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Holden Highlights The Local Engineering Work Surrounding The 2018 ZB Commodore

Holden’s long-standing tradition was to build cars in Australia, for Australians. With the closure of the Elizabeth plant, Holden is out of the manufacturing game, but it’s confident its imported cars remain up to snuff for Aussie drivers.

Wards Auto reported on Wednesday that Holden is pulling all the stops to underscore the car’s Australian roots. That includes a slogan of, “Your grandparents had one, so did your parents, and now it’s your turn,” for better or worse. Holden has previously acknowledged its “Dad brand” issues as it seeks a new generation of car buyers.

On the engineering side, GM Holden Lead Dynamics Engineer Rob Trubiani, who has been responsible for the feel of Commodores for the last 22 years, told the publication the car absolutely drives as a Holden should.

“We’ve been working with the GM team in Europe for a few years to make sure all of the elements of Commodores are present in this car, but when it comes to how it feels, that’s work we have to do here,” he said.

He noted that Australians have a much different driving preference from Europeans and Americans, which meant his team had a lot of work to do with the 2018 Holden ZB Commodore. The new car, imported from Germany, is also Opel’s Insignia and Buick’s Regal Sportback.

Work included 125,000 miles of testing on local roads and extensive development at Holden’s Lang Lang proving grounds.

The 2018 Commodore is on sale locally now, just as the final 2017 VF Commodores sell out.

Former GM Authority staff writer.

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