VE Sedan To Spawn New Monaro - Sister For GTO?

[aball]

Exclusive: VE Sedan To Spawn New Monaro!

Terry Martin
17 July 2006
www.goauto.com.au

An all-new Monaro is coming. Mike Simcoe, the man who crafted Holden’s VE Commodore and the VT-based Monaro - and who is now in charge of exterior design for all GM North America cars - has uttered the words Australians have been longing for: "It will come."

Mr Simcoe has revealed to GoAuto that a coupe version was "in the offing early on" in the VE Commodore’s development and that building a two-door version would now be a relatively simple task.

However, it will not be seen until bread-and-butter model derivatives such as utilities are built, meaning a likely arrival date of late 2008.

"Right now there is no Monaro that’s going to appear next year or anything like that. There’s too much else that this architecture has got in line before we get to that. It’s not that we’re not doing it – it will come eventually.

"There’s just a whole bunch of other stuff that needs to earn money first," he said.

"If the host car is good, then doing anything else off it is much easier. The VT delivered the Monaro – and the Monaro was only good because the VT was good. It’s all within the bounds of what the architecture will deliver. So you’ve got the same sort of stuff here."

While the next Monaro could be built in the United States rather than Australia using the VE’s new Holden-developed global architecture formerly known as Zeta, the coupe will not be a version of the Zeta-based Chevrolet Camaro concept unveiled at the Detroit motor show earlier this year.

The Camaro has been touted as a possible successor for the Monaro-based Pontiac GTO. But Mr Simcoe, who is responsible for the design of future Pontiac cars (as well as those from Buick, Chevrolet, Cadillac and Saturn), was adamant that despite sharing a common platform, the two vehicles did not have a common destiny. "The Chev Camaro is not a Monaro," he said.

GM Holden chairman and managing director Denny Mooney also hosed down speculation about the next Monaro being derived from the Camaro: "I wouldn’t re-skin a Camaro – a Camaro is a Camaro."

Mr Simcoe (left) said the Zeta architecture was flexible enough to allow Holden to build several model variants, including a station wagon, single-cab and dual-cab ute and four-wheel drive passenger cars and wagons.

Of these, only the single-cab ute is a certainty to join the sedan, in around 12 months from now - though a VE Commodore wagon is expected to be approved for production from around March 2008.

"There was a coupe in the offing early on (but) there’s any number of alternatives being thought about and being designed – and they have not necessarily all come to fruition," he said.

"One of the things that we were able to do because we were designing from the ground up is the sort of flexibility we’re working into the plant in Adelaide and the sort of thinking that generated things like the Crewman, traditional utes and wagons and all the rest of it.

"This architecture was designed in a modular fashion so it is fairly easy to do – what we call flexible architecture. If it costs a lot to change, you’re not going to do much change.

"It’s designed to allow us to get more vehicles out of it. That’s down to not necessarily sharing panels but sharing the base architecture and positioning of wheels and tyres and cowl and all that sort of stuff."


What's coming from Holden

VE Commodore sedan - August 2006
HSV E-Series sedan - Late August 2006
WM Statesman/Caprice sedan - September 2006
VE Commodore utility - October 2007
VE Commodore wagon - March 2008
VE Monaro coupe - Late 2008

The designer of Holden's VE Commodore confirms the all-new sedan will sire a coupe

[99Hugger]

It would be nice to have a Camaro for 2009 model year.I know thats awhile yet but at least they designed Zeta with coupes in mind.

[Butz]

That's good to hear. I knew they wont give up on the Monaro

[redimpss5]

Bring it to North America!!!

[Bravada]

Good to hear the Utes and Wagons are coming too!

[nikivee]

Originally Posted by redimpss5

Bring it to North America!!!

The last time they brought the Monaro to the states as a GTO. Everyone bitched.

[Richard1098]

Originally Posted by nikivee

The last time they brought the Monaro to the states as a GTO. Everyone bitched.

But is was an old, tired Monaro that time.

[Ming]

Originally Posted by Richard1098

But is was an old, tired Monaro that time.

Exactly. And as I pointed out in another thread, it didn't keep up with styling changes like the Commodore did, but rather stuck with an already 3 year old styling when it debuted in the U.S., and stepped back further styling-wise by softening up the front end even more than the Monaro. Of course Bob Lutz has a real thing for aerodynamic shapes, so this worked for him, but young people saw the GTO's particular brand of swoopy roundish styling as belonging to the 1990's.

Meanwhile (while the GTO was locked in late 1990's styling and trying to save itself with hoodscoops) the Commodore was free to play with more modern-looking styling treatments, like on the VZ SS.

[01cavalier]

Originally Posted by nikivee

The last time they brought the Monaro to the states as a GTO. Everyone bitched.

I sure didn't complain, except for the fact that it was long overdue. Having driven a few of the GTOs, I love them. They really are great cars. I hope GM realizes that they should be selling models from Australia and Europe in the US. Luckily in the States they can choose which division will sell them, then all they have to really do is figure out what models work.

[Aych Es Vee]

I dont know why everyone thought it wouldnt come back....
NO ONE ever said 'its gone for good'

obviously it was a car that wouldnt keep sales up for long periods of time, so obviously, theres gonna be gaps in production, even if those gaps are 2 to 3 years.

[jwrebholz]

Platform flexibility like this is a very intelligent way to go. Since they built this flexibility in right from the get-go you don't have to worry about spending tons of cash to make an orange out of an apple, if you get my drift.

It's only a matter of time, now. We've waited this long, a little longer won't kill us.

[SCCA1995]

Originally Posted by nikivee

The last time they brought the Monaro to the states as a GTO. Everyone bitched.

Not everyone.

[Garmar]

I hope that when GM introduces their next Impala, Gran Prix, and GTO they are more ground breaking than the recent introductions from Australia. The interiors are great but the exteriors don't look particularly unique. They are too much like a lot of everything else on the road.

[BigAls87Z28]

So it looks as this is the first sign that Zeta will be a different animal then VE, and that they are not 100% the same. They say that Zeta will be much more flexable. What I dont understand is why not have a Camaro based Monaro? Is the American Zeta chassis not enough to match that of VE?
I say that Camaro would make the best Monaro the Aussies have ever seen.

[DuSpinnst]

Originally Posted by BigAls87Z28

So it looks as this is the first sign that Zeta will be a different animal then VE, and that they are not 100% the same. They say that Zeta will be much more flexable. What I dont understand is why not have a Camaro based Monaro? Is the American Zeta chassis not enough to match that of VE?
I say that Camaro would make the best Monaro the Aussies have ever seen.

I think he's refering to the sheetmetal design, not the platform. The Camaro and Monaro will be on the same platform for sure.