Holden to introduce Hybrid Commodore within 2 Years!!

[1991_Vn2nV]

Holden is planning to have hybrids on the production line at the Elizabeth plant within 2 years.

Holden are also asking the government to give the Hybrid vehicles a tax break as they cost extra to build (20-30%).

Full story:
Holden will begin selling a hybrid Commodore by 2010 in an effort to reduce the environmental impact of the brand’s best-selling vehicle.

With a view to bolstering sluggish large car sales, improving the export potential of the locally-made Commodore and responding to increasing environmental concerns, a senior General Motors executive has confirmed a petrol-electric Commodore is likely to arrive in dealerships within two years.

“We will introduce hybrids in the next couple of years,” says General Motors group vice president Nick Reilly, speaking at a quarterly strategy meeting from Holden’s Melbourne offices.

When pushed on the likelihood of a Commodore hybrid, he said: “That could be one of the first hybrids you could see [in Australia from GM]. I would put a time frame on that of probably a couple of years.”

Hybrid engines use a regular petrol engine mated to an electric motor and can reduce fuel consumption by up to 50 per cent. The world’s most popular hybrid, the Toyota Prius, just notched up its one millionth sale and has helped cement Toyota as a leader in environmentally friendly motoring.

Reilly stressed a hybrid Commodore would be part of a broader strategy to produce more efficient vehicles.

“In terms of speed the quickest things we can do are alternative fuels: LPG, CNG (compressed natural gas) and E85 (a blend of 85 per cent petrol and 15 per cent ethanol),” he says. “Those would be our priorities.

“We will bring in a full range of things over the next couple of years,” says Reilly. “I think there … should be a range of solutions. I wouldn’t be putting all our eggs in the hybrid basket.”

“Hybrids are clearly an answer, but by definition they’re more efficient and more expensive [to produce]. Other alternatives are LPG, E85 and potentially diesel. It depends which problem you’re trying to solve.”

However, Reilly says hybrids are “where you get the biggest savings”, suggesting it was high on the agenda for a brand that’s seen its market share nearly halve since 2002.

Reilly also said a diesel-powered Commodore is also in the company’s product pipeline, responding to a trend towards more diesel-powered passenger cars.

“We don’t yet have a diesel Commodore but that will come,” he says.

He also confirmed a four-cylinder Commodore was being “looked at”.

Former Holden chairman and managing director Denny Mooney has previously said a hybrid Commodore is high on the company’s agenda.

Current Holden boss Mark Reuss also said a hybrid Commodore is a strong possibility.

In confirming the imminent arrival of more environmentally friendly versions of the Commodore, Reilly says the company would not walk away from the performance market that now makes up a significant share of the Commodore market.

“We’re going to stay very strong in those things [performance cars], because you don’t wipe out a love and a heritage for those type of vehicles … and it’s what we know a lot of people in Australia enjoy,” says Reilly. “We’re not reducing out efforts in that area.”


Link:
Holden drives Commodore into green market - National - BrisbaneTimes

[BANKS]

Holden is planning to have hybrids on the production line at the Elizabeth plant within 2 years.

Holden are also asking the government to give the Hybrid vehicles a tax break as they cost extra to build (20-30%).

for the omega or other models? any other info?

[pow3rslave]

i reckon it's a good idea, might change community perception of commodore drivers, and give people a better choice when it comes to hybrid cars

[f1tzy]

He also confirmed a four-cylinder Commodore was being “looked at”

How would a 4 cylinder ve move?

[Cobez]

It's a good idea because of obvious fuel costs, but, watch all the yuppy wankers turn the hybrid Commodores into riced up "performance" cars. It would be interesting to see if HSV released a hybrid model too.

[Grennan]

Think of a VT v6 and that should be close to what a 4 Cylinder VE would be like.

[BANKS]

How would a 4 cylinder ve move?

EXACTLY what i was thinking. Unless it was turbo, it would be a sack of poo...

[1991_Vn2nV]

Think of a VT v6 and that should be close to what a 4 Cylinder VE would be like.

lol good answer.

I reckon a 4 cylinder VE would have a turbo surely?

[RVN 355]

Holden about time they did something,they made there money on the ve,smart idea to follow toyota and the rest.

[BullittSV6]

The 4 cyl should have a supercharger feeding a turbo...some of the VW models have those and they go like stink...an NA 4 cyl would have to be larger than 2.0L.

I like the sounds of a Hybrid and Diesel though too.

Alloytec Hybrid anyone...?

[ProphetVX]

EXACTLY what i was thinking. Unless it was turbo, it would be a sack of poo...

It's going to be a turbo. 2.3 or 2.6L, I can't quite remember now. I remember it being discussed a while ago elsewhere.

Wouldn't matter, it'll still be a slug off the line. I can't see any 4 banger being powerful enough to provide enough torque to get them moving well off the line. I can't see it selling well, most would go down the aurion path if they wanted that sort of fuel efficiency I imagine.

[Holdfast]

I think GMH (USA) may be thinking along the line of the Malibu wich was released in April 2008. 6 speed transmission mated to; I think a 2.4L ecotec motor??

[Full Spectrum]

Brother had a 4 cylinder Commodore. Enough said..

Can they produce Hybrid diesel motors?. Perfect mixture i say.

Does anyone know if this will come in with the down size that some have spoken about in commodore size. Moving back to VZ size weight?.

[1991_Vn2nV]

Brother had a 4 cylinder Commodore. Enough said..

Can they produce Hybrid diesel motors?. Perfect mixture i say.

Does anyone know if this will come in with the down size that some have spoken about in commodore size. Moving back to VZ size weight?.

We won't see a downsize in commodore size by 2010. Not until 2012 at the earliest and I still don't think its the right way to go.

Fuel issues will sort themselves out, and with hybrids on the go, oil prices will drop. The time is right now for a smaller Commodore (perhaps), but in 4-5 years it'll be 4-5 years too late.

[Astranomical]

How would a 4 cylinder ve move?

Not very far, or fast, even. Still, if they were to build one, I wonder what would end up powering it...

For the record, Holden actually built a concept hybrid VT a few years ago - the ECommodore. Saw it at Powerhouse Museum in Sydney last year...it was neat, but I wouldn't exactly call it "convenient", considering its a 4 cylinder front wheel drive VT with a collection of batteries that literally takes up the entire boot....

Still, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

[1991_Vn2nV]

Not very far, or fast, even. Still, if they were to build one, I wonder what would end up powering it...

For the record, Holden actually built a concept hybrid VT a few years ago - the ECommodore. Saw it at Powerhouse Museum in Sydney last year...it was neat, but I wouldn't exactly call it "convenient", considering its a 4 cylinder front wheel drive VT with a collection of batteries that literally takes up the entire boot....

Still, it'll be interesting to see what happens.

I think any hybrid commodore would have similar technology to the Chevrolet Volt.

So we're talking a battery pack equivalent to about 100L in volume with a 120kw electric motor + whatever engine they choose to back it up with (the volt uses a turbo 1L 3 cylinder). Top speed of ~190km/h.

Pure electrical range of about 65km before the other engine has to cut in. The volt travels over 1,000km's on a 45L tank on the highway (so under 5L per 100km on the highway).

Opel/Saturn also have the Flextreme which is the same battery/electric motor combination but instead of being backed by a petrol engine, it is backed by a 1.3L diesel engine.

Interesting how GM has all of them at 2010. Volt for the US in 2010, Opel Flextreme for the UK in 2010, Saturn Flextreme for Europe in 2010.

[klaw81]

We won't see a downsize in commodore size by 2010. Not until 2012 at the earliest and I still don't think its the right way to go.

Fuel issues will sort themselves out, and with hybrids on the go, oil prices will drop. The time is right now for a smaller Commodore (perhaps), but in 4-5 years it'll be 4-5 years too late.

I don't think the Commodore will ever get smaller - they will just bring in another smaller car to fill the gap, like the Vectra did.

It will take a very long time to get even 50% of the population into hybrids, unless the price of hybrid technology drops very quickly. Even if everyone in Australia stopped buying anything other than hybrids tomorrow, it would still be 5 years or more until 50% of the cars on the road were hybrids - there's a lot of 2nd-hand cars out there and very few hybrids amongst them. Would you buy a 5 year old Prius? I know I wouldn't.

I strongly doubt hybrid uptake will have any effect at all on oil prices. Demand for petrol will go down as hybrids become commonplace, but the price of oil will continue to rise unless there's a world-wide recession.

[Cheap6]

We won't see a downsize in commodore size by 2010. Not until 2012 at the earliest and I still don't think its the right way to go.

Fuel issues will sort themselves out, and with hybrids on the go, oil prices will drop. The time is right now for a smaller Commodore (perhaps), but in 4-5 years it'll be 4-5 years too late.

A downsized Commodore would be nice though. Even better would be a RWD 'Torana'.

While more fuel efficient vehicles will be necessary I can't see them having a huge effect on fuel prices. Every extra car in the developing world and every new car in the developed world would both need to have, on average, half the current fuel consumption just to stay where we are in terms of crude oil consumption.

[padrickz88]

for fuel economy make a diesel hybrid
for emissions to finally shut all the hippy's up make a hybrid lpg

[Full Spectrum]

We won't see a downsize in commodore size by 2010. Not until 2012 at the earliest and I still don't think its the right way to go.

Fuel issues will sort themselves out, and with hybrids on the go, oil prices will drop. The time is right now for a smaller Commodore (perhaps), but in 4-5 years it'll be 4-5 years too late.

True the Torana should have been built straight after concept.

I'd rather a lighter commodore then to go back to VZ size.. Though it wouldn't hurt dropping a few mm here and there just keep the same wheelbase if possible.
They say the Zeta has flexibility but others have mentioned it wont be zeta, Which is a shame for all holden have done and invested.
They might move onto the old Cadillac platform sigma?. It's smaller more expensive but they tried this and failed before the VE? So i don't know..

[1991_Vn2nV]

True the Torana should have been built straight after concept.

I'd rather a lighter commodore then to go back to VZ size.. Though it wouldn't hurt dropping a few mm here and there just keep the same wheelbase if possible.
They say the Zeta has flexibility but others have mentioned it wont be zeta, Which is a shame for all holden have done and invested.
They might move onto the old Cadillac platform sigma?. It's smaller more expensive but they tried this and failed before the VE? So i don't know..

Zeta is flexible in terms of length I believe, but im 99% certain that it cannot be narrowed.

Lighter cars aren't really an option. Airbags and safety features as well as luxuries and options are only going to add weight. Until they start making car panels out of polypropylene or whatever its called (which I think some higher end cars are using in certain panels... I.e. Peugot 206 has plastic front quarter panels) then cars will only get heavier unless they go smaller.