New Commodore

[yool]

The following article is in this week's Autocar. Thought you lot might be interested!

"A resurgent Cadillac isn't the only weapon in GM's global performance armoury. Holden, working on the all-new, next generation Commodore due in 2006, is engineering the car to meet US and European homologation requirements. The Commodore, using many of the component sets, including, possibly, the basic double wishbone/ multi-link suspension design that makes the CTS such a fine handling car, exploits the same Corvette 6.0-litre V8 (mentioned in an earlier article) and the new V6.
The idea is to sell the Commodore in the US (and Europe) probably badged as a Chevrolet and positioned a couple of rungs below the Cadillac. There could also be Buick versions.
Previous Commodores have always used the Vauxhall/Opel Omega as the starting point in the design process. But now the Omega is being phased out, to be replaced by a still-secret niche model, Holden has to take design responsibility for the new car. That should read cars: short and long wheelbase saloons, coupe, ute and estate are all in the pipeline, as is the likelihood of all-wheel drive on many models.
Bob Lutz insists specific versions of the Commodore should fit into GM's product plans in the US and Europe."

Dan

[PatrickT]

Holden is a very interesting case study for MG Rover as it's a very similar sized company.

The difference is that Holden has R+D funds being highly profitable and a large and loyal following who would rather die than buy anything else.

[yool]

MGR have a loyal following too (as you know) but the general public and media over here aren't particularly good at supporting our own companies

Build quality probs have affected people's perception of them over the years too.

Dan