VE Commodore: Fuel for thought

WILL fuel consumption increase with the new model? Mooney: "It will be pretty close. Once again we don’t have the final numbers. We’ve been testing recently, and some powertrains might be more economical, some might not be.

"We’ve got a six-speed automatic with the V8 – we don’t have that today – so you are going to have to look at engine and transmission combination by combination, because some of them will be better than today and some might not be.

"But once again we’re still working on the final numbers. At this point in the program, you’re talking tenths of a litre per 100km." Smaller V6 engine
TO COUNTERACT the concern in the marketplace over fuel consumption, Holden is considering a lower-capacity version of its Alloytec engine, some of which it already produces for affiliate GM brands.

“We’d have to look at power-to-weight ratio, and really look at how much efficiency we really can get out of that, but we’d look at it,” Mr Mooney said. “We do a lower-displacement engine – a 2.8-litre version of that for China and Korea today – but that’s more tax-driven than fuel-economy driven.

“You’ve got to find a sweet spot on the weight of the car, with your power-to-weight ratios, your gear ratios, and your transmission, and where you can optimise what I call that hook for fuel economy and performance. At some point of time you just don’t get any more fuel economy.

“I don’t think you’d go to 2.8, but you might go 3.0 (to) 3.2-litre.”