Holden Commodore News

GREG Murphy is odds-on to be racing a Commodore for Paul Morris in 2010 after Castrol confirmed it is spreading its support to the Gold Coast crew next year. Castrol is continuing its support of Ford Performance Racing and Steven Richards, but Murphy is expected to be the oil company's hero driver in a fully-branded Castrol Commodore.Glenn Allerton became the 2009 Australian Superbike Champion at the final round at Phillip Island last weekend, taking his Honda to the series win over Josh Waters on a Suzuki. The Supersports crown was claimed by Bryan Staring, riding a Yamaha.SAUBER could continue in Formula One after a change of ownership which puts Peter Sauber, who originally sold his team to BMW, back in charge. Sauber is now trying to negotiate a deal which would give him the 2010 entry originally reserved for Toyota, which has joined BMW in withdrawing from grand prix racing.THERE has been a name change for the top level of go-kart racing in Australia. The Australian CIK Karting Championship, for elite drivers and teams, will be known as the CIK Stars of Karting series in 2010.TELEVISION coverage of V8 Supercar racing will get a major boost in 2010 with a new deal through the Fox Sports network in the USA. A delayed telecast of each V8 Supercar title round will be broadcast by Fox next year, introducing Australia's favourite motorsport category to a potential audience of more than 79 subscribers across America.TWO of America's best motocross racers, Josh Grant and Davi Millsaps, have flown into Brisbane this week to face local hero Chad Reed in the final of the Monster Energy Super X championship. Reed is odds-on to take the Super X crown for the second year but organisers, faced with the loss of big-name drawcard James Stewart, decided to bring Grant and Millsaps to the grand final to put some extra interest into the event.CRAIG Lowndes is hoping to go one better than his team mate Jamie Whincup in this year's running of the Australia's Greatest Athlete competition on Channel 7. Whincup was runner-up in the inaugural event but Lowndes faces rivals including footballers Billy Slater and Wendell Sailor, as well as world ironman champion Shannon Eckstein. 

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.

Not least of them is my mate Bargs (Jason Bargwanna). I tangled with him at Bathurst and Surfers Paradise and my teammate Craig (Lowndes) had a run-in with him at Phillip Island last weekend. Bargs has since come out and sprayed both of us in one of his press releases saying we are driving like teenagers. All I can say is there is a common denominator in all those incidents. I won't comment anymore than that. We'll do our talking on the track. And I think I did some talking last weekend that should put an end to these rumours about me being a choker. I hadn't won a race since Queensland Raceway which was a few months ago, so we were really on the back foot. Then I had the worst race meeting in three years on the Gold Coast only to bounce back with what was one of my best weekends in years. All of this in just two weeks. It was just very weird. People have asked me if someone had a talk to me but it's my job to turn my own momentum around. I motivate myself. I don't need someone else to motivate me. I do the work required to be at the top of my game. I think the whole team and I turned in a flawless performance at the weekend. Everyone dug deep, the whole team came out of the dumpster and now I feel like we are back on top again. At the same time I'm fully aware there are four races and 600 points up for grabs and that I hold only a small lead of 122 points. So it's nowhere near over and the next two rounds are going to require the same amount of hard work and commitment as went into Phillip Island. However, don't expect to see me driving defensively to protect my lead. Expect to see me on the attack. And I'll keep on the attack until I feel there is a time I can relax. Attack is the only way I know how. The only time I've driven defensively was in that safety car fiasco at the weekend. If I hadn't passed the safety car and got out of the way I might have been cleaned up. I came out of pit lane expecting the safety car to accelerate to its usual 80km/h but it was just parked at the second fastest point on any Australian track. He had me coming out at 40km/h and Garth coming down the straight at 250km/h followed by several other drivers. Instantly the rule came into my mind that you can't pass the safety car unless directed, so I hit the brakes. That was my first reaction, but quickly commonsense prevailed. Stopping there is not commonsense so I decided to pass and clean the area as much as I could. I saw cars coming down the straight, but I kept my eyes forward and stayed off the racing line to minimise the situation. It was just human error and there is no point in head hunting, but we can use this incident to change procedures. The safety car should wait around at turn one, a lot further down the track where speeds are slower. While we're reviewing safety car procedures I'd also like to see the situation where they turn off the lights off and accelerate away tidied up a bit. It's a little bit messy. Hopefully this incident will help spur people into action. Once again I would like to say how very disappointed I was in missing out on the Race of Champions in China last week, but I had to concentrate on the V8 series. I think the results at Phillip Island show it was the right decision. I'd also like to put out a big thanks to my mate Chad (Reed) for taking my spot at the last minute. He and Mick (Doohan) got knocked out early in the event and unfortunately for Chad, he had a crash in the SuperX at the weekend and had one of the worst weekends of his career while I went ahead and won two races. Just goes to show what a fickle old world motorsport is. In the next 10 days before we head to Perth, I'm settling down to a similar plan as the two weeks before Phillip Island; a good balance between hard work and clearing the mind.  

 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.

Instead his fire-breathing 1982 Brock VH Commodore SS Group 3 beast is among the elite in the local muscle car world.  Micallef bought the car near-new in 1983. The VH had done just 3000km and was snapped up by a fan keen on high-performance machinery."I always wanted a performance car," he says. "My dream was an XU-1 or an A9X Torana but I happened to be in the right place at the right time and I bought it."Since then the car has undergone major improvements while still retaining its original exterior looks.  As built, the red SS Group 3 came with its stand-out black wind-splitters on the mud-guards and its long, sleek bonnet scoop.  Out the back it boasts a subtle wing and distinctive black bumper lining.The car was built at the height of Peter Brock's customised Holden Dealer Team Special Vehicles road car business.  He started it to provide road-going specials to the Holden dealers who were supporting his racing activities.Brock started with the earlier VC model and those HDT Commodores, like Vince's VH model and the later Group A VK models, have become collector's items. Brock's team's conversion of the hottest Commodore into an even more special beast as sold was a pretty hot item in its day.But Micallef sought to go a step further.  "I have customised it to my liking." he said. "There's nothing that I haven't improved on the car."  Underneath the skin his work included bumping the engine output to more than 500hp, installing an American high-performance Tremec TKO gearbox and adding racing-standard brakes and suspension set-ups.And the car has also been re-sprayed to improve its lustre."I just want it to be perfect all the time."  And it has all proved worthwhile.  Micallef paid $20,000 for the car and with the modifications it is now nudging $100,000. Over the past few years he has entered the VH in shows, where it has excelled.At the last Holden v Ford day show in Sydney in 2006, Micallef's machine won the best HDT and best model of its year and made the top 10 finalists.  And the whole project has been a family bonding exercise as his sons have become involved with the car.  "My wife used to use it as a daily shopping car. She was careful where she parked it though," he says.One of his sons  took it to the Eastern Creek dragway where it achieved an 11-second pass over the old quarter-mile (400m).  "It keeps the family together, it keeps the boys together," he says.  Micallef now uses it only for shows and occasional club runs.He has now owned it for 26 years and it has been his only performance machine.  Which is unlike many owners whose cars we feature  who have swapped and shuffled their collections around over the years.

Plus...Paul Maric gets the keys to a Holden Commodore SV6 and why we should all have First Aid training.For all this and a lot more, listen to the podcast above.

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.