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Holden Teases Commodore VFII, Reveal Expected On Sept 13

10K views 102 replies 25 participants last post by  kts350 
#1 ·
Holden Teases Commodore VFII, Reveal Expected On Sept 13.
Carscoops
September 4, 2015
By: Sergiu Tudose


Not wanting to keep us in the dark for too long, Holden has released a teaser image for their upcoming Commodore VFII, with a full reveal expected on September 13.

We don't really know anything about this car, except for the fact that Holden used the tagline "Hearing is Believing" for it on social media, and that they also mentioned that it was "37 years in the making", which basically means that it should be the best Commodore ever made.

The teaser is extremely discrete, yet we can easily make out the LED light strips which no longer seem to be surrounded by fog lights (probably to be positioned underneath like on HSV versions). We can also spot a slightly revised grille, but that's as much as we can venture to say at this point.

And if "Hearing is Believing", we should probably expect to hear at least a 6.0 liter V8 power unit under the hood of this Series II model, since they would probably not be saying that if all they had planned were V6 models.

With sales dipping just about every year since 2008, Holden definitely needs to bring a strong product to the table.

Also, considering that neither looks nor performance are an issue with this car, and since the general consensus is that "Commodores are great", the new VFII probably needs to find a way to be more accessible and even more desirable for the masses.
 
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#17 ·
What a surprise. All the rumours of Holden getting an LS3 turn out to be ..... just rumours.

Not enough to tempt me into one. I honestly don't know if I can be bothered with even a runout HSV GTS. They'll be flogging them by the bucketload so exclusivity or interest or any collector value will take decades to arrive.

Might just hang on to my Monaro for a few more years, and then offload it for something special for my 60th. That's unlikely to have a GM badge.
 
#21 ·
That's just Some Like it Hot..... (terrible retail colour). The new colours that are floating about are a Spitfire Green, Slipstream Blue, Light my Fire Orange, Empire (Bronze) and Son of a Gun Grey.

I'm not sure whether all these will release on MY16 or not, but there's certainly been runs of trial cars through the factory in the last 6 months or so in these colours. Alchemy, Jungle Green, Perfect Blue and Some like it Hot should finish with MY15.
 
#23 · (Edited)
I don't think we're getting anything but Blue here. Also I have read the "empire" may be an HSV only color. Some like it hot and jungle green are listed in the order guide for the 16 SS. Though if the orange is like Brazen in the light I would order it.

Isn't orange a "hero" color for Holden? They often launch new models with it? They might want to go out with it as well.
 
#22 ·
So long as Holden continues making cars that Commodore buyers actually want,
they can run to the finish with modest changes, a few colour and trim changes is enough.

Those that want a last V8 or V6 Commodore have time to get one and enjoy a product long after production ends.
They won't care about future Holden product as they have their "last Commodore' and that's all that matters.
 
#26 ·
Anyone notice that the LHD Chevy SS test mule is the only one with the wheels covered up?

http://www.goauto.com.au/mellor/mellor.nsf/story2/905790D37F2E8EF1CA257EB6001DA57A#!prettyPhoto

I wonder if they will be different than the other cars. I am so excited to see what the 2016 SS looks like. I am finally going to take the plunge and order one this fall. I have regretted not ordering a 2015 SS manual this past year - but we had a major home improvement going on that drained cash. Sunday can't come soon enough!!
 
#33 ·
They should of updated the rear of the wagon when VF came out, even just reworked tail lights. No one wanted to buy something something that looked 7 years old. Wagons went from about 30-40% of sales to 20-30% after VF. Similar story with ute.

Wagons really should be the focus in this tailgate obsessed market.
 
#38 ·
Because manual barely sells in ANY car anymore, let alone a wagon.

Wagon sells well to fleets and in the used market, but not brand new retail anymore. There's zero interest in a wagon at any level anymore. Whether this is because they never updated the rear end, I'm not sure, but they should have added an electric tailgate and LED tail lights, at a minimum.

Even HSV dropped the manual wagon. Everyone talks about buying one, but no one actually does. Saying that, they do seem to sell better on the used market, but this is probably only because they're rare and relatively cheap due to their popularity.
 
#40 ·
They built them for years in VE and retail sales were neglible. Majority of them were sold through company fleet and picked up used.

Holden obviously couldn't make the numbers add up, so they dropped them completely in VF. The fact that HSV has now dropped them also is pretty telling. You would think in a performance type car that a manual would sell in better numbers, but obviously not (I'm not a HSV dealer by the way, so I couldn't tell you from experience).
 
#42 ·
And if they prouduced a manual SV6 wagon it would sell in single digits a month.

It would cost Holden millions to develop and the sales simply would not be there.

Unlike other cars which have export markets and sell in high volumes, where the manufacturer can amortise the cost of producing a number of specific models, Holden just can't make the numbers add up with manual wagons.

If you worked out the number of sales of wagons overall and broke it down into models, we're probably lucky to even get the complete range of models in a wagon that we do. The market for a full size wagon is tiny. The market has well and truly moved on from the large passenger wagon and into full size SUV's.
 
#44 ·
I don't think its as simple as everyone would like to think.

There would be at a minimum a unique ESC calibration, plus other individual parts that would be unique to an SV6 manual wagon. This would take quite a few man hours and again for what would have been extremely minimal numbers. I'm actually surprised they continue to still build SV6 Sedan and Ute in a manual. Sales of them are pitiful.

We've only ever had the 1 VF SV6 manual in stock since they launched and it was a ute, 2013 build obviously. We ended up transferring it to used car stock after over 6 months in stock, where it was cleared out dirt cheap.

You can't really blame Holden, you can blame us dealers. We won't order them for stock, because they usually stick around forever and no one wants to keep a car in stock for that long. Margins are so tight, who wants to keep a car in stock for longer than a few weeks.
 
#47 ·
Clearly what is lacking is an automated manual gearbox and clutch. A manual box/clutch fitted with computer controlled actuators could be devised so that the driver has a choice of rowing gears and operating a clutch pedal, or switching to a clutchless paddle shift or turning it to full automatic.

Some such gearboxes are getting there but not quite perfected. But when they are drivers could have their cake and eat it as well....


;)
 
#49 ·
I really really wanted one but the reality was my wife doesn't want to sit in the pick up queue at school (which is on the side of the hill) having to play with the clutch. As much as I love and prefer a manual, the majority of people just want something most appropriate to their daily grind.

The competitive nature of the market means you need to offer the closest to one size fits all. Any thing else is a luxury.
 
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