The last ever locally-made Holden Commodore unveiled

HOLDEN is expected to reveal its most powerful Commodore model of all time — with a V8 engine from the US Corvette — as it sends it off on a high note.

The last Commodore to roll of the Australian production line

THE last ever homegrown Holden Commodore will be unveiled at the company’s Port Melbourne headquarters today, two years before local production comes to an end.

Holden is expected to reveal its most powerful Commodore model of all time — with a V8 engine borrowed from the US Corvette — as it tries to reverse a sales slide and send it off on a high note.

Teaser images of the car dubbed VF Series II show the visual changes are relatively minor — a new front bumper and vents in the bonnet — but the big news is the 6.2-litre V8 that was until now reserved for Holden Special Vehicles and US export models.

Although Commodore sales are at record lows, V8s now account for more than one third of demand as enthusiasts rush to buy one before it’s too late.

The new Commodore’s bigger V8 — with more than 300kW, almost triples the power of the original V8 Commodore in 1978 — has in turn forced its performance car partner Holden Special Vehicles to adopt a 400kW-plus supercharged V8 across almost every model in its line-up.

The next generation Commodore — to be imported from Germany — is expected to come with four-cylinder and V6 power only.

When the imported 2018 model arrives, a V8 will not be available for the first time in Commodore’s history.

A disguised Holden Commodore ahead of the unveiling in Melbourne. Picture: Supplied

Today’s celebration of the new Commodore — with one of every model on display — will be at Holden’s famous Port Melbourne site, which stopped building cars in 1956 but has made engines throughout the company’s history.

However, the V6 plant will fall silent in late 2016 as Holden stockpiles engines ahead of the shutdown of its car assembly line in the Adelaide suburb of Elizabeth in late 2017.

Once production ends, Holden’s Port Melbourne workshops will be transformed into an engineering base for global General Motors vehicles.

Holden has confirmed 150 engineers and 150 designers will stay on once the factories close; they will be working on future models for Australia as well as overseas.

While that figure is a shadow of Holden’s peak when 1500 engineers, 500 designers and 300 mechanics — and is significantly less than the 1200 engineers who will stay on at Ford — Holden says securing those 300 jobs will cement Holden’s role in General Motors’ future.

In an exclusive first interview with News Corp Australia, the first Australian boss of Holden in 25 years, Mark Bernhard, repeated the company’s pledge that Holden’s production line will not close early.

“There are no plans to close any earlier than what we’ve said at the end of 2017,” said Mr Bernhard. “Nothing at this point in time gives us any indication we won’t make it to the end.”

As with fellow manufacturers Toyota and Ford, Holden has established a special division to work with parts suppliers to ensure they can last the distance.

Changes are expected to be made to the bonnet and front bumper. Picture: Supplied

In a wide-ranging interview Mr Bernhard also dismissed the highly ambitious target to beat Japanese giant Toyota by 2020 — a fanciful goal set by his predecessor Gerry Dorizas who left the company last year after barely six months in the job.

Holden — which is on track to post its lowest sales in 22 years, the first time it has delivered fewer than 100,000 cars since 1993 — would need to more than double its volume in the next five years to get close to overtaking Toyota.

“I get up every day to win (but) I’m not going to sit here and say that we’re going to be number one by 2020,” said Mr Bernhard. “I don’t need that target on my back.”

Indeed, Holden is likely to be overtaken by Hyundai in the 2015 sales race, after being beaten in the year-to-date tally to the end of August.

If Hyundai finishes the year in third place behind Mazda and market leader Toyota, it will be the first time since its inception in 1948 that Holden has not finished inside the Top Three car makers.

Holden was last number one in 2002; Toyota has led every year since.

But the Holden boss says he is not giving up. Instead he says he is focused on transforming the company into solely an importer of vehicles from 2017.

Holden says it plans to introduce 24 new models over the next five years, including a new-generation Astra in the second half of next year, as well as an overhaul of its SUV and ute line-ups.

While Mr Bernhard was viewed by industry insiders as an obvious choice for the top job, he in fact had to lobby for it because General Motors didn’t want him to stand down from his prime posting as chief financial officer for General Motors in China, the world’s biggest car market.

Mr Bernhard said Holden is “going through a very difficult time and … I want to make sure the people we’ve got to exit from the business are treated with dignity and respect”.

New Holden boss Mark Bernhard is the first Australian boss of Holden in 25 years. Picture: Supplied

“As an Australian I feel a personal responsibility and I think I can do that better than someone who’s flying in who may not have the same emotional attachment to the place,” said Mr Bernhard.

“That said, I also don’t want my legacy to be ‘I was the guy who closed down Holden’, I want my legacy to be ‘I was the guy who led us through (the transition to an importer).”

Although he was not credited with it at the time, Mr Bernhard helped save Holden from extinction when General Motors executives scrapped four of its car brands — including Hummer, Pontiac, Saab and Saturn — in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis.

Mr Bernhard was Holden’s chief financial officer when Holden’s parent company General Motors went into bankruptcy in the US, and worked with then Holden boss Mark Reuss to save the brand.

“I was in the mines digging, going through that process. It was exceptionally tough,” said Mr Bernhard.

In 2011, the then boss of Holden Mike Devereux revealed it was a “knife-edge” decision to keep Holden alive in late 2008.

Mr Devereux said the premature closure of Holden was avoided after emergency meetings with then-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, then-Industry Minister Kim Carr, and then-Holden managing director Mark Reuss.

“When you think about what was happening (in General Motors) around the world in late ’08, the walls were crashing in. And Holden, as a small part of a huge place, it was on a knife-edge,” said Mr Devereux.

“It was the worst time in our history no doubt. You have to remember that in late 2008 the world for General Motors was caving in.”

General Motors also nearly sold its European division Opel during the global restructure.

Luckily for Holden that deal was aborted, as it will source more than one-third of its vehicle line-up from Opel after 2017, including the next Commodore.

The remainder of Holden’s future cars will come from the US, Thailand and South Korea.

This reporter is on Twitter: @JoshuaDowling