VF Commodore wont be the last

That does make sense if you look at it logically.

When GM went into bankruptcy the bean counters had carte blanche to slash and burn GM except for 2 programs. The first was the VOLT and the seconds was the LT1 small block V8. As it stands GM place a high value on their reputation from having a small block V8.

Now the LT1 has been confirmed for the C7 Corvette. In terms of volume there is no way that the number of Corvette sales would repay the investment in the new engine. Therefore GM will be looking at other vehicles to put the LT1 in to.

What other vehicles could they possibly put the LT1 into.

A long wheelbase RWD sedan (eg Cadillac CTS).
A RWD sedan (eg Commodore / (known as Chevorlet SS in USA)
A RWD GT coupe (eg Camaro) based on the same platform as the RWD sedan.
A Four wheel drive / SUV

and that's about it.

So to justify there investment in the LT1, GM need a vehicle such as Commodore but for it to be a global vehicle.

What I believe will happen is that after VF, GM will have a new RWD sedan + GT coupe platform designed. Since Holden did such a great job on the VE / Camaro design they will be tasked with designing the successor. From scratch they design a LHD and RHD versions. Holden will build the RHD versions (sedan and GT coupe) at Elizabeth for local sale and export to RHD markets and the LHD versions will be built in the USA. Would that mean the RHD GT coupe would be the rebirth of the Monaro? Time will tell

Only question is what will happen to the Statesman Caprice? It would be awesome (and make sense from a GM business view) if Holden rebadged the Cadillac as the Caprice.

As for 4WD / SUV? Who cares?

These are just my guesses as to the future.

Long live the Commodore / Monaro / Camaro.

Let the flaming of my guesses commence.



ps Will Ford do a similar thing with Mustang / Falcon and build them a Global vehicle off of the same platform?
not that I'd ever buy one.

 

Here's the full article:

Iconic Commodore will be reincarnated

JOSHUA DOWLING NATIONAL MOTORING EDITOR
THE Elizabeth-made Holden Commodore is not dead, but it may never be the same again.

The boss of Holden threw a grenade during a preview of the new

Commodore inside the company's design bunker in Melbourne yesterday - claiming the Commodore name will continue beyond the VF model's 2016 horizon.
Ahead of the unveiling tomorrow, Holden boss Mike Devereux said: "A lot of folks have been speculating about whether this is the last Commodore. Well I can categorically tell you we have already begun working on the Commodore that comes after this one."

After the speech, Devereux said: "This (Commodore) will run through to the end of 2016. After that time we are going to be putting two global architectures into the (Adelaide) plant, one of them will underpin the next Commodore."
Until this point, Holden had not revealed the second car to be built alongside the Cruze through to 2022 in return for $275 million in Federal Government funding.
AMWU SA vehicle division state secretary John Gee said building a car on global architecture meant there was more scope for export.
"There is also more scope for component makers to supply to other countries when global architectures are used," Mr Gee said.
"It is good news for our industry provided our local component makers get the contracts for those parts."
Manufacturing Minister Tom Kenyon welcomed the news.
"We haven't been told about the makeup of the car, but we are assuming it will be bigger than the Cruze because it wouldn't make sense to have a car badged a Commodore which was smaller than the Cruze," he said.

Devereux's comments were likely designed to reverse the perception that the next Commodore is the last.
However, what Devereux has called "the next Commodore" will not be a Commodore as Australians have known it.
The Advertiser understands the second vehicle to be built alongside the Cruze will be a front-drive car, similar in size to the Toyota Camry and to be sold in other countries as a Buick.

During its 2011 application for taxpayer assistance Holden told key figures inside the South Australian and Federal Governments what type of vehicle it will build alongside the Cruze.
But Holden has so far tried to keep the exact details of the next model under wraps.
Holden even took legal action against Fairfax Media after the details of the second model were accidentally emailed to journalists there after they made a Freedom Of Information request.
"You can ask me 20 times about the next (Commodore), maybe three years from now we'll have that conversation," Devereux said yesterday, before he was shut down by his public affairs minder, Matt Hobbs, formerly of the crisis-riddled Tiger Airways.

Devereux's bombshell took the attention away from the new Commodore that has been seven years in the making and is less than 48 hours away from being unveiled on Sunday morning.
The new Commodore promises to be the most advanced model yet, but Holden stopped short of declaring if it would ever again be Australia's top-selling car.
"We're back, better than ever, it's game on," Devereux said, before adding: "The time for any one vehicle to sell one tenth the cars in any country is an illogical assumption to make."

At its peak 15 years ago Holden sold more than 94,000 Commodores.
Last year it sold 30,000 Commodores - its lowest ever - in an all-time record market.

Source: Advertiser (SA State Edition) Saturday 09 February 2013 (pages 1 and 4)

 

Nice one to silence the nay-sayers...

 

I think they are hinting the VF will be the last commy in an attempt to increase sales

 

There is a lot of spin and double speak in this and plans can always be changed subject to market conditions.

All the previous talk about no more Commodores after the VF will hurt sales of the VF, especially in a soft economy, as fewer people want to buy a car that they are told will be phased out of production in a few years. Then they have to discount them heavily to move them which is the beginning of the slippery slide.

So I am not the least bit surprised that they are now running with this warm and fuzzy line. The journos will have a field day speculating.

 

I think the reasonable thing to suggest is that the VF may in fact be the last "real" Commodore. As in the last fully Australian built & designed one.

Despite the declining large cars sales, it is still a Australian land mark as far as name plates go & highly doubt Holden will discontinue it.

Yes, there are a heap of rumours & opinions flying around about what will happen, but IMHO the likely scenario will be a global GM RWD plateform with a Commodore badge. As Australia has had good success in the past - VE - with designing a solid platform, it wouldn't shock me if they played a part of designing the global plateform.

 

You really need to think about how GM will market and engineer its cars of the future to work out where the replacement for the Commodore will originate and how it will be configured.

For starters, Holden has been the GM rear wheel drive specialist designer and manufacturer since the VT/WM days. The WM was actually the roomiest sedan in the GM world at that time. Holden's expertise at designing and manufacturing large RWD cars won't just be discarded when the VF runs its course, and it's unlikely that GM would go to the trouble and expense of transferring all its Holden RWD engineering staff to the US. Elsewhere in the media, it has been reported that Holden may replace the Commodore with an SUV and although that might not appeal to many in this forum, Holden is not in the market of pleasing Commodore forum members - they are in the business of selling as many vehicles as they can and if the Australian market wants SUV's instead of large sedans, then SUV's it will be.

So, if all the existing and proposed small and medium Holdens are to be FWD, up to and including the Malibu, could it be that Holden's engineering staff will be utilised designing a large RWD SUV, similar in size to the Territory, but with mudh higher levels of technology and finesse, with multiple manufacturing plants around the world for the various markets? It might not be designed externally by Holden but the chassis engineering and body structure could be Holden's contribution to the GM "world car" SUV.

Another area of interest is the US Police vehicle market. Holden has been pushing the Caprice hard in the States in recent months with some success and potentially, it's a large and prestigious market to break into. Surely the VF has been engineered with that market in mind, so it's certain there will be a LWB VF before long, and if the Caprice proves itself over a period of years, Holden could find itself designing the next generation of GM's pursuit and patrol vehicles, beneath the skin, at least.

 

I can't agree with you. If somebody had suggested that GM wouldn't be around in 3-4 years, then absolutely the VF wouldn't sell. But if the VF meets and exceeds market demands (which it looks like it will) and it's seen as value for money, then it WILL sell. If it was stated the the VF was the last commodore made in Australia, then there may actualy be an increase in sales, not a decrease.

 

As long as what we get is not Front wheel drive.

 

I think that they are secretly hoping the sales of the VF will be down to justify a shift to the mid size market, nothing else could possibly explain the look of this model made of recycled epica parts and flim-flam.

 

^^ Umm, heaps of people like the look of the VF, and DON'T think it looks like an Epica, Camry, Mazda6 etc etc etc...

 

I am pretty sure that I saw a comment from Holden along the lines of the VF will probably not be the last Commodore and that RWD is in the Commodore DNA.

Whether that is a development of the Alpha program or something else, only time will tell.

I will sit on my 2013 SV6 Z that I pick up this weekend for about two years, and then look at VF.

I have never bought an auto, and only bought one FWD (the first Honda Accord to land in Oz in 1977). I don't know what I would do if the Commodore post 2016 became FWD or only auto.

 

Looknig back on an old thread how things have changed

 

front wheel drive hahahaha what a stupid idea . if they did that they would be shooting themselves dead . what killed sales was the damn new look of the VF , the back end looks like a friggen camry . its takes getting used to looking at that and saying to yourself yep thats a holden . read all the comments on youtube about the VF they will all say the same thing . to me the only good looking VF is the ssv redline and the HSV GENF . the rest look a bit ugly . I myself got a genf HSV 2014 clubsport and love it the front and the rear shape with the different tail lights is what made me cave in and buy it .

i cant wait to see what they have designed for the next HSV . And they really really need to come out with another HSV coupe .

 

I heard a story a year or two ago that they were bringing back the Opel Omega (Commdore's German cousin) - but it would actually be a rebadged FWD Cadillac. Thankfully that never happened.

 

I have heard from my local dealer that we will see some Euro based AWD models. Possible turbo options. Time will tell.

 

Just check out the current/future Opel line up. The only problem with their AWD is that it's FWD based - aka rubbish.

 

I am no expert on AWD, but isnt most AWD, front wheel biased, or based??

 

Easy to address with a software change to the AWD transfer case / controller - can have it channelling most drive to the rear.