Fastest Cars: Holden Commodore

Showing posts with label Holden Commodore. Show all posts

First Drive: Holden Caprice V Series II with 6.0-liter V8

The car that most Americans know as the Chevy Caprice PPV (Police Patrol Vehicle) owes as much to the Australian designed and built Holden Caprice luxury sedan reviewed here as the latter owes to business decisions Ford Australia made a couple of decades ago.

In the early 1970s, Holden – GM’s Australian subsidiary – introduced two new models to compete with local rival Ford. The first was the Statesman, a vehicle with no Holden badging whatsoever, designed as a direct competitor to Ford’s Australian-built Fairlane and as a replacement for the unloved Brougham sedan.

A few years later came the Statesman Caprice, an even more luxurious model, introduced to compete with Ford’s freshly minted LTD.

Thus the Caprice name was born. Over the years the Caprice has grown in interior room, price and standard equipment but retains the same basic idea of what Aussie luxury should be. We took the V8 engined V Series II model out for a week long road test and review.

Once a production hub, Australia's motoring industry is now facing the prospect of losing one of its most acclaimed model series, the Holden Commodore (and apparently, its Caprice derivatives) after the upcoming redesign, which is scheduled for 2013.

While production of the 2013 Commodore VF will endure at least until 2017, The Sydney Morning Herald (via its Drive car site) is reporting today that Holden chairman and managing director Mike Devereux confirmed that the brand will decide on its local manufacturing future beyond 2018 before the end of December.

If you're not from the Land of Down Under or at least an avid Holden fan, then you're probably unfamiliar with the 1987 HDT Commodore VL SS Group A prepped by Australian racing legend Peter Brock. So before we get into the details on the new VL/VE Group A package, allow us to fill you in on a bit of the history.

Up until the late 1980s, Peter Brock was running HDT, or Holden Dealer Team, but GM's Australian division subsequently cut ties with him after he began publicly supporting and fitting all HDT models with the a device called the "Energy Polariser".

The first batch of GM's Australian-built 2012 Chevrolet Caprice PPV [Police Patrol Vehicle] cruisers hit the streets across the States earlier this year with more to arrive in the following months.

Despite the fact that the police car launch has sparked some interest for a civilian version as well, the Detroit maker has not such plans on the table – at least not for now.

Today, we stumbled upon a detailed -if not a bit tiring and lengthy- video walkaround of the 2012 Caprice from a Youtube user who goes by the name "Saabkyle04". The unmarked police cruisers with the detective package were located at a GM dealership in Charlotte, North Carolina.

In an eco-marathon, you normally expect the winner to be a hybrid, a diesel or some other super-frugal -and usually underpowered- car. Well, in the Fleet World MPG Marathon the champion had no less than 431-horses kicking and screaming to be unleashed under its bonnet.

You read that correctly: the LS3 6.2-liter V8-powered VXR8 - essentially a Holden HSV rebadged as a Vauxhall for the UK market- won the two-day, 350-mile economy trial.

How did this happen? There's a simple explanation: this award wasn't given to the most fuel efficient vehicle in absolute numbers, but to the one that recorded the highest percent improvement over the official fuel consumption figures.

While Holden's engineering team is working hard on the development of the new generation Commodore dubbed VF, which is expected to launch within the next two to three years, the company's designers took some time off to spiff up the current model.

For the 2012 model year, Australia's homegrown Commodore VE (sold as the Pontiac G8 in the States before the brand was axed) receives some minor exterior and interior enhancements, plus the introduction of the track-inspired FE3 sports suspension on the Redline series.

For those of you that think driving through the congested roads of Manhattan or Paris is bad, maybe you should take a look at the following video, which seems to have been shot somewhere in the Middle East (if you happen to know where, leave us a comment below).

In broad daylight and while normal drivers are using the road, numerous wannabe drifters, mostly in American and Australian rear-wheel drive saloons like the Ford Crown Victoria, Chrysler 300 and the Holden-based Chevrolet Caprice, are showing off their rides slideways.

General Motor’s Holden Special Vehicles unit in Australia is following in the footsteps of Mercedes-Benz’s AMG division as well as more recently, Porsche, with the presentation of a black-themed and named special edition series based on the E Series 3 range launched last September.

Making its world debut at the 2011 Australian motorshow in Melbourne, the SV Black Edition package is offered in the ClubSport R8, Maloo R8 and ClubSport R8 Tourer, which are the sports versions of the Commodore sedan, ute, and station wagon models respectively.

The thundering sounds of Australia’s V8-powered racecars will soon be heard in the U.S.A. as Texas Governor Rick Perry and Queensland Premier Anna Bligh, announced today a five-year agreement to bring the famed Australian V8 Supercar series to the new Circuit of The Americas in Austin, Texas beginning in 2013.

"The addition of V8 Supercars into our lineup at Circuit of The Americas will add to what we already know will be a rich and exhilarating fan experience," said Steve Sexton, President of Circuit of The Americas.

It’s a poorly kept secret that many Americans are quite fond of the Australian-made and Commodore-derived, Holden Ute, which we recently drove in Queensland. It’s big, brutish and comfortable with a bevy of engine and equipment options to suit virtually any budget or taste - so long as those tastes only extend to, “Big, brutish V6 or V8 engined utes”.

Before the Global Financial Crisis of 2009, the subsequent bankruptcy GM and the disillusion of the Pontiac brand, as many as half of the Holden Commodores built in Australia were destined for the U.S. and the world in the form of the Pontiac G8. A thinly disguised Holden Ute even made a showing at the 2008 New York Auto Show as the Pontiac G8 Sport Truck.

2011 is a very special year for two Australian motoring icons. For one, it’s the 50th anniversary of Queensland’s first permanent, purpose-built raceway: Lakeside Park. It’s also marks the 60th anniversary of Holden’s FX Utility, a vehicle widely considered by enthusiasts to be the forefather of the home grown Aussie “ute”. In recognition of these historic occasions, we took a Holden VE Series II SS Ute for a test drive and headed north to attend the first of Lakeside’s three 50th anniversary events. Part one of this feature will cover my impressions of the Ute, whilst part two will take in the event itself. So let’s get cracking.

Overview

The VE Ute is already an attractive vehicle and in SS guise this is complemented with 18-inch alloys, front fog lights and a lowered sports suspension. With its 6.0 L V8 the SS is certainly powerful, but it’s also safe with a maximum 5-star ANCAP rating thanks to its six airbags and electronic stability control.

In celebration of the 60th anniversary of the original 1951 Holden Ute, General Motors’ Australian subsidiary is planning several special edition models this year starting with the revival of the Thunder nameplate for the VE Series II Ute line-up. The Thunder package is offered on the SV6 and SS models and offers customers some additional equipment and bespoke styling cues, worth around $3,000 if ordered separately.

Our man Tristan has snagged the keys to a Holden Ute Series II SS V8 model for a first drive in Queensland, Australia this week, and just to make it a bit more interesting, he’ll be driving the Down Under-flavored El Camino to a classic car gathering in Brisbane.

Blurring the line between cars and trucks, the Holden Commodore-based sport pickup comes from a long line of Utes dating back to the middle of the previous century. The Ute almost made it to North America when Pontiac revealed the G8 Sport Truck at the 2008 New York Auto Show, but GM’s growing financial troubles at the time put a stop to that plan, and eventually the brand itself which was discontinued in 2009, and finally shut down in 2010.

*2011 Holden Commodore Series II pictured here

Good news for Commodore fans; General Motors design boss Ed Welburn was in Melbourne recently to sign off on the styling of the next Holden Commodore, due in Q3 2013. The as-of-yet-unrevealed VF Commodore will be an evolution of the current generation VE, sharing the same rear-wheel-drive platform and V6 engines. "It's the absolute right Commodore for that market,” Mr. Welburn was quoted as saying, “I feel very good about it.”

Holden is said to be looking into lightening the VF’s components to improve fuel economy with the new model, and is also putting a strong emphasis on improving drivetrain efficiency. Though Mr. Welburn refused to comment on whether the Commodore would come to the U.S. badged as a Chevy, he did say:

“They are doing work for Holden and for other projects around the world. They are a very talented team – very talented – and I want to take full advantage of that. So, they are responsible for the look and feel of all Holden products, but they are doing work on Chevrolets, they have done some wonderful Buick work, and I could not be more proud of the work that they do.”

Based on Holden’s most recent E3 series GTS model, the 2012 Vauxhall VXR8 will hit UK dealers next March, featuring several improvements over the previous model, which was built on the lower-spec ClubSport R8. Priced at £49,500 (VAT included), the new model is still considered a bargain in the country, considering that there’s a 6.2-liter V8 powerhouse under the bonnet.

The demise of the Pontiac brand in 2009 also brought about the death of the G8, the Americanized derivative of the Australian-built Holden Commodore SS. It was a sad day for Pontiac and Holden fans alike, the loss of the G8 export contract costing Holden millions of dollars and putting the future of its Elizabeth, South Australia plant - and the brand itself - in jeopardy.

When the Holden-derived Chevy Caprice Police Car was revealed for the North American market twelve months ago, rumors of a reborn G8 in the form of a Chevrolet were rife. Now, Aussie motoring website Drive is reporting that U.S. exports of the Holden Commodore SS are "imminent", with a launch expected before the end of the current model's lifespan.

The Holden Commodore Ute may not have been given the chance for a career in the States as the G8 ST sport truck after the demise of Pontiac, but GM's modern-day El-Camino from Down-Under continues to be offered in markets outside Australia including South Africa were it is sold as the Chevy Ute SS.

LupiniPower, a local tuner from South Africa, has taken upon itself to introduce a hotted-up version sporting a 6.0-liter supercharged V8 with 535-hp and a massive 590 lb-ft (799 Nm) of torque. That's an increase of 173-hp and 200 lb-ft over the stock Ute with the naturally aspirated V8 engine.

Thanks to the added power, LupiniPower's SportUte completes the 0 to 60 mph (96km/h) sprint in 4.4 seconds instead of 6.0 seconds, while 0-100 mph (160km/h) goes by in 9.9 seconds, close to 4 seconds faster than the standard Ute.

For the Australian car buff, Tom Walkinshaw needs no introduction. Here is the man who founded HSV and was responsible for the epic VL Commodore based HSV SS Group A in late '80s. Though no longer working for Holden, 'Walky' continues to turn out some of the most powerful and ballsiest vehicles Australia has ever seen through the performance company named after him.

At the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney, Walkinshaw Performance took the wraps off its latest model: the WP Series II Supercar. The Holden Commodore Series II SS derived super saloon is fitted with an Edelbrock WP 230 supercharger, boosting power to 617-horsepower (460 kw) and torque to 780 Nm (575 lb ft).

I'm pretty sure most of you outside Australia are wondering a) what the heck a Statesman HQ is and b) why should you care that there's a die-cast model. Well, let me try to provide answers for these two questions:

A) The Statesman HQ was a luxury long-wheelbase model for the masses produced by GM's Holden from 1971 through 1974, and B) Apparently, most readers need not care but for the other four viewers I was referring to in the title, as far as I know, this is the first time that a scale model of the specific car has been built. For more history on the Statesman and details on the scale model, hit the jump.

Holden Special Vehicles has taken the wraps off an updated version of its Commodore derived performance range along with a special edition of the Malooo R8 ute. HSV is the performance arm of Australian automaker Holden, known in the States through the now defunct Pontiac G8 and the Chevy Caprice police car that was revealed earlier this year.

First Drive: Holden Caprice V Series II with 6.0-liter V8

Holden Rumored to Decide on the Future of the Commodore by the End of December

HDT Commodore VL/VE Group A is a Retro Throwback to the 1980s

A Video Tour of the 2012 Chevrolet Caprice PPV with the Detective Package

Vauxhall's VXR8 Sport Saloon Wins MPG Marathon Award, No Really

Subtle Updates for 2012 Holden Commodore

Video: Just Another Drifting Day in the Middle East

2011 AIMS: New HSV Black Edition Versions of Commodore Based Sedan, Station and Ute Models

Aussie V8 Supercar Series Coming to America in 2013

Sport Truck Redux: New Rumors About the Holden Ute Heading to the U.S.A.

First Drive: 2011 Holden VE Series II SS V8 Ute

Holden Revives Thunder Nameplate for VE Series Ute Line-up

Holden Ute Series II SS V8 Arrives in Carscoop’s Garage

GM Design Grandisimo Approves Design of Next Holden Commodore Due in 2013

Holden’s E3 GTS Transforms into the 2012 Vauxhall VXR8 in Britain

New Rumors of the Pontiac G8 Returning to North America as a Chevrolet

LupiniPower's Chevrolet SportUte is a wild one; Packs 535HP from Supercharged V8

Walkinshaw Performance Series II Commodore eats Ferraris for Breakfast

Holden Statesman HQ Fans [All five of us] Rejoice; First Ever Scale Model Released by Trax

HSV Commodore Range gets Minor Updates and 20th Anniversary Maloo R8 Ute

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