Solar Challenge last year it has rebranded it and broadened its appeal. "There has been a push to get available relevant technology," Drewer says. Burela welcomes the Eco Challenge's broader take on new technology. "The have shifted as the market as shifted as fuel economy is more important." The Eco Challenge covers a series of set stages with overnight stops at Katherine, Tennant Creek, Alice Springs, Coober Pedy, and Port Augusta. The event kicks off from Darwin on October 24, ending in Adelaide on October 31.

What do you think is the best Australian built car of all time? Paul Maric gets behind the wheel of the new LPG Commodore ute and Troy Swindells-Grose reports on what are the cheapest and most expensive cars to repair.For all this and a lot more, listen to our podcast above...

"This is the first time a curtain airbag has been offered in a utility in Australia and it will be standard across the entire ute range," Steve Curtis, GM Holden's manager for vehicle structure and safety says. "That's a total of six airbags in every ute ... the first light commercial in Australia to offer six airbags standard across the range."Curtis wouldn't speculate on what the inclusion of the extra bags would mean for the utes' safety rating but it is understood that Holden is confident of a five-star rating when cars are tested by the ANCAP laboritories in the next couple of weeks. That would give the Commodore VE a full-range maximum five-star safety rating."We have an expectation of an outcome ... a good outcome, but it not something we predict publicly," Holden's director of marketing, Philip Brook, says. "The utes will be tested soon and that is when we will comment."The program for additional side protection in the utes was a two-year commitment for Holden's engineers with teams in Melbourne, Spain and North America involved in the development. "One of the trickier issues was packaging for the curtain airbag," Curtis says. "Given the individual structure of the ute (with the cabin ending at the B-Pillar) positioning the inflator was one of the challenges."While much of the program testing was computer simulated Curtis says that final validation was through real world crash tests to ensure correct calibration of the sensors located in the B-Pillar to recognise the impact and deploy the bag. "In side impacts with poles or other high-fronted vehicles a curtain airbag provides significantly more protection and the probability of occupant survival is considerably increased."Recently Mercedes-Benz were the first to win a five-star rating for a commercial van after adding airbags to its Vito models, however the ute advancement is even more significant given the number sold each year and the widespread use of the ute as a sportscar substitute. 

Though motorists express anger at rising petrol prices, new cars running on fuel costing half as much are being avoided in huge numbers. For the whole of 2008, only 527 dedicated-LPG cars were sold to private buyers across Australia.And it's getting worse, not better. This year, in the first seven months of 2009, only 118 Australians bought a new passenger car fuelled only by LPG. Holden also reports that sales of its dual-fuel (LPG and petrol) Commodores are down by half compared to last year as petrol prices stabilise. To put it into perspective ... to July 31 this year, 319 motorists chose a new hybrid, 9402 bought a diesel car and 163,726 now own a new petrol-fuelled car.Private LPG buyers make up an almost negligible 0.07 per cent of all private passenger cars sold this year. The automotive and associated industries are aghast at the lack of interest in liquified petroleum gas.Australia has an estimated 65 years of LPG and other vehicle-compliant gas supplies yet will need to supplement 80 per cent of its petrol and diesel needs within 20 years. Australia also has 3200 LPG stations — roughly one in every two stations sells LPG — so the fuel is as frequently available as it is cheap.Holden's Large Car and SUV marketing manager, Kristian Aqualina, says the first step in selling more LPG vehicles was changing buyer perceptions. “People are generally adverse to LPG because they may have had experience in the past of poor LPG conversions or poor vehicle performance,” he says. “That's a challenge for manufacturers. But there have been huge advances. A Holden Omega on LPG is no different in performance and the driving experience to a Holden Omega running on petrol. The biggest difference is that the cost of the fuel is half.”Aqualina says Holden was exploring dedicated LPG cars so the car's boot space isn't reduced by a gas tank. He says the Commodore LPG availability could be extended beyond the current Berlina model to include the luxury Calais model. And he says Holden's Australian-built small car, the Cruze hatchback which starts production next year, could have an LPG option.“LPG makes a lot of sense. People worry about safety but our LPG cars have the same 5-star crash safety rating as the petrol cars,” he says. “Refuelling is a bit different from fuelling a petrol car but that's it — it's just different, not harder.”The managing director of Orbital Autogas Systems, Tony Fitzgerald, agreed that the biggest challenge with LPG is public perception. “It is seen as a poor man's or a commercial fuel, similar to the perception of diesel a decade ago.”But Fitzgerald says it doesn't have to be like that. “I think you'll see LPG become a well-accepted alternative, like diesel has, because of its lower emissions, equivalent performance and much lower purchase price. “There's also the issue of availability. Australia has gas in abundance and dwindling oil reserves.” Fitzgerald says larger companies with future carbon obligations can get up to a 12 per cent advantage by switching to LPG, based on an LPG engine's emissions of about 12 per cent less CO2 than a petrol engine.The managing director of specialist consulting group, Rare Consulting Mark McKenzie recently told a Society of Automotive Engineers Australasia (SAE-A) gaseous fuels conference that LPG and associated gases could be the nation's transport fuel of the future.“Development of alternative fuels — including LPG and LNG — will reduce Australia's vulnerability to rising prices and the supply chain,” he says. “Australia has a 65-year supply of gas, which can help meet national greenhouse gas targets by reducing transport emissions — the third-largest source (of CO2).”