Before you really start belting out the cheers, let’s be up-front: only the Holden Commodore nameplate will remain. Unfortunately, GM still hasn’t reconsidered it’s position when it comes to pulling out of the Australian market. However, with GM spooling up a few new products in the upcoming couple of years, there’s all sorts of rumors as to which particular car is going to be the next Commodore. There’s lots to consider when it comes to an Australian-market car: prevalent tastes, durability, affordability, power and towing capability, sport and luxury options, and so on. The rumor mill is running wild with opinions, but two particular cars stand out. In a case of “good news, bad news”, here’s what seems to be most likely:
Good news: A RWD flagship model based upon the architecture of the Avenir concept.
Keeping the Commodore rear-wheel drive would be the ideal strategy, and keeping a large, four-door RWD sedan in any market is a good move lately. The Avenir was shown with a direct-injection V6, and that seems to be just fine. Leaving a sufficiently talented Aussie alone with the wrecked remains of a lawn tractor for enough time will result in a fire-breathing creation that burns tires at will while simultaneously turning grass into a green mist. Luxury is answered well, and sport wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination. Towing might best be left to the imagination, and there’s a bit of a question about it handling Australia’s conditions, but since the Avenir is a fresh concept, now isn’t the time to expressly worry. That can be engineered in if GM decides to green-light the idea.
Bad news: A re-badged Opel Insignia
And not the current Insignia/Buick Regal, either. Previewed by the Opel Monza concept, the new Insignia is expected to retain the front or all-wheel-drive layout the current model has. Australia has already seen the current model’s performance offering as the Holden Insignia VXR, but whether or not they will accept the same car as the Commodore has yet to be determined. It’s not that the Insignia is a bad car, far from it. But with all of the traits that made the Commodore such a storied name in Australian motoring disappearing with this option, expect a fierce backlash from the locals.
meh…the Commodore name wasn’t anything for us to ever get fired up in the first place…when we got it it was lifted straight off the shitty little Opel we ripped off for the first Commodores ( or Commode, CommonWhore, Dunnydoor, whatever you wanted to call it…) OK, it ended up OK with either the local or LS V8 nut its not like the commy name will be enough to fire anyone up… stick it on some fwd piece of crap and we’ll see how far it takes them… they tried this on in the 80’s with the Camira…FWD, pretty powerful – and about as popular as a turd in a swimming pool. We all hated the Camira universally when it came out; I worked at GM when it came out and they had a scheme where 4 staff at a time (I’m talking production workers, tradies, bosses, everyone) were supposed to take a Camira for a thrash and be impressed by it… 3 were rolled or otherwise destroyed in, well, the first 3 groups that went out before they pulled he plug on that idea… Aussies aren’t stupid by any stretch – try selling us a turd of a car and watch us stay away in droves. Last one they tried was the Mitsubishi 380 ( I think the US saw it as the Galant) We hated that one so much the company completely folded here and nobody shed a tear. If GM want to try the same crap bring it.. people wont defend new model Holdens just cos they’re Holdens… they’ll just buy an older Holden or Ford and screw the new car sales.
This is going to go down about as well over here as the new Dart has over your way.