New V8 Coupe for Oz and Commodore name to continue

Holden will still have a V8 in showrooms post-2017 that was the message coming loud and clear from General Motors’ senior executives at the recent Detroit Motor Show. GM’s executive vice president of international operations, Stefan Jacoby, confirmed to Australian media that a V8-powered sports coupe will appear in local showrooms in 2018, shortly after Holden ceases local manufacturing.

While Jacoby would not be drawn on specifics, he confirmed that it would be a global model. While GM currently has two rear-drive V8 sports cars in its portfolio, Chevrolet’s Camaro and Corvette, neither is currently engineered for right-hand drive. We’d place our bets on the next-generation Camaro, due for a late-2015 or early-2016 debut in its US homeland, appearing Down Under, rather than the more expensive and exclusive Corvette.

A large portion of the current Camaro’s development work took place locally at Holden’s Lang Lang proving ground, and Jacoby told media that engineering mules for GM’s new coupe are currently undergoing similar testing, and that Holden will have a significant role to play in the design and engineering of the new model.

Holden’s importance in the GM family was graphically evident at Detroit, with both The General’s big reveals, the Chevrolet Bolt electric city car and Buick Avenir large sedan concepts, designed and built in Australia. Holden is one of only two Advanced Design Studios in the GM world (the other being Detroit) that can design and fabricate a concept car from scratch.

The next-generation Camaro is likely to be a very different beast from the current model, however. While the current car is built on a shortened version of the Zeta platform that underpins the Commodore, the next Camaro will be based on GM’s new scalable Alpha platform.

Spy shots have revealed the new Camaro to be similar in size to the Cadillac ATS (think BMW 3 Series), which should result in a weight loss of around 150kg from the current car’s 1750kg bulk, improving handling and fuel economy. The V8 we’ll see locally will undoubtedly be Chevrolet’s 5.5-litre Gen IV V8, which currently produces 339kW/623Nm in the base C7 Corvette, with both six-speed manual and eight-speed automatic transmissions available.

Meanwhile, work also continues apace on the new Commodore. Holden recently confirmed that the nameplate would continue, and GM sources in Detroit stated that the vehicle would be far from just a rebadged version of the next Opel Insignia, though that is expected to form the basis of Holden’s new sedan. Sadly for local enthusiasts, rear-drive and V6 and V8 engines will be replaced by front-drive and turbocharged four or even three cylinder engines.

Until then, the biggest news for Holden performance fans in 2015 will be the reintroduction of the Astra and Corsa VXR models, due to land mid-year.