Confirmed: Commodore to live past 2017

[LoudPipes]

Confirmed: Commodore to live past 2017

Date: 20 January, 2015

Stephen Ottley
Deputy Motoring Editor

Holden will carry on its most famous nameplate after local production stops.

The Holden Commodore will live on.

General Motors International boss Stefan Jacoby has confirmed that the Commodore nameplate will be used on the replacement for the current car after the locally-made model ends in 2017.

"I will make the announcement that we will continue with the nameplate Commodore," Jacoby said. "There will be a Commodore successor.

"Commodore is embedded into Holden, it is very much part of the Holden history, it's part of what Australian customers want to have and we listen to our customers.There will definitely be a very strong Commodore in the future."

Holden has made no secret of its plans to replace the Commodore with a new large sedan in 2018, after production of the current VF Commodore ends in 2017. While it hinted that Commodore would continue it had yet to commit to the name for the imported replacement.

"The Commodore successor will have the Commodore name," Jacoby said.

Jacoby already confirmed that the 2018 Commodore is already testing at Holden's Lang Lang proving grounds.

"We are driving this car already in Lang Lang," Jacoby told Australian journalists at the 2015 Detroit motor show.

Jacoby hinted that the new Commodore will switch to a front-wheel drive layout, rather than the current Commodore's rear-wheel drive platform. It is expected to be based on a new German-deigned Opel Insignia sedan, the styling of which was previewed in the Opel Monza concept.

"I'm coming from a front-wheel-drive group, the VW/Audi Group [Jacoby was previously CEO of VW America], with this company we don't believe there is a true disadvantage between a front-wheel-drive Audi, at the time, towards a rear-wheel-drive BMW," Jacoby said.

The Commodore nameplate was introduced in 1978 for the replacement for the larger Kingswood and was based on a European-sourced Opel. Much like the original Commodore, Jacoby wants the new model to offer fuel economy savings with a smaller, lighter car and more modern technology.

"We understand what Commodore is and we understand that better than anybody else and it is very obvious that the Commodore successor needs to be stronger than today's model – and we will do everything to do that, with modern technology," Jacoby said.

"With today's technology, especially with downsizing, we can over perform a traditional six- or eight-cylinder."

Ford, meanwhile, has confirmed it will retire the Falcon name when production of the FG X ends in 2016.

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