commodore r.i.p?

[red_vb]

hi all hope everyone is good,good. will holden every kill off the commodore like they did kingswood, torana? do all cars have a time life? and sorry to bring up fords but would they kill the falcon?

[greenacc]

Would they kill the falcon ? I hope so, but if people keep buying them they will probably keep on selling the ugly things.

[TVR-190]

they will keep the commodore unless they come up with something that sells better. which i doubt they ever will.

[Calaber]

The Commodore nameplate will eventually be phased out, because every name has a use by date.

Ultimately, it will be the market that decides when a name is due to die, by the number of cars sold. Falcon is likely to be retained due to its significance to Ford, but it won't be Australian after the FG facelift. They are only selling about 2200 per month and the break even point must be very close with those numbers. I reckon they will keep the name on a local version of a "world car" yet to be introduced.

Commodore is doing better at around 3300 per month plus exports, but the exports have recently suffered badly, even in the Middle East. Once sales of the existing sized Commodore fall to uneconomical levels, the name will probably die off like so many other Holden names over the years. Who knows - perhaps Cruze (yuk!) or whatever they call the Australian produced Cruze from 2010/11 will become the next long life nameplate to replace Commodore.

The Commodore nameplate originated from Germany with a model that preceded our VB, but died out around the early 80's in Europe. Falcon originated in the States in 1959, but died out there in about 1968. For some reason, we tend to hang onto names a lot longer than other markets.

[minux]

hi all hope everyone is good,good. will holden every kill off the commodore like they did kingswood, torana? do all cars have a time life? and sorry to bring up fords but would they kill the falcon?

Falcon nameplate will be phased out in the coming years. I still have a close friend who is an engine engineer for Ford who can't believe the changes made to a few things to keep the I6 in production.

Would they kill the falcon ? I hope so, but if people keep buying them they will probably keep on selling the ugly things.

Ugly, compared to what? They certainly look better then the current Commodore model, heck the BA and BF are as good as a car if not better than the same model commodore.

[red_vb]

ok thanks, ok was the european one the Opel? not sure if correct spelling but any who, i have seen some people on youtube call them that. and thanks i hoped someone would understand the question i was asking. dang maybe i should have left it all original then maybe could have got something then lol never sell....

[ScoHar]

Falcon nameplate will be phased out in the coming years. I still have a close friend who is an engine engineer for Ford who can't believe the changes made to a few things to keep the I6 in production.



Ugly, compared to what? They certainly look better then the current Commodore model, heck the BA and BF are as good as a car if not better than the same model commodore.

So you reckon BA is about as good as a VY?

[minux]

So you reckon BA is about as good as a VY?

BA and BF are as good, not about as good, as the VY/VZ, I have owned both a BA XR8 and BF XR6 and loved them both.

[ScoHar]

I have only had one BA fairmont in my possession and well lets just say it had pretty lights on its dashboard 90% of the time I had it, haven't had a VY on the otherhand so can't really comment.

[Calaber]

ok thanks, ok was the european one the Opel? not sure if correct spelling but any who, i have seen some people on youtube call them that. and thanks i hoped someone would understand the question i was asking. dang maybe i should have left it all original then maybe could have got something then lol never sell....

Yes, the Commodore was originally the Opel Commodore. I think it was also sold in the UK as a Vauxhall, but I'm not sure if it was called the Commodore over there or some other name.

For a VB to really be worth anything, it would need to be immaculate and ideally, an SL/E with a 5 litre manual. They were very rare. Base models like your six cylinder SL really don't fetch much and would take a long time to appreciate.

[ScoHar]

The Opel in in the UK is surprisingly called an Omega, but they're not really commodores anymore, if you look closely though you can pick the VX handles and rear pillar design.

[minux]

I have only had one BA fairmont in my possession and well lets just say it had pretty lights on its dashboard 90% of the time I had it, haven't had a VY on the otherhand so can't really comment.

So your saying you had issues with it? Show me one car that no one has ever had issues with?

[Calaber]

The Opel in in the UK is surprisingly called an Omega, but they're not really commodores anymore, if you look closely though you can pick the VX handles and rear pillar design.

The Omega is the name given to the VT style Commodore in Europe, but I was thinking of the earlier models. They were'nt Omegas but I can't think of what they were called in Britain.

[ScoHar]

So your saying you had issues with it? Show me one car that no one has ever had issues with?

fair call, but not all issues are created equal.

also Calaber are you thinking of the Carlton or Belmont?

[Calaber]

fair call, but not all issues are created equal.

also Calaber are you thinking of the Carlton or Belmont?

Yeah, that's it. I think the Carlton was around the vintage of the VP - there was a Lotus Carlton that went like stink. I've heard of the Belmont but can't think when it was offered in Britain. Either way, I think the Commodore name was either not used, or only for a very short time in the UK. Perhaps it was Carlton from day 1?

[ScoHar]

wow that lotus carlton looks awesome.

[hingo1983]

Falcon is due to become FWD in the near future. Am I right in saying that the FG will be the last RWD aussie built Falcon? Its a shame. As much as I am a Holden fan, I think the competition with Falcon is very healthy for Holden. Without it, it will be a one horse race and there is a chance that people will move away from our desirable RWD large cars. I hope Holden will always have a RWD car in its lineup. With people moving away from larger cars, I can see them resurrecting the Torana nameplate and phasing out the Commodore. If the Torana was a RWD medium sized car then I'd buy it.

[Calaber]

Falcon is due to become FWD in the near future. Am I right in saying that the FG will be the last RWD aussie built Falcon? Its a shame. As much as I am a Holden fan, I think the competition with Falcon is very healthy for Holden. Without it, it will be a one horse race and there is a chance that people will move away from our desirable RWD large cars. I hope Holden will always have a RWD car in its lineup. With people moving away from larger cars, I can see them resurrecting the Torana nameplate and phasing out the Commodore. If the Torana was a RWD medium sized car then I'd buy it.

Hingo

I think within five to seven years, you will see Ford and Holden slugging away at each other with FWD cars as their major sellers. Holden will only make RWD as long as it is economical to do so and that will require good export markets - Australia alone will never again support large RWD cars in the sort of numbers it has in the past.

[hingo1983]

So essentially Holden need to create a medium sized RWD car to compete with the likes of a BMW 3 Series. I think its possible. They need to be careful when resurrecting the Torana nameplate because they wouldn't want to tarnish its name by being a FWD buzz box. I have no interest in FWD cars. I am not a fan of FWD handling, in particular their poor turning circles.

[minux]

So essentially Holden need to create a medium sized RWD car to compete with the likes of a BMW 3 Series. I think its possible. They need to be careful when resurrecting the Torana nameplate because they wouldn't want to tarnish its name by being a FWD buzz box. I have no interest in FWD cars. I am not a fan of FWD handling, in particular their poor turning circles.

Even better would be a medium sized AWD car to compete with the japanese market. I would love the option of say the new cruze with AWD and a great pokey 2.* turbo setup.

[hingo1983]

Even better would be a medium sized AWD car to compete with the japanese market. I would love the option of say the new cruze with AWD and a great pokey 2.* turbo setup.

Absolutely. A car with RWD and AWD model options would be awesome.

[glavas]

cars are going to be so crap in the future i can just sea it.

[Zuicider]

GM's European arm is likely to be spared bankruptcy following a proposed deal by Canadian car parts maker Magna International to buy GM Europe's Vauxhall and Opel brands.

[Wesuri]

The Omega is the name given to the VT style Commodore in Europe, but I was thinking of the earlier models. They were'nt Omegas but I can't think of what they were called in Britain.

The equivalents of Opel Commodores in Britain:

Commodore A equivalents were Vauxhall Victor FD Mk I and II, Vauxhall Ventora and Ventora II and Vauxhall VX4/90. These were still totally Vauxhall's own models and had nothing to do with the Opels. The brands were however both under GM's umbrella so the design teams had some shared persons and you can (barely) see it in the lines. Just like you see the connection to Chevys Impala etc. Vauxhall used much stronger Coke-bottle-design than Opel. Interesting curiosity were the Ranger cars sold in Austria/Switzerland and South Africa. They had Opel Rekord C body combined to Vauxhall's front pieces. In my opinion these Vauxhalls were among the nicest they ever put out, together with smaller Firenza and Viva from the same period. I think the Victor was assembled also in New Zealand so maybe you have seen some of them, they were raced a lot.

Commodore B equivalent was then one of the ugliest Vauxhalls, Victor FE. Still Vauxhall's own model but you could loosely see the relationship to Rekord D/Commodore B.

Commodore C equivalent was then already a direct badge-engineered Opel model. The britons called it a Viceroy. These were rhd but built in Germany. The C model was also sold in South Africa where it was called Chevrolet Commodore.

[Calaber]

Thanks Wesuri. I can recall the FD Vauxhall, but not the FE. (Might look at Google to see what it looked like) Vauxhalls used to be marketed in Australia against the Holdens until the very early 60's - around the time of the Cresta with the reverse sloping A and C pillars and perhaps a little after (1963?)

We saw the HA Viva marketed as a Holden Viva, then the HB became the first Torana, which eventually became a totally Australian and much larger car in the early 70's.

It's interesting now that Australia holds onto the Commodore nameplate when it has been dead for so many years in Europe.

Edit - just looked at the FE - I recall it now. It looks like it was just a facelift of the FD - is that the case?