Chevrolet Caprice Wins Luxury Award In Middle East
The Chevrolet Caprice, designed and manufactured by GM Holden in Australia, has been named Best Luxury Car at the 2006 Autocar Middle East Awards. The all-new rear wheel drive Caprice, part of GM Holden's A$1 billion (US$780 million) development of the new Commodore range, emerged as a clear winner from the two other finalists in the Luxury Car class, the Volvo S80 V8 All-wheel drive and the Lexus ES350.
Three days of analysis and testing were undertaken by Autocar's expert judging team, who declared the Caprice unbeatable value given its size, standard package and six-litre, 270kW / 362hp V8 engine which delivers a "brutal" 530Nm / 391ft-lbs of torque. Standard equipment includes Electronic Stability Program (ESP), DVD player with twin rear LCD screens, 18" alloy wheels, Bose premium 10 speaker sound system, xenon headlamps and tri-zone electronic climate control. The build quality, ride and overall refinement of the Caprice were all regarded as being superior to the previous model. In Australia, the six speed automatic, 6.0L V8 Caprice retails for A$69,990 (US$54,620).
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[Source: GM]
The latest gong caps off a successful awards season for GM Holden who recently brought home Australian CARSguide Car Of The Year honours with their new VE Commodore. Export versions of the new Caprice, Commodore and Statesman shipped to the Middle East, which represents GM Holden's largest export market, for the first time in September. More than 30,000 GM Holden vehicles were exported from Australia to the Middle East in 2005. The cars will be re-badged as the Chevrolet Lumina and Chevrolet Caprice.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
tony 4:40AM (8/12/2009)
This car was introduced as the G8 in the U.S. and was axed along with pontiac. Lutz has been flip flopping as to whether or not it will be brought back under the Chevy logo as the Middle Eastern Caprice. The name doesn't matter all are produced by Holden, but how they were able to ship the powertrains down under, build them, ship them back and sell the GT V8 variants starting at $29,900 and fully loaded at $32,700 is beyond me, and that includes the $1,700 gas guzzler tax! As much as I would like to see this car make it to the U.S. in an unmolested Holden form, something tells me Government Motors is putting the whole performance devision on the chopping block.
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epp_b 1:18PM (12/17/2006)
I was wondering how anything from GM could look so good, and then I read: "The Chevrolet Caprice, designed and manufactured by GM Holden in Australia..."
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Ken 2:20PM (12/17/2006)
Why are the American GM divisions incapable of producing a car like this? It's more than bit pricey for a Chevy, but it seems like a very desirable car. These are few and far between in GM's American portfolio.
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mr.ed 1:25PM (12/17/2006)
Sure isn't the snore we get in the states. But we don't know any better and GM believes we deserve pushrod engine designs over 25 years old while the sales leaders give us advanced engineering and innovative thinking. GM can do it too, but evidently chooses not to. What are they trying to tell us?
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Edsel 1:24PM (12/17/2006)
Why on earth can't GM build this product for the U.S. market? It's stuff like this that makes me think that GM should be on a "suicide watch".
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Fuzzmanmatt 1:40PM (12/17/2006)
I would love it if the Caprice was brought over to the states again, I love my '94, it was an amazing full size car when it was new, it's still an amazingly powerful vehicle, handles OK for it's size, and still gets glances when I drive downtown among the Mercedes' and Lexus' that have become commonplace.
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Sid 1:27PM (12/17/2006)
I love the clean design language used by Holden. Some people call it 'last-gen' but if current gen means design like the new CR-V or the 3-Series, I'll gladly take 'last-gen'.
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Tiago do Vale 1:32PM (12/17/2006)
This could be a new Opel Omega!
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Patrick 1:45PM (12/17/2006)
GM in the US SUCKS. Plain and simple they are completely and utterly lost. How effing hard is it to design a beautiful car? I mean look at that sorry excuse of design called Pontiac G6 coupe (not the conv.) It looks like Hyundai's attempts from 15 years ago. What has Hyundai done? Consistently improve and innovate. GM = corporate suicide.
The Holden Caprice is beautiful but obviously GM doesn't think this country deserves it. I wonder what focus groups they use to determine what they sell here. Oh I know the answer to that: blind people.
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Driver X 9:55PM (12/17/2006)
Build it and they will come!
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Richard S. 1:48PM (12/17/2006)
Its design is a little Audi-esque but it is a good thing. Had Cadillac being selling these cars as the STS, no doubt they would be doing better sales than the current Art & Science model. Nothing against the current STS, it looks like a fine car but it is not enough to compete against the imports.
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PepsiLove 5:14PM (12/17/2006)
Looks better than the Lucerne.
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lgm 2:01PM (12/17/2006)
Huhuu! He or its small brother Calais will be the new Chevrolet Omega to Brazil to replace the old generation Australian Calais current imported by GMB!
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Ivan the Terrible 2:14PM (12/17/2006)
Build it and they will come?
Only a few will come even if this $55,000 (US) sedan was badged as a CADDILAC.
There are NO millions of buyers (as they are for modest v6 Accords and Camrys at $30k) at $60k, and nobody in his or hers right mind will shell out that kind of dough for a non-charismatic 4-door sedan!
IF they put that engine in the new Camaro Convertible, maybe, but why not buy the CORVETTE instead? Which IS already made in the US and has far more name value than a mere CHevy?
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Adnan Zafar 1:58PM (12/17/2006)
Once again, another story in which the rest of the world gets the best of GM (and FORD). As someone already said, GM should be on a suicide watch here in the US. This compared to the US Impala? I just want to know what is it that GM has against it's home coutnry. Why are we being neglected while the rest of the world is being treated with designs that are on par with, if not better than the Japanese and the Germans. GM certainly has the financial power and the brains to design something like this for the US market, yet they keep on marketing half-a$$ed models as ''Platinum Series."
Sure we NOW, after years of negelecting the sedan market, we get the Saturn Aura, but to what avail? It is infuriating to see the rest of the world to get the best of GM while GM NA continues to piss on the best of North American names (Malibu, Impala, Cavalier, Monte Carlo, SS series). For decades GM has neglected the sedan market with mediocre designs that don’t have chance against the constant revisions from Japan (read Honda Accord: revised and perfected with every single design).
Remember the Cavalier? GM literally pissed on the Cavalier nameplate for over a decade till the name could be tarnished no longer and just replaced the car with a design that was old when it came out. The same goes for the Malibu, while the Accord and Camry were revised extensively each revision. Ironically this is only true in NA…Europe, Asia, and even the freaking Chinese get designs that are on par with the Japanese….
I am by no means a GM hater, but it pains me to no end to see to see a company with immense potential being so ignorant towards its origins. Sure insurance and health worker costs are more the the domestic bortheren, but does that mean you also design and market sub-par products? We--GM's core and home market, the North Americans, are left in out in the cold while the world gets the cream of GM’s design. Europeans, Arabs, and now even the Chinese (with the hugely revised SLS sedan) are being spoiled to our face.
I hope you BURN to the ground, GM, never to be revived again. You had your time to realize your mistake and turn things around, but you still continued to ignore the your NA progress (or more appropriately, the lack thereof)…If not anything else, at least make your designs not freaking painful on the eyes (Malibu, Outlander, SV6, to name a few)…
This one makes me laugh every time: how SAD and shameful it is for GM that TOYOTA had to INCREASE its prices as a courtesy move for GM? That’s got to be the funniest thing ever and takes the cake—what’s sad is that the implication of this move by TOYOTA still won’t be realized by GM who will continue to piss on their North American designs and serve the best to the Europeans and the Chinese…
For the record, what is said here about GM applies twice over to FORD, who has refused to give us the new FOCUS, while the Europe is already getting a replacement. Even our next focus will be a “revised” edition of the current FOCUS that’s been rotting on our roads for longer than the Stonehenge. Even the Mexicans get the new Focus, and Europe is treated to the New Mondeo. If Ford does not want to introduce the new FOCUS out of cost concerns, why not let the Focus move up in the market and introduce a smaller, more affordable model to take place of the Focus (as the Fiesta or Ka in Europe?)…Don’t even get me started on the new Ford C-max and what a great design that is; even the new FORD delivery vans look like supermodels compared to their minivans. No wonder that both GM AND Ford have forfeited the minivan market to the Japanese and Chrysler: the Odyssey came, the Odyssey saw, and the Odyssey obliterated them all.…While the European GM/FORD agenda seems to be to provide competitive and world-class products, NA GM/FORD will do whatever it takes to rip North Americans off and will do all that they can from introducing a product that would stand a chance against the Japanese and the Germans...
Note to GM and FORD: your current woes are SELF-INFLICTED. No one is responsible but yourselves and your greedy CEOs. Just because of that I will never buy domestic again. Burn in hell, NA FORD and GM.
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bepsf 1:58PM (12/17/2006)
Why isnt this brought to the US as the new Impala or Pontiac Bonneville?
Oh, because Americans can do everything better than everyone else, including design and build cars - My Bad...
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Adnan Zafar 2:08PM (12/17/2006)
# 1, 2, 7, 10, 11:
Well said guys, you people read my mind.
Is GM really that stupid to think that we wouldn't notice their neglect? GM's progress in the automotive world in markets OTHER than the US has been nothing short of phenomenal, yet the US still lags light years behind even the Koreans ("because we are Americans, we can do it better")
How does GM think it can blind us with models designed by engineering school dropouts? (the now discontinued *giggle* OUTLANDER, the freakish looking MALIBU). Sure the Tahoe and the Trucks have been revised for the millionth time, but this juts goes to show that GM is a company that does not care about its image, values, or it's product line up, but only in improving models that are already selling well
As 11 said: Burn in Hell, GM and FORD. I was once a domestic lover, but seeing these guys treat our market like this makes me never want to buy a domestic again (well, accept for the Z06)...
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iQuack 2:38PM (12/17/2006)
Nice but derivative.
Looks too much like an Audi and that style is getting boring IMO.
For some reason, I prefer the many BMW copycats to the Audi copycats. Maybe it's because the Ford 500 is a cheap interpretation of an Audi style (designed by the Audi stylist who moved to Ford) and that Ford look alike lowered the quality of everything that's Audi inspired.
The Holden/Chevy Caprice is too high class/costly for the Chevy brand here.
The current U.S. Chevy Impala is a surprisingly good car for the money--that car has been improved considerably and it drives very well.
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Scott 3:52PM (12/17/2006)
This will most likely be coming to the US market as the Pontiac G8. Watch for details to be announced at the Chicago Auto Show in Feb. It will be interesting to see how they price it...
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Chivo 3:04PM (12/17/2006)
WOOOOOWWWWW, this is one beatiful car. Too bad GM is so stupid and will not sell this in the United States.
Let's see, this is definately a 300 killer, and would practically steal sales from every auto manufacturer.
Geeeeezzz GM, seriously, do you guys have a brain?
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