Holden Commodore hybrid and turbo'd four under consideration
Two separate reports out of Australia say that Holden is looking to maximize the Commodore's fuel efficiency in an effort to stoke sales. Both stories quote General Motor's Asia-Pacific vice president, Nick Reilly, but the separate reports, while sharing a common theme, come to decidedly different conclusions about how the General plans to proceed.
The first story from the Sydney Morning Herald (thanks Patrick!) cites Reilly as saying that Holden is looking into hybrid technology to power the Commodore. "[It] could be one of the first hybrids that you will see," but Reilly insists that a gasoline-electric Commodore is still a few years out.
The second report comes courtesy of Drive.com.au, who also spoke with Reilly and asked if a four-cylinder version of the Commodore was in the cards. "It makes a lot of sense," Reilly said, "and therefore we're probably looking at it, but I can't tell you when." While that's far from a confirmation that a turbocharged four is on the way, it coincides with earlier reports that the new Camaro, which shares its platform with the Commodore, might benefit from the same 260 hp, turbocharged 2.0-liter found in the Pontiac Solstice GXP and Saturn Sky Redline.
Both stories are somewhat devoid of hard details, but despite that, it may be proof that General Motors' operations Down Under are willing to look at a variety of solutions to address the Commodore's slipping sales.
[Sources: SMH, Drive.com.au]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Berto 8:11AM (5/19/2008)
Why don't they design a smaller, fun to drive, four-door vehicle on a global platform that uses a 4 cylinder engine instead of just slotting a weaker engine on a heavy vehicle?
Leave the commodore/g8/Camaro for those of us who want to enjoy our v6's and v8's alone.
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Rick 10:09AM (5/19/2008)
Turbo 4 is a must in today's market and uncertainty about tomorrow's.
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Chad 9:55AM (5/19/2008)
Holden did a hybrid 4 cyclinder commodore for the sydney 2000 olympics to follow the tourch around, so I think both stories have an element of truth.
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TriShield 12:02PM (5/19/2008)
Anyone remember the Torana concept from a few years ago? It would have made much more sense to put that into production with a choice of four and six cylinder engines. Why Holden and GM didn't make it reality I'll never know. As anyone whose driven a G8 (which is this car) with a V6 can attest, it's not very good. I can only imagine how much worse a four cylinder would be under the hood of this huge car.
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Aprime 2:29PM (5/19/2008)
I think it would be a great G6.
the law 5:17PM (5/19/2008)
finally some good news from Holden/Pontiac
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SteveM 8:12PM (5/19/2008)
Erm. Both sources are one and the same - Drive.com.au is the motoring portal for the Fairfax newspapers in Australia and the Sydney Morning Herald is the main Sydney based Fairfax paper.
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RBH 12:55AM (8/15/2008)
I wonder if they will call the engine Starfire2 and the car the Sunbird?
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