Holden Has Been Developing The Next-Gen Commodore In Germany For Years
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Despite the fact that Holden‘s operations will be leaving Australia shortly, that doesn’t spell the end of the Holden brand. If anything, General Motors has been moving forward with plans for the next-generation Commodore for over four years already.
News Corp Australia has revealed that one of Holden’s senior engineers has been based in Germany working on the next Commodore. Marinos Panayiotou, a Holden employee since 2001, has been working at Opel as the Lead Program Manager, which means he is the one who handles the vehicle from inception to production.
Holden would not confirm Panayiotou’s assignment, but his profile on LinkedIn shows he has been working in Germany since November 2010.
Of course, the future Commodore will be a rebadged Opel Insignia, but Panayiotou’s involvement will certainly help give the Commodore local flavor. Australians will get their first glimpse of the new Commodore sometime in 2016; it will hit dealerships a year later and be sold concurrently with the older, locally-made model Commodore for a short time as local manufacturing winds down through 2017. The biggest difference between the two will be that the German version will be front-wheel-drive with no V8.
“[Opels] will be about one third of the portfolio of Holden; it is an important export business for us,” says Opel’s Dr. Karl-Thomas Neumann, adding that Holden was part of Opel’s plan to return to profitability.
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That means the Commodore will be built on the next Epsilon. Hopefully the Camaro can be exported to Australia too because they still have a few gearheads left down under.
* we call them/ourselves “Rev-heads” in Australia lol
They should start a Chevy or Corvette niche brands foyer Rev heads.
It seems like GM is flipping Holden into a sort of VW or even Mazda rival, and dropping a lot of the uniquely Aussie product.
I read that GM thinks the brand is damaged, viewed as redneck a la Pontiac in the States. Me thinks Rev Heads are going to get screwed in favor of German labor Unions and GMs never ending rebranding efforts.
Into a VW or Mazda rival? I don’t know we will just have to see what comes out of it in a few years. The market is a lot more competitive and diverse than when Holden last sold re badged Opels. Effectively you are asking people who used to buy the best Australian car to now buy the fifth best German car. If you have ever been to Germany you will know that Opel is the bottom rank German brand. Although in my opinion Opel has way better styling than VW. VW are turning into the most boring car company in the world with their styling.
People are more educated with their vehicle purchases now and know they will be buying re badged Opels. For the same price of that fifth best German car they can buy the fourth best German brand, the third or fourth best Japanese, the best Korean etc. It’s a tough ask of GM to compete in this environment without local manufacturing any more but like I said we will see what happens.
The Commodore needs to be a rear-drive car, and Opel needs to have an Admiral or Capitain again. The US made enlarged Alpha platform (i.e. Cadillac CTS ) cars should fit that bill, allowing GM to provide Opel with a car that really lifts its image, and for Holden to maintain its Commodore heritage, for very little money. IIt isn’t even the sales of those models, but rather its halo effect on the rest of the Opel and Holden line. The main competition, VW in Europe and Toyota in Australia, would have nothing ( the Pasat CC or even the Phaeton?? or the Toy Avalon??) to compete, raising Opel’s and Holden’s enthusiast prestige beyond their main competition. Cadillac versus Audi and Lexus is a different subject.
I’d be prepared to drive an awd Commodore/Opal, but not a front wheel drive model, I doubt I’m the only holden buyer who thinks that way