Holden may be waiting in its deathbed as a manufacturer, but the spirit of affordable and sporty rear-wheel drive sedans it inspired with the Commodore (and the Premiere, Monaro, Belmont, Kingswood etc. before that) could live on, as a report has GM looking to revive the series in North America.
We’re told through Autocar magazine that, “a plan is under serious consideration by GM” for a rear-drive and V8-powered sports saloon to replace the Holden Commodore and its rebadged relatives, the Chevrolet SS and Vauxhall VXR8, after production ends in Australia in 2017.
If a green light is given, the new model will be developed and built in North America, with Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) possibly creating its own variant as it does now with the Australian-made Commodore.
Senior GM engineer Dave Leone was quoted as saying that the Detroit carmaker is interested in continuing the series beyond Holden’s manufacturing closure.
“If you are a performance enthusiast, then rear-wheel drive is the way to go and that’s the part of the rear-drive [GM] Alpha platform will play,” he said.
We should mention that another recent rumor had GM looking to replace the Commodore with a China-made and Buick-based car.
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