Virgin Australia Supercars team Walkinshaw Andretti United may ditch its Holden Commodore for a factory-backed BMW entry.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the Walkinshaw squad has held secret, behind-the-scenes discussions with the German manufacturer and may field a factory-backed BMW M4 or M3 in the premiere Australian racing series. Team co-owner Michael Andretti is said to be the driving force behind the potential deal, with his Andretti Autosport operation already running BMW’s Formula E program.
Potentially Hinting toward the deal is Walkinshaw’s recent signing of former Tickford Ford Mustang driver Chaz Mostert. The 27-year old Australian is a part-time factory driver for BMW, having raced for various BMW teams in select GT racing events, including the Bathurst 12 Hour. Earlier this year, the German manufacturer said it was interested in signing Mostert to a full-time GT deal in 2020, with BMW Motorsport boss Jens Marquardt previously saying that “wherever we have a possibility to have Chaz in the car, we will try and do so.”
Mostert in a BMW M6 GT3
Walkinshaw had previously attempted to field a Chevrolet Camaro in the Supercars series, but abandoned the plan as it would have been too hard to mold the low-slung coupe’s body around the series’ sedan-shaped control chassis. Walkinshaw is the sole importer of the Camaro road car in Australia and wanted to use its racing efforts to promote its road car business. It’s not clear if the BMW deal would have any impact on its relationship with General Motors. Walkinshaw was formerly known as Holden Special Vehicles and produced high-performance variants of the Commodore and other GM products before changing its name to Walkinshaw in 2018 and turning its focus to specialty vehicle imports.
Camaro Supercars proposal
The Daily Telegraph’s source says BMW is looking at fielding either the M3 or M4 in the Supercars series and claims both models could be modeled to fit over the current-spec chassis. The BMW deal may also not take effect until 2022, however, when Supercars is set to introduce a new chassis. Supercars CEO Sean Seamer told The Daily Telegraph the series is in discussions with other manufacturers to join the series and working with them to develop the Gen 3 car.
“We are also in active discussions with other manufacturers about what they would like to see from our next-generation (Gen 3) car,” Seamer said. “As part of the Gen 3 planning work we are doing, we are looking to maximize manufacturer suitability to increase manufacturer participation and market relevance in the medium to long term.’’
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Source: The Daily Telegraph
Comments
Walkinshaw also import the lower spec RAM and convert them to RHD in the same plant with both camaro & Silverado so a deal with BMW would not be unheard of.
My option is Holden/GM stopped the camaro being raced to keep commodore as GM’s car of choice for racing.
Also Walkinshaw are not the only importers doing camaro, they just have GM backing. speciality workshops have been doing them for years and you can chose your car from the entire US dealers options list unlike the HSV choice of SS2 or 1LE in Auto or manual
GM is pretty irrelevant in Australia, by now, and a pain in the butt to boot. Time to cut bait and go with a winner.
Sadly for many General Motors Holden enthusiasts this potentially is yeti another ‘nail in coffin’ for the General Motors failing ‘Holden’ brand.
I have said many times before on this forum that General Motors needs to retire or sell off the Holden brand as it has done with Pontiac, Oldsmobile, La Salle, Vauxhall, Bedford and Opel.
I have had a life time passion for General Motors vehicles. My garage has a Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz, Chevrolet Impala, Chevrolet Corvair and it might surprise many but an example of one of the last long wheel base Holden Caprice sedans built by General Motors Holden. So I am not against the Holden brand but to survive GM needs to reduce the brand names it supports worldwide.
Simply CADILLAC for the premium market, CHEVROLET for the mass market and perhaps GMC for commercially based trucks, SUVs and 4 wheel drive vehicles. GM no longer needs the Holden brand and the brands continuing drop in market share in Australia confirms this fact.
Holden as a brand name should be confined to history along with Pontiac, Oldsmobile, La Salle, Vauxhall, Opel and Bedford. Walkinshaw clearly are moving into this direction.
Most MFGs today are 2-3 brands at best. The cost of development is driving cost so high that the small markets like Australia are losing their home brands.
As it is the imports have taken over down under long before the last RWD Holden or Ford rolled off the line.
Toyota and Mazda have dominated the market with small, trucks, CUV and small cars.
GM tried to hold out no pun intended with the Holden brand but the writing was on the wall. While many curse GM for killing production the truth was they held on longer than the others. Yet sales continued to decl8ne on the RWD cars.
Here is why, BMW are building a pure version of their M550i without all the expensive extras.
https://www.caradvice.com.au/809887/2020-bmw-m550i-pricing/#utm_source=Nine-News&utm_medium=Referral