Holden tweaks Commodore for run to the end

THIS is it – the final Australian-built Holden Commodore range is now entering showrooms, ready to take the iconic Aussie-developed, Aussie-produced car down to the wire in October when Holden’s Australian factory will close forever.

GM Holden product communications manager Mark Flintoft confirmed that the changes for the 2017 VFII model year would be the last for the locally built sedan, wagon and ute, wrapping up 38 years of local Commodore development ahead of the introduction of a German-made imported model based on the Opel Insignia from early 2018.

The Commodore announcement came just hours after Holden’s high-performance partner, Holden Special Vehicles, revealed its last hurrah in the form of the 474kW GTSR W1 (see separate story).

The minor changes include a range of styling and tech equipment tweaks on all models except the base Evoke fleet-mobile.

Theoretically, the range has been streamlined by dropping the SS-V and Calais Sportwagon. However, Holden recently announced a trio of special-edition Commodores – the Motorsport and Director sedans and Magnum ute – so the cuts hardly count.

For the first time since Holden started building “Australia’s own car” in 1948, no locally built six-cylinder Holden will be available with a manual gearbox.

Instead, the last remaining V6 Commodore with such a transmission, the SV6, will come only with the six-speed automatic transmission.

A manual cog-swapper will still be available on the two remaining V8 sports variants – the SS and SS-V – in sedan and ute formats.

Prices have been shuffled according to specification changes, with some prices going up by as much as $1200 and others going down by a similar amount. With no changes, the Evoke price is unchanged.

Three 2017 Commodore variants gain satellite navigation as a standard fitment – SV6, Calais and SS.

The SV6 and SS also get head-up display and new-look wheels. In the case of the SV6, the wheels are 18-inch alloys with a black finish, while the SS gains 19-inch alloys.

The Calais V also gets 19-inch wheels with a new finish, along with an electro-chromatic mirror, black interior, perforated leather steering wheel from SS-V Redline, new sill plates emblazoned with the “V” logo and Calais lettering on the rear doors.

Visually, the biggest changes are to the flagship sports sedan, the V8 SS-V Redline, which now comes with similar blacked-out grille, side vents, mirror scalps, day-time running light surrounds and lip spoiler (sedan only) as the new limited-run Motorsport Edition.

Inside, the steering wheel and instrument panel get a “jade black applique”.

Like the Calais V, the SS-V Redline gets the new “V” badge sills, while the ute version comes with a black rear-tray sports bar.

The only change to the long-wheelbase Caprice V is the addition of the SS-V Redline steering wheel.

Three new colours have been added – Spitfire Green, Light My Fire orange and Son of Gun Grey – taking the choice of hues to nine.

Holden communications director Sean Poppitt said the 2017 Commodore honoured the attributes that have elevated it to be one of Australia’s most loved cars.

“Commodore has always stood for leading driving dynamics, exceptional customer value and a striking road presence, and the 2017 Commodore is a perfect example of that,” he said.

“Not only have we added some great styling enhancements like black accents and some stunning new colours, we’ve also dialled up the technology offering with head-up display and satellite navigation available on SV6 models.”2017 Holden Commodore range pricing*

Evoke (a)	$35,490
Evoke Sportwagon (a)	$37,490
Evoke Ute (a)	$33,490
SV6 (a)	$40,490
SV6 Sportwagon (a)	$42,490
SV6 Ute (a)	$37,190
SS	$47,490
SS (a)	$49,690
SS Sportwagon (a)	$51,690
SS Ute	$43,990
SS Ute (a)	$46,190
SS-V Redline	$54,990
SS-V Redline (a)	$57,190
SS-V Redline Sportwagon (a)	$59,190
SS-V Redline Ute	$52,490
SS-V Redline Ute (a)	$54,690
Calais V6 (a)	$42,540
Calais V V6 (a)	$48,750
Calais V V8 (a)	$56,750
Calais V Sportwagon V6 (a)	$50,750
Calais V Sportwagon V8 (a)	$58,750
Caprice V V8 (a)	$61,490

*Excludes on-road costs