VE Platform to last just 6 years!

[1991_Vn2nV]

Hmmm... The info I have is that the platform will stay but AFAIK no final decisions have even been made in that respect yet. (preliminary plans would exist for several different options though)

I'd be *very* suprised if the hybrid ever gets sold beyond very limited numbers if it gets up at all (in the forseeable future). I understand a td is being worked on for release in the near term.

Reaper

Well in Motor Magazine it was very definite. Holden admit it freely though. End of 2012 is the likely date but of course like the VE itself, it might be pushed back further.

So we could see:
VF - Early 2008. (Combat the next Falcon/Ford Orion)
Update Model - Late 2009
Another Model - Early 2011
New platform - Late 2012/Early 2013

 

[1991_Vn2nV]

I'd be *very* suprised if the hybrid ever gets sold beyond very limited numbers if it gets up at all (in the forseeable future). I understand a td is being worked on for release in the near term.

Reaper

I think the hybrid would be an option alongside the alloytec though, as a pure hydrogen run engine wont be a possibility until all the infrastructure is setup for and we have Hydrogen service stations everywhere.

Hydrogen technology is on our doorstep, with GM's billion dollar hydrogen run car being able to travel 480km to a tank and BMW's hydrogen engine is 260hp and capable of 0-100 in 9.5 seconds despite it being such a large car, and more progress is being made all the time.

The only issue that remains, is the transportation and storage of Hydrogen at service stations. This is easily done, but is very costly and where will the money come from?

 

[knowledge_is_power]

Holden is going to need to sell a lot of cars and make good profit just to recoup the 1 billion dollars spent on development of the VE let alone another 5-700 million on another platform.

 

[mongoose3800]

You know I don't see what all the hype about Hydrogen is. Manufacturers are a long way off getting decent range out of these cars. If people want hydrogen they need to understand that while their car burns cleanly a heap of energy would need to be used to make the hydrogen. Most of this energy comes from burning fossil fuels. And, with water becoming ever more precious what effect will creating mass amounts of Hydrogen have on the environment?

Holden is going to need to sell a lot of cars and make good profit just to recoup the 1 billion dollars spent on development of the VE let alone another 5-700 million on another platform.

What Holden has achieved with the VE is impressive and 1 Billion dollars sounds like a lot. The number is used as it sounds big, but it's not really that much these days. When you consider that this was a completely new design for the world market it was probably a rather cheap budget. Look at past budgets - The VT Budget was $600million to modify an existing Opel Omega and still had corners cut - i.e. the IRS links. I can't find exact figures for the VN but a book I have at home (Project VN) states that 51million alone was spent on widening the car from the Opel it was based on by 38mm let alone all the other work. Did you know that over 1 billion dollars was spent on the development of the Opel Omega on which the VN is based. These are 1980's prices. The VB commodore had a 7 year 110 million dollar budget in the 70's - and lets face it, the VB was nothing more than a strengthened and rebadged Opel Reckord.

 

[klaw81]

Remember, there is no guarantee that we won't be getting a "global" car in 2012 - if sales of large passenger cars continue their downward trend, there's a good chance we'll be getting an adapted version of a global platform design rather than an Australian-designed Commodore. Or Holden could be designing the next global platform for GM.

 

[holden007]

You know I don't see what all the hype about Hydrogen is. Manufacturers are a long way off getting decent range out of these cars. If people want hydrogen they need to understand that while their car burns cleanly a heap of energy would need to be used to make the hydrogen. Most of this energy comes from burning fossil fuels. And, with water becoming ever more precious what effect will creating mass amounts of Hydrogen have on the environment?


What Holden has achieved with the VE is impressive and 1 Billion dollars sounds like a lot. The number is used as it sounds big, but it's not really that much these days. When you consider that this was a completely new design for the world market it was probably a rather cheap budget. Look at past budgets - The VT Budget was $600million to modify an existing Opel Omega and still had corners cut - i.e. the IRS links. I can't find exact figures for the VN but a book I have at home (Project VN) states that 51million alone was spent on widening the car from the Opel it was based on by 38mm let alone all the other work. Did you know that over 1 billion dollars was spent on the development of the Opel Omega on which the VN is based. These are 1980's prices. The VB commodore had a 7 year 110 million dollar budget in the 70's - and lets face it, the VB was nothing more than a strengthened and rebadged Opel Reckord.

We have plenty of water, 70% of the earth is water. We need to use sea water and the government should spend on converting seawater to fresh water, oceans are rising and we should take advantage to use seawater...all water problems solved.

 

[knowledge_is_power]

We have plenty of water, 70% of the earth is water. We need to use sea water and the government should spend on converting seawater to fresh water, oceans are rising and we should take advantage to use seawater...all water problems solved.

There are a few problems with converting sea water to portable water. There is a very large amount of energy used to run high pressure pumps to force the sea water through the reverse osmosis filters, then they can only claim 20% of the water used. The rest becomes waste. In other words for every 5 litres of portable water made we keep 1litre and the other 4 litres of portable water is wasted to protect the filters membrane and to flush the minerals and salts extracted. If you look at Saudi Arabia who is the worlds largest producer of desalinated water, their water costs more per litre then our petrol.

mongoose3800 is correct in regards to hydrogen. There is a large amount of energy used to make hydrogen as its partial mass is light enough to escape the earth gravity and has to be produced and not harvested like oil. So it just moves the pollution and energy use to a different venue like power stations. I don’t believe that there is a real alternative just yet. The hybrids and the like are just token ideas. If all else fails we may just go back to the hoarse and cart. 50” Chromies here we come.

Jezz

 

[s0sage]

heres a novel idea ... make all the fat kids walk home from school and lose weight instead of having parents pick them up because their too lazy.

that'll save a bit of petrol. plus single out fat kids a little bit more which was always fun when i went to school.



i dont really care whether or not they'll turf the new design in 6 years. i just want to see a better looking rear end on the holden commodore. turf it now!!