www.news.com.au/technology/innovation/motoring/its-a-new-holden-monaro-but-not-as-we-know-theres-no-v8-but-it-has-plenty-of-grunt/news-story/345e0cc3274cb00dc55efb0066afa018

Yuk! Looks like it is trying to be a BMW

Very, very impressive!

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GalahOnTheBay said..
Yuk! Looks like it is trying to be a BMW

You mean Jaguar. Still it looks by far better than most of the average body styling Holden produces. Let's see how it gets dumbed down by the production engineers and the bean counters before we start waxing lyrical about CGI.

The one and only TRUE real Monaro. End of story!
The only thing that piece of new-age yuppiness above has, are two side doors.

Want me to bag out your house designs Ado??

where is the gear lever ? wasn't the push button back in the old Chryslers & Valiants but no V8 what will we do with out one

Probably look a lot better with a decent set of wheels. Every one has gone over the top with this fashion for low profile. Way past the optimum performance profile I'd think. Wheels need rubber.

No V8.




The "save the commodore" story the MSM is mostly ignoring for some reason... Project Erich

http://www.motoring.com.au/exclusive-dumarey-confirms-bid-for-commodore-and-elizabeth-100647/
www.autoblog.com/2015/12/25/belgian-man-save-holden-commodore/
thenewdaily.com.au/life/2015/12/21/secret-bid-save-commodore-revealed/

The vehicle pictured is the Buick Avista concept vehicle. It was designed in the GM Warren studios in Michigan and built there also. I was informed earlier that it just won the 'Eyes on Design" award at the Detroit show for best concept vehicle, the same award that the Buick Avenir show vehicle the GM Australia team designed and built last year won. Well done Chip and the Buick exterior team.

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kiteboy dave said...
No V8.




The "save the commodore" story the MSM is mostly ignoring for some reason... Project Erich

http://www.motoring.com.au/exclusive-dumarey-confirms-bid-for-commodore-and-elizabeth-100647/
www.autoblog.com/2015/12/25/belgian-man-save-holden-commodore/
thenewdaily.com.au/life/2015/12/21/secret-bid-save-commodore-revealed/

But is there a suficient market for these cars anymore to make it practical to keep producing them? Even with taxpayer handouts Holden couldn't afford to keep building them.

kind of looks like jag meets merc/amg

feel a little sad it's missing a v8. maybe they'll supply one of those "cigarette lighter v8/tacho sensing" things that you play through your car stereo

does anyone remember some of this stuff? http://gallery.oldholden.com/HQ_SS/Other+HQs/

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ikw777 said..

kiteboy dave said...
No V8.




The "save the commodore" story the MSM is mostly ignoring for some reason... Project Erich

www.motoring.com.au/exclusive-dumarey-confirms-bid-for-commodore-and-elizabeth-100647/
www.autoblog.com/2015/12/25/belgian-man-save-holden-commodore/
thenewdaily.com.au/life/2015/12/21/secret-bid-save-commodore-revealed/

But is there a suficient market for these cars anymore to make it practical to keep producing them? Even with taxpayer handouts Holden couldn't afford to keep building them.

Every car industry in the world has taxpayer handouts supporting it. If you want the 250,000 direct + indirect jobs our car industry brought, you need to support it, which is why all countries do.

As for commodore, well our market is highly competitive (sticker prices same as 15 years ago) and highly fragmented (lots of choice). Most that would have gone for a 'family car' 20 years ago would go for a SUV now as the ladies prefer sitting up high. It is easier to stand straighter and strap kiddies in a SUV.

Having said that, the last V8 commodores are selling like hotcakes. It's a bargain and will probably be collectable down the line. If I was remotely in the market for a new car I'd probably snap one up.

VERDICT | OVERALL
There is no other car you can buy in this market that offers such space, with such interior quality of leather and suede, and with such performance at anything near the price of the SS and SSV Commodores.These are out-and-out performance bargains.But they are also built for Australian roads and for effortless long-distance travel.The SS and SSV are considerably less-wearing than the equivalent sporting German counterparts (with their uncompromising hard suspensions), while giving nothing away in straight-line performance, and scant margins in track-ready handling.Pay no attention to the nay-sayers who ‘poo-poo’ our home-grown performance sedans. They do not know what they’re missing.

When it comes to “what you get, for what you pay”, this 6.2 litre LS3-engined Commodore has no peer in this market. Not one.If you don’t mind paying for the extra fuel it uses (it has lost its cylinder de-activation technology and doesn’t half-mind a drink), you will love this car. It’s a bit boofy, yeah, but so is an AMG C 63, these are not subtle cars.Buy one, get it past the Chancellor for the Exchequer by explaining the ‘collectible value’ of the purchase, but buy one.

www.themotorreport.com.au/62362/2016-vf-ii-commodore-ss-and-ssv-redline-review-harder-better-faster-stronger

I have no problem with taxpayer support for the industry. I am in favour of it generally, but even with it these manufacturers couldn't produce cars that were sufficiently commercially successful so that they could keep in operation. They took the money, but kept building cars that fewer and fewer people wanted. Essentially they had their wages bill covered by the rest of us but didn't do us the courtesy of actually building cars lots of people would like to buy.

I think they were trying, I mean as stated above it's become an increasingly difficult market due to factors mentioned above, and others.
Manufacturers (and dealers for that matter) make a shockingly low amount from each new car sale, which is why they push the extras/servicing so hard.

Commonwhore falcodore sales slipped from #1 to #10 maybe but they were still selling steady numbers. They just couldn't crack a mazda 3 / VW golf type car - cruze and astra variants never appealing enough.

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Haircut said...
kind of looks like jag meets merc/amg

feel a little sad it's missing a v8. maybe they'll supply one of those "cigarette lighter v8/tacho sensing" things that you play through your car stereo

does anyone remember some of this stuff? http://gallery.oldholden.com/HQ_SS/Other+HQs/

Until you drive it, that's where the comparison ends

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cauncy said..


Until you drive it, that's where the comparison ends

You're not serious? Have you sat in an old EH or EJ Holden station-wagon? Wow. That car is pure heaven, smooth and way more spacious than anything today. The motor was crap I'll give you that

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mr love said..
Want me to bag out your house designs Ado??

Just my opinion - ease up. Holden's have a nostalgic value for us Aussies, but 99% of the time no one else is paying any attention. They have muscle and used to be tough. That's why we like them.

I quite like the concept but being Holden/GM I don't think anyone is claiming they set international body styling standards. The Sportwagon was pretty good and innovative in the bum, but hardly the snappiest looking wagon on the market - worked or not. Again - just my opinion so don't shoot me!

No Jaguar fan, but hey, just saying. This car is actually in production. That Buick concept is well - just a concept so let's see how it gets dumbed down. Never seen a production car look better than a concept.

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kiteboy dave said..

ikw777 said..

kiteboy dave said...
No V8.




The "save the commodore" story the MSM is mostly ignoring for some reason... Project Erich

www.motoring.com.au/exclusive-dumarey-confirms-bid-for-commodore-and-elizabeth-100647/
www.autoblog.com/2015/12/25/belgian-man-save-holden-commodore/
thenewdaily.com.au/life/2015/12/21/secret-bid-save-commodore-revealed/

But is there a suficient market for these cars anymore to make it practical to keep producing them? Even with taxpayer handouts Holden couldn't afford to keep building them.

Every car industry in the world has taxpayer handouts supporting it. If you want the 250,000 direct + indirect jobs our car industry brought, you need to support it, which is why all countries do.

As for commodore, well our market is highly competitive (sticker prices same as 15 years ago) and highly fragmented (lots of choice). Most that would have gone for a 'family car' 20 years ago would go for a SUV now as the ladies prefer sitting up high. It is easier to stand straighter and strap kiddies in a SUV.

Having said that, the last V8 commodores are selling like hotcakes. It's a bargain and will probably be collectable down the line. If I was remotely in the market for a new car I'd probably snap one up.

VERDICT | OVERALL
There is no other car you can buy in this market that offers such space, with such interior quality of leather and suede, and with such performance at anything near the price of the SS and SSV Commodores.These are out-and-out performance bargains.But they are also built for Australian roads and for effortless long-distance travel.The SS and SSV are considerably less-wearing than the equivalent sporting German counterparts (with their uncompromising hard suspensions), while giving nothing away in straight-line performance, and scant margins in track-ready handling.Pay no attention to the nay-sayers who ‘poo-poo’ our home-grown performance sedans. They do not know what they’re missing.

When it comes to “what you get, for what you pay”, this 6.2 litre LS3-engined Commodore has no peer in this market. Not one.If you don’t mind paying for the extra fuel it uses (it has lost its cylinder de-activation technology and doesn’t half-mind a drink), you will love this car. It’s a bit boofy, yeah, but so is an AMG C 63, these are not subtle cars.Buy one, get it past the Chancellor for the Exchequer by explaining the ‘collectible value’ of the purchase, but buy one.

www.themotorreport.com.au/62362/2016-vf-ii-commodore-ss-and-ssv-redline-review-harder-better-faster-stronger

They mentioned an AMG c63 in the same sentence. SS and SSV screams 'CUB/dickhead hoon'.......AMG c63, especially the Black Series, says 'I'm smarter than the average bear, have decent taste and love driving...sometimes very, very fast'

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Hamsta said..





They mentioned an AMG c63 in the same sentence. SS and SSV screams 'CUB/dickhead hoon'.......AMG c63, especially the Black Series, says 'I'm smarter than the average bear, have decent taste and love driving...sometimes very, very fast'

On the one hand, I totally agree.
I spent most of my adult life swearing the one car I'd never own was a boganmobile.
Then I bought one.

Why?

I was sick of small cars.
I was over the foibles of Euro cars.
I wanted to own a V8 for once in my life, and doing mostly highway kms, and not getting any younger.

I started searching carsales.com using just V8, entering price ranges, sorting by year.
There's not 'exclude make' option. I got so sick of flipping through 30 pages of dunny doors to get to ... anything else.
I persisted...
After a while it just didn't make sense. Why look at a 10 year old .. something else... when I could get a 5 year old commonwh0re for the same money?

At the same time I was servicing a Euro car.
$1500 for a harmonic balancer at a cheap mechanic for a Renault (3k if you have a BMW or Merc..). Commodore just cost me $530 for same.
$2k for timing belt. V8 has pushrods so that's free.
My workmate's VW toureg cost him 10k to keep running, and is only worth that after 7 years (new at 60-80k)

Etc.

So to me, an AMG c63 says "I'm bad with money, I paid $240,000 for this depreciation bomb that's gonna be worth $20k in 10 years. It's gonna cost me a further $15k to keep it running in that time. Meanwhile everyone thinks I'm an ostentatious w@nker on the road"

I agree about what a commodore says - but in a way I find it liberating. I'm generally very courteous, polite, aware on the road, but if the mood takes me I can drive like a t0sser and just think "oh well it's just what they're expecting anyway..."

Now if you took a new SS-V at 56k, added the 26k walkinshaw kit, you're talking about 547kW and 880Nm - a very, very fast car for $82,000.
I believe the c63 has 373kW and 610Nm for $240,000.

I'd pocket the $160k and enjoy 25% more go, personally.

I,ll take the bait.......Designed and built by the Holden Design team who according to you Ado can't design cars to International standards but somehow manage to win International Design awards. Best Car in show at NAIAS in Detroit last year, the Chevrolet Bolt Concept car which was also done by the same team came second and who did they beat...oh Mercedes. And GM design won again this year..... just saying.

To make you feel better, I think Holden/GM design better looking cars than Toyota, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Honda, BMW, Mercedes, Peugeot, Citroen and Fiat.

But that show was in Detroit in the country where they think the world is run by the USA.....and no I didn't say "can't design cars to international standards".

I said in my opinion I don't personally think and GM cars set design benchmarks that take car styling in new directions. Even that car you've posted above takes very strong cues from Bentley. I also don't think Mercedes design is all that good anymore either. In fact I think they've lost it like Subaru and BMW.

You know I own an Octavia vRS. There's nothing super wow about the styling, but Skoda has got a lot of things right, taking styling cues from Audi A4 and BMW M3 and designing a no-nonsense package that I think looks better than it's rivals - and at half the cost. I know people who buy kW grunt and rumbling noise won't understand - but the car's an absolute beast.

Whatever, you know best as usual, better than the panel of International judges who are a collection of Design directors and ex design directors from auto companies from all over the globe, not US centric. And if you think that looks better than a Commodore Wagon which by the way was designed over 10 years ago you need glasses.

I'll stay out of the 'Love v Ado' debate as much as I can here...

I've always loved a holden v8, especially a wagon. But to me, good design should always show restraint. It's about knowing when to stop. I love the holden sport wagon and a few years ago very nearly bought one. I loved the kw/nm numbers of the SSV, then the Clubsport R8 was even more appealing, but what turned me off were the fkn ugly badges on the back of the R8 that completely detracted from an otherwise great looking car.

Same with the Holden ute. A total beast, but a pretty ugly rear end. I guess a muscle car needs to look beefy etc, but it also needs to look appealing from all angles for the money spent.

I'm more of a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' type, where I want great performance that does not attract unwanted attention, and doesn't make me look like a cashed up bogan too.

HSV designed by their own Team and not by the GM Aus team in Port Melb. We supply the base car and they go from there. I have a Redline wagon coming, soon I think, can't wait but my Wife will cringe when I start it up every morning.
As for Gm Design not doing anything new and fresh, well I will agree to disagree on that but I do get to see all the advanced work so in a privileged position on that subject.

Something very cool coming soon, video is the first in a series of teasers.

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Aus06 said..

I'll stay out of the 'Love v Ado' debate as much as I can here...

I've always loved a holden v8, especially a wagon. But to me, good design should always show restraint. It's about knowing when to stop. I love the holden sport wagon and a few years ago very nearly bought one. I loved the kw/nm numbers of the SSV, then the Clubsport R8 was even more appealing, but what turned me off were the fkn ugly badges on the back of the R8 that completely detracted from an otherwise great looking car.

Same with the Holden ute. A total beast, but a pretty ugly rear end. I guess a muscle car needs to look beefy etc, but it also needs to look appealing from all angles for the money spent.

I'm more of a 'wolf in sheep's clothing' type, where I want great performance that does not attract unwanted attention, and doesn't make me look like a cashed up bogan too.

Audi RS6 Avant or RS4 Avant

How about this for a "Concept" car........ the 1969 Holden "Hurricane", a product of GMH in Adelaide ...... Slap on a couple of "Chevy" Badges and every boy racer will want one!

Or maybe this one .............

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Rupert said..

Or maybe this one .............

^^^^^^ Oh yeah, just gorgeous! Chrysler had the balls to bring out the Cruiser and the 300C. If only this made it to the showroom floor. Would have loved to see it on the road. Nice FJ styling cues. Perhaps needed a P76 size boot to make it marketable.

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Rupert said..

How about this for a "Concept" car........ the 1969 Holden "Hurricane", a product of GMH in Adelaide ...... Slap on a couple of "Chevy" Badges and every boy racer will want one!

Pretty sure I've got that in my old Hot Wheels collection.

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mr love said...
Whatever, you know best as usual, better than the panel of International judges who are a collection of Design directors and ex design directors from auto companies from all over the globe, not US centric. And if you think that looks better than a Commodore Wagon which by the way was designed over 10 years ago you need glasses.

Does Chris bangle work GMH Port Melbourne ? Or just a little bit of cut and paste ?

jalopnik.com/we-were-all-wrong-chris-bangle-was-a-prophet-1664079107