Holden Commodore 2014 News

Holden has put the "football" back into its famous advertising jingle from the 1970s

The Hoff's KITT for saleBased on a 1982 Pontiac Firebird, KITT was the car sidekick everybody wanted to roll with. And somebody will get a chance to do just that with the one owned by The Hoff.Holden Commodore sales surge puts it in fourth positionThe Holden Commodore has made a surprising recovery in the March sales race with a staggering 85 per cent sales increase compared with the same month the prior year -- narrowly missing a place on the podium as the nation's fourth most popular car. Preliminary figures show it was the Commodore's third-best monthly sales tally since the new VF model went on sale 10 months ago, as the Holden brand overall posted a 19 per cent sales surge.BMW M3 and M4 | videoBMW shows off the coming M3 sedan and M4 convertible -- arriving in Australia in June -- with some action footage.Mazda joins the demo derby, moving masses of 'dealer demonstrator' carsThe Mazda3 may be Australia's top-selling car so far this year according to official sales data -- but a special investigation by Carsguide has unearthed the industry secret that is driving its sales. A staggering one-third of Mazda3s sold in January and February were so-called “dealer demonstrator” models -- more than four times the industry average for “demo” vehicle sales, which is 7 per cent.Road safety expert slams 'revenue raising' speed finesA leading road safety expert has called for all revenue from speeding fines to go directly into building safer roads -- and warned the government's constant focus on speed is blinding us to other causes of car crashes. The national road toll fell to its lowest level in 89 years in 2013 but more than 200,000 people are expected to be injured on Australian roads between now and 2020. Injury rates are not falling as dramatically and are a bigger financial burden on the community because of the ongoing medical treatment.PlusRenault Kangoo stands up to crash test 2014 Toyota HiAce | new car sales price2014 Nissan X-Trail pricing and specifications 

THE Holden Commodore has made a surprising recovery in the March sales race with a staggering 85 per cent sales increase compared with the same month the prior year -- narrowly missing a place on the podium as the nation’s fourth most popular car.Official figures released today show it was the Commodore’s third-best monthly sales tally since the new VF model went on sale 10 months ago, as the Holden brand overall posted a 19 per cent sales surge -- the strongest growth of any Top 10 brand and the seventh month in a row it has outpaced the market.However, the sharp percentage increases are largely due to the Commodore posting its second-lowest monthly result ever in March last year (1606 sales). The Commodore’s tally for March this year of 2967 sales is still down compared with the 2012 figure of about 3200 deliveries.But the Commodore’s old arch rival, the Ford Falcon, continued to rank well outside the Top 10, with just 641 deliveries. The Cruze small car that is built alongside the Commodore had a tough run, with sales down 30 per cent on the same month last year -- about half the sales rate as the same month just two years ago.March is the typically the second-biggest month for new-car sales as the Japanese brands have a surge in the lead-up to the end of the Japanese financial year, which closed on March 31. The sharp discounting prompts also the non-Japanese brands to compete.Last year’s top-selling car, the Toyota Corolla, led the March sales race -- but the Mazda3 small car, which was the market leader in January and February, still leads the year-to-date tally. The third-placed Toyota HiLux ute again squeezed the Commodore off the podium in March. But the Commodore still managed to outsell the popular Hyundai i30, Ford Ranger ute and Toyota Camry sedan.The Commodore also proved more popular than the updated Mazda CX-5 and Toyota RAV4 SUVs, which ranked just inside the Top 10 sellers list for March. The official figures show the new-car market is beginning to make a recovery after a downturn in January and February. Sales in March were down by just 0.1 per cent, to 97,267 deliveries, while sales in the first three months combined are down by 2.4 per cent.But the downturn has been exaggerated by Nissan, Honda and Mitsubishi, which have all posted massive sales slowdowns for the first three months of this year, likely because their dealer networks are still clearing cars that were declared as sold in 2013.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling

HOLDEN has built the 50,000th version of the new Commodore after its first 10 months of production, as demand for the homegrown hero ramps up after hitting an all-time low last year. But the company isn’t popping champagne corks just yet: at its peak 10 years ago the company reached the same manufacturing milestone in a little more than three months.Holden has built 50,000 VF Commodore sedans, wagons, utes and Caprice limousines over the past 10 months, most of which have been sold domestically. The 50,000th car is a silver Commodore SV6 sedan which is going to a private customer in Lansvale in Sydney’s south-west.About 4000 of the 50,000 cars have been exported, primarily to North America, where the Caprice is sold as a police car and the V8 Commodore sedan is sold as the Chevrolet SS. At its peak, Holden exported 60,500 cars in 2005 alone.“The VF is quite simply the best quality car Holden has ever built, and to see the 50,000th one roll off the line is a milestone everyone is very proud of,” said Holden’s executive director of manufacturing, Richard Phillips in a media statement.
Holden said it was unfair to compare the time it took to reach today’s milestone with earlier ones because the new-car market has changed dramatically over the past decade. “It’s a reflection of the unprecedented competition in the market,” said Holden spokesman Sean Poppitt.Last year the top-selling car, the Toyota Corolla, led the market with 43,500 sales. In 1998 the Commodore topped the charts with 94,500 sales. Holden has now sold more than 3 million Commodores in Australia since 1978, but has built more than 7 million cars locally since 1948.Holden plans to shut its car manufacturing facility in Elizabeth, South Australia, no later than 2017, when it will become an import-only brand. Ford is due to close its Broadmeadows and Geelong factories in 2016 and Toyota is due to shutter its Altona facility the same year as Holden.Holden milestones1 millionth Holden: EJ Special, Oct 19622 millionth Holden: HK Kingswood, March 19693 millionth Holden: HQ KIngswood, June 19744 millionth Holden: VC Commodore, June 19815 millionth Holden: VN Calais, August 19906 millionth Holden: VX Commodore SS, June 20017 millionth Holden: VE Commodore, Aug 200850,000th VF Commodore: March 2014This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

Want to be a crash test dummy and live to tell the tale? A temporary showroom in Sydney's CBD is giving people the chance to get behind the wheel and crash a car -and then go back in time to crash one from the 1980s to compare the difference.One of the active displays invites people to wear a 3D mask and get behind the wheel of a brand-new Holden Commodore which crashes - virtually - into a barrier at the same speed crash tests are conducted. The system then resets and the same stunt is done in a 1982 Commodore, with catastrophic results.The Crashed Car Showroom by NRMA Insurance in York Street Sydney is open free to the public for the next 10 days.The project is designed to demonstrate the significant improvements in car safety over the past three decades, in addition to airbags and stronger body structures. A study by NRMA Insurance found most drivers don't know the type of safety features in their cars."A lot of people say safety is important when choosing a car, but in reality only 1 in 10 know what safety features are available and what they actually do," said Robert McDonald, the research manager for NRMA Insurance.The survey found most people could only name seatbelts and brakes as the safety features on their car.Most new cars sold today have at least six airbags and stability control (a system which temporarily cuts engine power and applies the brakes if it detects a skid in a corner) while an increasing number of family cars are equipped with rear-view cameras, parking sensors and radars that warn of cross-traffic when you're reversing.One of the safest cars in the world, the Volvo V40 hatch, even has an airbag to protect pedestrians, which automatically pops up between the bonnet and the windscreen.The latest Census figures show the average age of cars in Australia has fallen to below 10 years (to 9.9 years) for the first time since records were kept, however this figure is still higher than other developed countries. The average age of motor vehicles in Japan, the UK, and North America is between six and eight years.Newer cars with more safety features are believed to be one of the hidden contributors to Australia recording the lowest road toll in 89 years in 2013.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

ONE of Holden's top selling family cars has unwittingly been disadvantaged by special conditions in the Free Trade Agreement with South Korea that were intended to help the struggling company -- in effect adding up $1500 to the cost of one of its most popular vehicles.Under the proposal, the removal of the 5 per cent import tariff will initially not apply to vehicles with six-cylinder engines -- a move the Federal Government says is designed to protect local car makers as they wind-down their manufacturing facilities.But Holden is the biggest importer of V6 cars from South Korea. Last year Holden sold more than 10,000 V6-powered Captiva SUVs and it was the company's third-biggest selling model behind the locally-made Commodore and Cruze.The policy faux-pas is likely to hurt Holden more than the South Korean brands. Hyundai no longer imports a V6 car and its sister company Kia sells only a small number of V6 versions of its Sorento SUV and Carnival people mover.The Captiva V6 typically sells for between $30,000 and $40,000 and the 5 per cent import tariff added to the wholesale cost of the car is estimated to be up to $1500 on dearer models.Despite the unexpected setback Holden insists it is happy with the Free Trade Agreement; seven of its 11 vehicles come from South Korea and two of the 11 come from Thailand, which has had a Free Trade Agreement with Australia since 2010.A statement from Holden said: "Holden imports several car models and various parts from (South) Korea and exports engines from our Port Melbourne plant. While we have only just started analysing the details of the FTA, our first look suggests it will be good for our business."While the removal of the 5 per cent import tariff on cars from South Korea is expected to start from next year, six-cylinder and V8 cars will be excluded from the free trade deal for a further three years until Toyota, Holden and Ford shut their Australian factories.All three local manufacturers currently produce six-cylinder cars, although Toyota, Ford and Holden also produce four-cylinder vehicles and Ford and Holden also produce V8s. However, the exemption of V8 vehicles in the Free Trade Agreement is unusual given that there are no V8 cars made in South Korea for right-hand-drive markets such as Australia.This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling 

The death of Fast And Furious star Paul Walker once again threw the whole street racing underworld into the spotlight. But the real fast car culture is a long way from the movies.He sports a pair of geeky thin-rimmed glasses. His Ikea wardrobe is bulging from a collection of nerdy IT-styled polo shirts. His beard is well-groomed; his hands wonderfully soft. He is as clean cut as any Sunday school teacher.But Ben McNeil is not the guy you pull up beside at the traffic lights and rev your little tricked Commodore SS engine at. Firstly, he knows better. He'll just let you plant your foot and scream away at the sight of green and bring yourself to the attention of the constabulary.Secondly, he would give you a flogging - if he wanted to.The 26-year-old tech-head is part of something rather odd happening at the now-booming Sydney Dragway, amid the usual plume of acrid smoke, wafts of nitrous oxide, and vehicles frequently sideways. Nothing odd about the souped-up streetworthy cars toeing the rubber-littered start line - those four-cylinder pocket rockets inspired by the Fast And Furious film franchise, the supercharged Commodores, the batty old Datsuns decked out with a rocking new block.Kind of looks like a typical suburban drag race event. But check under the helmets. Among the 200 blokes about to send their cars hurtling down the quarter-mile strip on Wednesday night are high-school teachers,successful entrepreneurs, corporates, and cashed-up IT professionals. In this world of drag racing, vilified as a bogan's paradise, McNeil is a stereotype smasher.This is his first run in his Toyota 86 at Race 4 Real, a race and burnout meet at Eastern Creek that gives any rev-head a chance to test out their wheels. All you need is a helmet. And trousers.This is a popular weekly event that saves lives, according to the dragway's CEO Graham Elliot - giving those with a need for speed a chance to legally blow off some steam and race their mates, away from the perils of a suburban street or parking lot.This is the first meet back at the track since exalted Fast And Furious actor Paul Walker died in a fiery crash in California. He is a venerable topic of conversation on this night, but not a reason to slow down - even for this self-professed, calculated nerd.'I'm in IT, isn't that obvious? But I've always been into cars," McNeil said. 'Motorbikes and cars are all my colleagues think about. Funnily enough, this is my daily car.'I have a track car. It's a Subaru Liberty. I'm kind of doing it backwards, given I've got a two-door sports car as my daily and a four-door family car as the track car." His mate Andy Chisholm enticed him to give his 'daily car" a squirt on the drag strip.Chisholm is another stereotype smasher, he being a boys high-school English teacher. His Mitsubishi Evo that he usually races next door on the Eastern Creek circuit has been running 13 seconds on this night, keeping the WRX drivers on their toes. Suffice to say, he sometimes struggles to keep his classroom on topic. "They quite approve of my hobby," he said.He also struggles with straight lines, given that his red rocket should be running 12 seconds, and is, well, not. 'I do circuit racing mainly.Driving in a straight line, it's hard, man," he laughed. "Give me some corners." While most of the 200 drivers are just trying to beat their personal best times and entertain the crowd, James Cannavo is trying to stay on the ground.Tucked away in the shiny cockpit of his Nissan Skyline, this Denham Court small-business owner has what every lad who forked out $55 to race tonight wants - a 10-second car, the expensive quest of a burgeoning breed who watched Fast And Furious on the big screen and had a moment.Actually, Cannavo's Skyline is not a 10-second car. It's a 9-second car: one of the fastest roadworthy vehicles in Australia. It even has a parachute."I built the engine myself. It has well over 1100 horsepower at the tyres. In the stages of developing this car, I've probably left behind $130k. It is well worth it," he said. He doesn't use nitrous oxide, or NOS, the famed gas glorified in the Hollywood blockbuster. Says it's cheating.Tonight there are eight cars sucking in NOS, giving their four-wheeled weapons some added poke when the foot is flat. Daniel Dona, a Parramatta real estate agent, is another novice attempting his maiden run on the drag strip.Dressed in a hipster cardigan, he stands beside his $70,000 WRX STi and admits to being wonderfully addicted. He hasn't even raced yet, but has a 'long list of parts ready to go ... Just waiting for the bank account to respond accordingly".Therefore he can't afford any speeding tickets. "You just can't get away with street racing anymore, there are so many more cops patrolling, so we just come down here to give it a squirt and get it out of our systems," he said.Not all cars here are the latest high-powered models loaded with all the tricks in the box. That's the beauty of nights like this. It's a great leveller, on the social scale.Menai brothers Josh and Michael Lawrie are the backyard tinkerers; two 20-something lads as genuine and earnest as they come. It's the relationships forged under the bonnet that brings them back week after week. It's not all about speed."You can go and buy a piece of crap car and build it up with your friends and then race it. You build bonds, you build friendships and you are helping each other out on mate's rates," Josh said.Case in point, on the issue of mate's rates: When Josh is not sending his Commodore SS down the straight track, he is sideways in the rough-and-tumble world of drift racing. It kind of helps that brother Michael is a panel beater.Michael drives a less-than-polished 1984 Corolla which he spent six days gutting and dropping a twin cam 4AGE engine under the hood. He says there is more satisfaction building something special yourself, rather than getting the latest rocket off the showroom floor. Down the line is Jose Rovira, a 43-year-old father of two racing his Mazda 3 turbo. He turns up "to keep myself occupied" - and to teach his son a lesson. 

Holden's VF Commodore has already had the tuning wand waved over it locally by the likes of HSV, Walkinshaw Performance and Harrop Engineering, but the US-market Chevrolet SS version is about to score a similar treatment from the aftermarket maestros at Hennessey Performance.Rather than making performance claims via simple press release, the US firm has showcased the upcoming package in the above video, where the boosted Chevy SS is used to test a new Texas freeway’s automated toll system under the supervision of a Texas Highway Patrol Dodge Challenger.While the top speed of 262km/h is about what you could expect from a stock 6.2-litre SS, it’s fair to say the HSV GTS-trumping 600hp (448kW) output suggested by the HPE600 supercharger upgrade’s name will help it get it there a lot quicker.Hennessy are you to specify any other details of its planned upgrades, but Motor Authority reports that high-flow induction and turbo systems, intercooler and exhaust packages, plus engine management tunes, brake and suspension upgrades are also in the works. Read our first drive of the 2014 Chevrolet SS here. Watch the desktop version of the Hennessy SS toll road video here. This reporter is on Twitter: @Mal_Flynn 

After 17 straight years as a Carsguide Car of the Year judge, I was wondering what to expect as we assembled the 10 finalists for the 2013 awards.There are always a few surprises, things to learn and like and loathe, and the field is more varied and relevant this year than at any time in the past. We have baby cars, family cars, an old-school wagon, SUVs, even a new-age Benz, and the value is outstanding in every case.One of the early favourites is the last of the true Aussie cars, the VF Commodore. It looks a little out of place, so big and bland as a starting-price Evoque sedan, and is quickly put right into its place as we begin the 60-kilometre driving loops used to assess the various contenders. That place is the past.These days the Commodore is an all-rounder in a world of specialists, and that's why it - and the Ford Falcon - are heading into history. And why the Commodore cannot win a COTY crown in 2013.There was a time when big Fords and Holdens made all the sense in the world, as they could cover every base from commuter car and taxi work to a family fun runner, a working wagon, and even a hotrod sporty sedan. It was a one-size-fits-all solution, even if the tailoring was never an ideal fit.Now the world has arrived in Australia, with 60-plus brands all competing in the toughest new-car scene on the planet, and there are cars which do every job better than a Commodore or Falcon. It's bespoke tailoring at its best.We have the proof right in front of us as the COTY contenders run through the loops and hoops.If you want a classy new family car, the Mazda6 is better.If you want a roomy family wagon, the Kia Rondo is better.If you want a flexible runabout, the Subaru Forester is better.If you want maximum bang for your bucks, the Mercedes-Benz A200 is better.So the Commodore finishes in the middle of the pack and, despite our patriotism and support for carmaking in Australia, that's what it deserves. It's a good car, and easily the best car to wear a Holden or Commodore badge, but that's just not good enough in 2013.This reporter is on Twitter: @PaulWardGover 

A member of the 2013 Australia's Best Cars judging panel says motorists are spoilt for choice right now. Royal Automobile Club of Tasmania general manager of roadside and technical Darren Moody -- who sits on the panel with judges from motorist clubs around Australia -- says new car buyers have access to record low interest rates and are still getting great value for money, despite a recent dip in the value of the Australian dollar.He and the 11 other judges from around the country had been trying to make life even easier for buyers, testing 50 vehicles in 15 categories for the 2013 best car awards.The awards, run by the Australian Automobile Association, involved all the state auto clubs. In October Mr Moody and the other judges spent six days at the Australian Automobile Research Centre at Anglesea in Victoria testing all the vehicles.The judges' choice this year was the Mazda6 Touring, winner of the category for best medium car under $50,000. "It brings premium features to the category," Mr Moody said. There was no winner in the people mover category this year. AAA chief executive Andrew McKellar said it was the first time in the 13 years of the program that an award has been withheld."It's unfortunate that not one vehicle in that class meets the expectations of an Australia's Best Car," he said.Australia's Best Cars 2013Judges' choice: Mazda6 TouringBest light car: Renault Clio Expression TCe 120Best small car under $35,000: Hyundai i30 ActiveBest small car over $35,000: Audi A3 Sportback TFSI CoDBest medium car under $50,000: Mazda6 TouringBest medium car over $50,000: BMW 320iBest large car under $60,000: Holden Commodore VF SV6Best large car over $60,000: Lexus GS350 F SportBest people mover: Award withheldBest sports car under $50,000: Volkswagen Golf GTIBest sports car $50,000-$100,000: BMW M135iBest SUV under $45,000: Subaru Forester 2.5iBest SUV $45,000-$65,000: Hyundai Santa Fe Highlander CRDiBest Luxury SUV over $65,000: Volkswagen Touareg V6 TDIBest all-terrain 4WD under $100,000: Land Rover Discovery 4 TDV6Best 4x4 Dual Cab Ute: Ford Ranger XLRead the full story here.