Holden Commodore News

A sought-after 1988 Holden Commodore VL Walkinshaw SS Group S Sedan (build No. 479) brought $57,750 at Shannons Melbourne auction. It was being hotly pursued by a number of muscle car enthusiasts. The Walkinshaw or Walky was created in 1988. It had a number of other nicknames, including the Plastic Pic, Winged Warrior, Plastic Fantastic and Batmobile  to name a few. The Walky came about after Holden and Peter Brock's HDT parted ways in 1987. Holden needed someone to build performance cars and it turned to Tom Walkinshaw's British based TWR (Tom Walkinshaw Racing) and that's how HSV was born. With the resources of TWR and a much bigger wallet, HSV had the necessary ingredients to show it was able to match, if not better, HDT's previous cars. It didn't disappoint. The VL SS Group A SV was its first task. To meet International Group A homologation rules, 500 had to be sold. This wasn't a problem as they sold like hotcakes, and HSV decided to build another 250. But sales slowed as the release of the VN Group A SS drew near. The story goes that HSV was left with many of the cars, and there are reports of some being sold without the entire body kit and of some being raffled off. Apart from the outrageous body kit, the Walky became the first Holden V8 to be fuel injected. It also came with four-bolt mains and twin throttle body inlet manifold. The body kit was designed to minimise drag and maximise down force. It was designed and tested extensively in a wind tunnel by TWR in Britain. At $47,000 the Walky was by no means cheap, but has held its value reasonably well for a car built over 20 years ago. It's certainly a head turner wherever it goes, which is part of its appeal and has cemented itself as one of Australia's true muscle cars.For more information on Walkinshaws, check out www.walkinshaw.net

The latest VFACTSs report has found the resource states - in Queensland and Western Australia - are driving a sales bonanza in new cars bought as rentals, meaning there should soon be a flood of quality used cars hitting the market.While the nation has recorded a 5.2 per cent increase in new car sales so far this year, Queensland is scorching ahead with a 13.5 per cent rise, ahead of Western Australia on 10.1 per cent. Adam Le Fevre, boss of Suzuki Auto Co which imports Suzukis to Queensland, said the growth in vehicles sales was mainly in rental vehicles which were up 91.6 per cent in Queensland and 65.3 per cent in WA.''If you look at where the growth is, it's in the rental market and that's from the mineral and energy boom,'' he said. ''Companies would appear to be renting vehicles on demand rather than holding the asset. ''They are probably being sold at a corporate level in NSW or Victorian company headquarters and registered in Queensland and Western Australia.''Mr Le Fevre predicted the boom in rental cars would lead to a flood of bargain-priced used cars in the next few years. ''These cars have got to come back into the market at some stage as good-quality, low-kilometre, well-maintained cars.'' While that might be good for buyers, Mr Le Fevre said it would have a negative impact on new car sales.''Unless we can find a market offshore for these vehicles, like New Zealand or Papua New Guinea, then it is going to make it difficult for new car dealers,'' he said.Mr Le Fevre said the rental boom more than offset the 3.9 per cent decrease in government spending on cars as departments put sales on hold during the Queensland election campaign. The Queensland increase came after three years of being one of the worst-performing states.Small cars and utilities were the favourite choice with the Mazda3 (1306 sales) the most popular, ahead of the Toyota Corolla, Nissan Navara, Toyota HiLux and Hyundai i30. The Holden Commodore languishes in sixth place in Queensland.FEBRUARY TOP SELLERSMazda3 3733Holden Commodore 2991Toyota Corolla 2991Holden Cruze 2880Hyundai i30 2433Toyota HiLux 2272Nissan Navara 2017

And your dealership could be the one to collect it in Carsguide.com.au's Showroom News sign-up. Shipping issues from Italy meant the 2012 Pirelli Calendar was delayed in getting to Australia - and it could have been the massive weight of the novel design that was to blame. But we don't mind, because it’s certainly worth waiting for. And the dealership that wins it will agree. Everybody in Carsguide.com.au wants it. And some of the bribes, offers and even threats have been pretty persuasive. But not good enough to keep us from offering it to you. And whether the winning business keeps it – or perhaps presents it to a valued client – it’s a rare and prestigious object. It’s one of just a handful that come to our shores as special VIP gifts. And the dealership that wins it will be happy to know that this year’s boxed format means they can swap around any of the pages for any month. The 2012 calendar is a massive 64cm square and weighs 6kg. It has 25 pictures, in both colour and black-and-white, and the costly printing and packaging includes canvas linings and matt-black backgrounds. The images were shot by famed fashion photographer Mario Sorrenti, who spent a week in Corsica working with Kate Moss, Milla Jovovich and other stars to get the sun-soaked result.  Last year’s calendar was photographed by legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, the maestro of Chanel. From his Paris studio, Lagerfeld created a tribute to ancient Greek and Roman mythology, with 36 monochrome photos. Other famous photographers who have shot the Pirelli Calendar in the past are Annie Leibovitz and Richard Avedon. So how will we pick a winner? From the emails that are subscribed to our Daily Showroom News. If you’re getting this message it means you’re probably already subscribed. But if you’re not – or if you want to increase the chances of your dealership winning the calendar by getting others to subscribe – you can do it here: Carsguide Daily Showroom News The winning email address will be chosen using a randomiser program on March 16.

I'm a long way off retiring, but it's a question on people's lips now that I've signed up for three more years with TeamVodafone. My contract was to expire at the end of this year but the extra three years means I'll be over 40 when it expires and I will definitely be considering life after V8 Supercars at that stage. All I can say at this point is that I will not continue if I'm circulating at the back of the pack - that's not just for my own pride but also for the sake of the team and my sponsors.  I would have to still be in a position to win races to continue. If not, then I'd have a realistic look at my performance and my enthusiasm for motorsport. If I find I'm not excited about being inside a race car, then I'll call it quits. There are a few of us in the same situation in the V8 paddock, such as Russell Ingall, Greg Murphy and Jason Bright. I don't think any of them have passed their use-by date. They all still have great talent and ability. I hope my performance at the weekend with pole plus fourth and fifth places shows I still have a few good years in me yet. Cracking my first Clipsal pole was a highlight and we definitely had good car speed all weekend. However, the flat tyre on Saturday and the economy run on Sunday prevented me from turning that speed into victory. I can understand if the fans were a bit bored, frustrated and ultimately disappointed with Sunday's race which basically turned into a fuel economy run. We couldn't use our car speed because we were driving to a fuel number, not a lap time. That was incredibly frustrating for us as drivers, so I can just imagine how frustrating it was for the fans. It all goes back to Saturday where fuel consumption played a big part in the race. Teams spent Saturday night working out strategies to conserve fuel, based on at least one safety car period. The problem was that for only the third time in Clipsal history there was no safety car, so that threw strategies right out the window.  I suspect the fans were bored. It was pretty boring in the driver's seat, too, as there was no flat-out racing in the cars around me. Instead, it was a case of who could be the fastest with the least amount of fuel. My starts were not too flash and that's something I'll have to work on. On Saturday I didn't load up the clutch enough and had too much clutch slip while on Sunday I loaded it too much and had too much wheelspin so I had to dip the clutch a little. They weren't bad starts, but they weren't as good as Garth Tander and Will Davison who were all over me. I was going well on Saturday until I picked up some debris on turn eight from all the crashes and it pierced my rear left tyre. I thought the Watt's linkage was broken and I was lucky to make it back into the pits. I emerged in 22nd place and had a lot of catching up to do. Thankfully I had enough fuel to be able to race to the finish line while some of the cars around me were worried about fuel economy. Unfortunately I lost 25 points for tagging Todd Kelly's car in the second last lap. I tried to pass into turn nine and didn't quite have the overlap I needed and my front left hit his rear right unfortunately turning him around. I stopped on the track to re-address the situation and avoid the penalty, but with the positioning of his car it wasn't possible. In the past, an offence like this would incur a drive-through or cash penalty, but now the stewards issue points penalties. I've never copped a 25-point penalty before and hopefully it's the last. While the car had enough speed to finish better than fourth and fifth, it was still my best Clipsal result and best season start for a few years. Now I just have to keep the momentum going.

It's good to have some security, however I'm not really sure how long the agreements go for. All I know is it's "multi years". At least Holden has committed to more seasons in our sport which is important as the agreement was set to run out at the end of this year. I'm happy to be driving Holdens, but I'd be happy to drive anything so long as it's with this team. This is the team that I enjoy racing with. They provide fantastic vehicles and we've had great results. The Holden agreement has lifted a bit of a weight off our shoulders as we head into the season opener at Adelaide. This is where the season really should start, not in the Mid East as it has the past couple of years. I've done every single event here and there only four of us who have done that - Garth Tander, Russell Ingall and Greg Murphy are the others. I won the first event and three others - two in Fords and two in Holdens - but I've never claimed a win for this team. Hopefully I can start the year off well and change that record. This is a circuit that demands respect. Street circuits are like that with their unforgiving surfaces, small run-off areas and forbidding concrete walls. There is simply no margin for error here. This event often seems to throw up the extra challenge of wet or really hot weather. Thankfully this year the conditions look like being perfect with no rain predicted and temperatures in the low 20s. That should lead to some record qualifying and race laps. While the mild weather might reduce the physical challenge of the weekend, it is still the hardest race of the year. There are 78 laps or 250km on Saturday and if you make a mistake and put it in the wall you could be out for the Sunday where you back up for another 78 laps. Racing around the streets of Adelaide is not just a physical challenge, but also a mental challenge to get things right 100 per cent of the time. About 90 per cent of the corners are blind so you can't see around them or through them and you need to have lightning fast reactions for the whole of the weekend. You also have to get good balance in the car set-up so it flows through the circuit, especially turn eight where you are travelling at 240km/h corner. It's pretty hair-raising if the car isn't behaving. Get it wrong and that corner can bite really hard. I'm confident our car will be fine on this circuit after our initial testing at Sandown earlier this month where we were second fastest. The team has finessed the car with minor adjustments - nothing major - and hopefully we can carry the momentum and car speed from last year through to this year. Look out for Tander who has a good record here, plus FPR and Stone Brothers who have very strong vehicles on street circuits. But I think my stiffest competition will come from the other side of our garage. Jamie Whincup loves street circuits and his concentration will not be shaken by the sad loss of his father, David, on Sunday. We've spoken about it and he's obviously upset, but he's taking it well and is very appreciative of the well-wishes of fans and the respect shown for him and his family. He's very focussed on what he has to do this weekend and this won't upset his preparation. He's mentally strong and understands the situation and will switch his brain on when he needs to. I was a bit disappointed with not getting a result in the Bathurst 12-Hour last weekend. The Audi R8 was a much nicer car to drive this year because it shed a couple of kilos, had extra aero at the front, was better balanced and had a little more horsepower. However, the German team owner said he was very happy with us and would love to put Warren Luff and me in a car anytime we are over his side of the world. It was great to spend some time with Luffy on the circuit where he will be my co-driver later this year. I think the weekend cemented that it's the right decision to go with him as my partner for the endurance events.

Tim Lee, the Shanghai-based president of GM's international operations was quoted in reports in the business press today, which speculated that the Holden Commodore would be phased out in favour of a ‘global’ car. Lee reportedly said while visiting Melbourne that Holden had been one of the car giant’s strongest sellers in local markets, but that the GM business plan – like that of Ford – was moving towards global platforms. However he said that GM would maintain "full-line capacity in Australia with designing and engineering, building and selling vehicles", according to reports in the Australian Financial Review and other business media. The reports also quote Lee as saying that the "In the body shop the best way to do that is to have flexibility and to build two architectures and platforms. Maybe a mini car and a small car or maybe a small car and a compact car, or maybe a compact car and mid-sized car." "We're going to build a s**t load more great Commodores,” he was quoted as saying.  “It’s still an outstanding motor vehicle and one that we intend to produce for a long time.  But if you look at the motorway here in Melbourne, you see a lot of small cars. You see a lot of more fuel-efficient vehicles on the roads than Commodore.” The comments come after the release of a South Australian report, detailing that Holden's Elizabeth car manufacturing plant alone is worth more than $1.5 billion to the state economy each year and closure would lead to the loss of up to 16,000 jobs. Premier Jay Weatherill released the report last week, after the State Opposition called for a cost-benefit analysis before the handover of more taxpayer money to the company. The study by University of Adelaide Business School head Barry Burgan, dated February 4, was handed to the state Manufacturing, Innovation, Trade, Resources and Energy Department. It does not comment on the merits of further taxpayer backing. Holden is in negotiations with the state and federal governments over a bailout to keep the Elizabeth plant operational beyond 2016 and economists have forecast a $200 million price tag. The Federal Government will contribute the bulk of the funding. Associate Professor Burgan's report finds there are 2700 people directly employed by Holden in Elizabeth. The company purchases $530 million of goods from ``core'' local suppliers, supporting 5610 jobs and prompts extra employment in retail, transport, construction and other manufacturing. But the report says closure at Holden would also lead to some growth in other industries and reduction in worker wages as supply of labour and resources currently invested in auto manufacturing shifted. ``Note that this report does not consider the issues around what is required to underpin the longer term sustainability of the operations at Holden,'' Prof Burgan writes. ``Nor does this analysis consider the full gamut of benefit and cost considerations in terms of policies to mitigate the risks identified.'' Opposition industry spokesman Steven Marshall said the Government had spent taxpayer money to deliver a report backing its political argument. Taxpayer support for car making needed to be based on a full cost-benefit study, he said. Mr Weatherill told the South Australian Parliament the Elizabeth plant had long been ``the cornerstone of our state's industrial strength''.  

The VACC has backed a new report into fuel discount shopper dockets – an issue the industry body has previously urged the ACCC to examine. “The new report by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) substantiates what VACC has been saying all along – that so-called supermarket shopper docket discounts are a sham and they are a contributing factor to the demise of independent service stations,” VACC executive director David Purchase says. VACC recently released data showing that Coles and Woolworths control approximately 50 per cent of the Australian retail fuel market, through their retail fuel partners, Shell and Caltex. VACC’s statement says that, considering both these alliance partnerships were only formed in 2003, “their grab of market share has been considerable”. “Conversely, the demise of independent service stations has been extreme. In the last 40 years, the number of members in VACC’s Service Station Division has dropped from 3,050 to 215,” the statement says. “VACC shares concerns about the supermarket shopper docket discount scheme, expressed recently by the AAA which found the latest ‘double discount’ promotions on fuel by Woolworths and Coles over the summer short-changed motorists. We applaud AAA for highlighting this issue. “For many years, VACC has said the supermarket shopper docket discount scheme is a con. AAA reported that higher fuel prices were used to offset the discounts. VACC believes that Woolworths and Coles underpin their fuel discounts with higher grocery prices. Whatever smoke and mirrors are used, the bottom line is motorists are being dudded because the so-called discount is not a real discount. “We have previously called on the Government regulator, the ACCC, to intervene in this matter, but, in our opinion, it has been slow to act. As a result, Coles and Woolworths now dominate the market to the point where they can manipulate it and have too much influence,” Mr Purchase says. “We note Senator Nick Xenophon’s comments on the issue of supermarket shopper dockets and his call for Petrol Commissioner, Joe Dimasi, to be sacked. While we would not go that far, we do support his claim that there is too much ‘looking’ at petrol prices and not enough action. "We too have repeatedly been told by ACCC that it is ‘looking into the matter’; with all this ‘looking’, maybe it is time the ACCC bought a bigger mirror,” Mr Purchase says. VACC, the peak automotive industry body in Victoria, has repeated its call for greater Government intervention into supermarket shopper docket discounts. VACC represents more than 5,000 members in the retail, service and repair sector of the automotive industry, including more than 200 independent service station members.

Not only did the Mazda3 and Toyota Corolla finish first and second on sales for the month, but the Holden Cruze beat its big-brother Commodore for the first time and the compact Ford Focus also trumped the Falcon. January provided a solid start to the 2012 showroom sales race, with an overall lift of 4.3 per cent over 2010 powered mostly - as usual - by growing demand for SUVs.But Falcon had its worst year on record and even a claim that hundreds of cars were damaged by hail at Broadmeadows could not balance the bad news. The Focus victory over the Falcon is a tick for the compact, with a towering margin of 1576-931 cars, but also another cross against the long-term future of the locally made family car. "It was a shocking storm. They really took a hit," a spokesman for Ford Australia, Neil McDonald, says. Holden has admitted for nearly a year that the Cruze would eventually become its local hero, but no-one expected the switch from big to little to happen so quickly.It's unlikely to be sustained every month, as Commodore sales in January are traditionally down while fleet buyers are on holidays, but it's a pointer to a sea change in Australian carmaking."It's a good problem to have," says Holden's spokesperson, Emily Perry. Holden, like Ford with Falcon and Territory, is now also combining Commodore and Cruze totals each month so people get the correct picture of their total local production.And it's claiming strong early returns from a variety of sources. "Holden's product renaissance is really picking up pace and key models are notching up very pleasing performances in their respective segments. Our focus remains on building and selling the cars Australians want to buy and with a raft of new models due in the coming months, we're looking forward to an exciting year ahead," says Holden's director of sales, Philip Brook. The margin between Cruze and Commodore was much closer than Focus and Falcon at 2445 sales to 2170. But neither could come close to the overall winner in January, the Mazda3 with 4045, or the second-placed Toyota Corolla with 3383. The Mazda is still powering off the back of its number one run through 2011 and led the company to a January record of 8479 sales, and 11.0 per cent of the market. The result reflects an increase of 1279 cars, or 17.8 per cent, over the result in 2011. "We are both delighted and humbled by customer acceptance of our whole range during January. While we are quietly confident of a strong year, particularly with the imminent launch of our all-new CX-5, our primary focus will remain on looking after our customers," says the managing director of Mazda Australia, Doug Dickson. As usual, Toyota was Australia's favourite brand in January, ahead of Toyota and Mazda, with Hyundai in fourth after the best January in its local history.

The slot is the one vacated by Development Series dominator Andrew Thompson who is without a full-time drive for 2012. His position in the Triple Eight Race Engineering car will be occupied by British Formula Ford champion Scott Pye who has never raced in a car with a roof. "There's going to be a lot of outside pressure on me - more than from inside the team," says the 22-year-old Adelaide driver who this week moved to Brisbane to be close to team headquarters. "Everyone says the Triple Eight car was the best, but Thomo also did a fantastic job last year, so there will be a lot of pressure on me to do the same. "However, (team boss) Roland Dane has given me time to achieve my goals which are no crashes, no DNFs and learn as much as possible."  Dane yesterday announced Pye has been signed to a two-year deal with Triple Eight. "For Scott there is a two-year program because he has to learn the circuits as well as the championship," Dane says.  Pye has only raced at Queensland Raceway and Winton and will have to learn the other five circuits, including Bathurst. His lesson on Mt Panorama begins at the end of this month when he shares a Holden Astra VR-X in the Bathurst 12 Hour race. It will come just two days after his first test in a V8 Commodore at Queensland Raceway. "It will be completelty different to what I'm used to so I'm keeping an open mind and will listen to the engineers and Craig (Lowndes) and Jamie (Whincup)," he says. "But at the end of the day it's another race car that still does the same sort of things so you like to think you can adapt fairly easily." Dane says Thompson, who won the Development Series by almost 30 points, achieved his goals in 2011 and had to move on.  "When he came to us it was to do the enduro drives with Jamie and that expanded into the Development Series which he was expected to win and dominate, which he did," Dane says. "He did everything he should have done but in his situation with his epxerience he couldn't really do it again. It doesn't make sense. "I expected him to end up with a full-time drive in the main series this year. There are about two drives still left, but he's said he's not going to drive full time this year." Dane says Pye will not be expected to co-drive in the V8 endurance rounds as Thompson did last year. "We will announce our enduro pairings next week," he says. DEVELOPMENT SERIES  

The one-time V8 Supercars firebrand, and three-time runner-up in the Bathurst 1000, is now a lifetime member of the team at Brad Jones Racing.Richards is commemorated with a small star on the door pillar of the three cars that will compete in this year's V8 Supercars championship and team manager Kim Jones says his star will always shine on their cars."He will be part of the family forever. He was like a third brother to Bradley and me," he revealed yesterday."It makes Bradley and me feel better to have him along as part of the group. He only raced with us for three years but he became a member of our family."The Richards star was revealed yesterday at a pre-season function attended by his widow Charlotte. "I think it's great," she said.Jones said the team considered a number of designs for the tribute before settling on a star."It's what he was. We made a star with JR's logo in the middle of it. We looked at all sorts of things, like incorporating his logo into our logo, but we think this is the best end result."A number of V8 Supercars teams have displayed short-term tribute messages, most notably to former Ford Australia president Geoff Polites, but this is the first long-term commitment.The Jones brothers - sometimes known as the Dodgy Brothers - have been racing together since time on motorcycles, then a broad spread success in other classes up to V8 Supercars."We started pushbikes before that. It's been a long time," Jones said. "How long will we keep going? I don't know. But while we enjoy it we'll keep doing it and JR will be with us."