By The Way, The New Holden Sandman Also Returns As A Ute

In our first initial report of the reborn 2015 Holden Sandman, we were very hyped up to see the name return on the Commodore Sportwagon, but only briefly mentioned the reborn Ute. The Ute is already decidedly Australian, but the addition of the Sandman trim to Ute is about as Aussie as it can get. Except for a true Sandman panel van, obviously.

“The Holden Sandman has been synonymous with the great Australian surf safari for decades and perfectly reflects our country’s laid back, yet adventurous attitude to life. When the opportunity came to revive Sandman, we jumped at it,” Holden’s Executive Director of Sales, Peter Keley said.

The Sandman Ute will be the only Sandman variant to be offered with both the six-speed manual gearbox and V8 engine for the SS-V trim. The Sportwagon stick with the automatic gearbox no matter which engine choice. But, the Sportwagon does receive that super-groovy orange-sheepskin shag carpet option for the cargo area.

There’s always tradeoffs we suppose.

This makes the Ute a prime collector piece, especially since Holden expects to only offer 250 examples of each variant, totaling 500 new Sandmans (Sandmen?) for public consumption.

The Ute and Sportwagon will both make their public debut at the sands of Torquay, where fans will be able to take photos with the reborn icon. Cleverly, Holden encourages users to upload their photos with the hashtag #entersandman. If you don’t get that 80’s-90’s metal band reference, you can leave.

Keley is clearly proud of the latest interpretation of the storied nameplate, and reiterates there is no automotive manufacturer that understand Australia like Holden does.

“Holden knows Australia and Australians better than any other company and the Sandman is a perfect reflection of the Aussie culture and attitude. I’m sure it will spark great memories for a lot of Australians and help create new memories for others. Let the good times roll again.”