REPORT: Group working on bringing Holden Commodore to U.S. police forces
Naturally, the death of the Pontiac brand has put a crimp in sales plans at Holden, General Motors' Australian arm that assembles and exports the Pontiac G8, essentially a lightly reworked version of the brand's own Commodore sedan. Interestingly, according to Aussie website GoAuto, a most unlikely new player may be preparing to make up for the sales short: a consortium led by the Los Angeles Police Department.
Currently, Ford sells about 60,000 Crown Vics each year for fleet use, with the majority of those going to various police units around the United States, but production of the Jurassic rear-drive Ford isn't likely to continue past next year, and it is thought that Dodge's Charger probably won't pick up all of the slack, so alternatives will be needed. With that in mind, Port Melbourne-based National Safety Agency has created a new prototype patrol vehicle based on the Pontiac G8 that could be rebadged as a Chevrolet and sold to law enforcement units in the United States and abroad.
There's even chatter that the new model could be made available for retail sale at Chevrolet dealerships. Not surprisingly, Holden has expressed interest in the project, though it's taking a measure approach given the current state of the American automobile industry. If this vehicle does come to fruition, it will be interesting to see how it competes against the Carbon Motors E7, another new vehicle specifically designed for police use.
[Source: GoAuto]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Luis 3:34PM (4/28/2009)
Oh, but what about "buy American"? I don't want my taxpayer dollars to keep Australians employed when American factories are shutting down.
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Swede 3:35PM (4/28/2009)
It's still GM, isnt it?
Franz 3:59PM (4/28/2009)
How come you didn't complain when Holden was shipping over the G8? It wasn't built in America you know.
Luis 4:00PM (4/28/2009)
I think that argument falls into the "lipstick on a pig" category. It's still not employing the vast majority of Americans in blue collar jobs, and it's arguably costing police departments a lot more.
If they have the product developed, I see little reason why they can't make them here in the U.S.
Lee 6:21PM (4/28/2009)
Build them here...
Matt 6:29PM (4/28/2009)
Hey Luis...the Crown Vic is made in CANADA!
KeatMP 3:34PM (4/28/2009)
I think all of this should have been done prior-G8.
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Khalid 11:41PM (4/28/2009)
In the middle east, we've had the commodore rebadged as a chevy lumina for years now.
http://yfrog.com/bgdubaipolicej
dukeisduke 3:38PM (4/28/2009)
The Holden Commodore isn't designed specifically for police use; only the Carbon Motors E7 is. But then, I put the E7 in the Chevy Volt category right now - vaporware. I'll wait until I see an actual car, and an actual factory, before I believe in it.
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KeatMP 3:54PM (4/28/2009)
You really still think the Volt is vaporware. Wow...
garlinski 3:42PM (4/28/2009)
It would be nice if GM could build the Commodore/G8 as a Chevy (insert name here... Impala?) and then actually BUILD the car here in the States.
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Coolio 4:23PM (4/28/2009)
Missed the point: assembly is a small portion of the effort/expense/financial reward of creating a car.
Jared 4:03PM (4/28/2009)
There just isn't the demand to justify spending hundreds of millions of dollars setting up a second production line (one in the US in addition to the one that already exists in Australia).
garlinski 4:06PM (4/28/2009)
True
gearhead18 11:34PM (4/28/2009)
I think it is actually sold somewhere as a Caprcie
Frylock350 8:52AM (4/29/2009)
@Jared,
The production line already exists in Oshawa building Camaros.
garlinski 9:38AM (4/29/2009)
If GM were smart, they'd run that factory like Honda does with the Civic line... they build Civics, CRV's and Elements on hte same line and can adjust manufacturing on the fly due to sales volume. If they could build Camaros and G8's (i like Impala if it were rebranded) on the same line, then maybe we'd still have this Aussie ride in the good ole US of A.
Wobbly_ears 3:43PM (4/28/2009)
With that confederate emblem on the door, it is bound to be a hit with the rednecks.....
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letstakeawalk 4:12PM (4/28/2009)
That's the logo for the Victoria Police - Australia.
Nothing at all to do with the Confederate States of America. Besides, "rednecks" can be found anywhere, including many states that didn't even exist during the time of the CSA.
Joe 5:09PM (4/28/2009)
Confederate... ROFLCOPTR
Oh and HEY CHEVROLET N.A.
GM can sell this car in every market but North America... what's your problem?
Is it because we've been spoiled with sooo many great GM vehicles over the past 10-15yrs that this one gets lost somewhere?
The CTS is a great car, I can't argue that one though. It's just above my range personally.