NSW Government asks for hybrid Commodores
9 Jun, 2008
28 Comments 
With the recent announcement that Holden is only two years away from producing hybrid and diesel Commodores, NSW Premier Morris Iemma has thrown his backing behind the project, urging both Ford and Holden to produce a hybrid sedan, with a promise to purchase the vehicles for the NSW Government fleet.
Currently 355 hybrid vehicles exist in the NSW Government fleet, all of which are either Prius or Civic Hybrids. The QLD government also recently purchased 50 hybrid Civics.
Mr Iemma says he has written to Holden Australia to volunteer the NSW Government fleet as a potential customer for an Australian made hybrid Commodore.
“If Holden was to build a hybrid Commodore, as has been suggested, then I have assured the local car maker we would be lining up to be one of their first customers, the same goes for Ford Australia if they want to pioneer an Aussie hybrid.” Mr Iemma said in a statement.
No doubt the state governments would all like to have their hybrid vehicles sourced locally to support Australian manufacturers, but what about private customers?
Would you buy a hybrid/diesel Commodore or Falcon? Why/Why not?
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June 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
I wouldn’t purchase a hybrid Holden or Ford quite simply because i wouldn’t purchase an Aussie built car full stop!!
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June 9th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
I would buy a Ford diesel if they make a V6 and V8 diesel it would be wonderful to see. I don’t know why they haven’t made a diesel in the past as Australians do so many kilometers in the most toughest conditions you would have thought they would have always offered a diesel. I don’t think hybrids are the way to go yet. Lets get the Chines, Japs and Europeans get all the kinks out of the system before we get them.
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June 9th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Im suprised Mr Dilemma knows what a hybrid car is! How about we setup a hybrid car plant under Kurnell as well? Or we could transform the Lane Cove tunnel into a hybrid car making factory!!! The possibilties are endless!!
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June 9th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Cracker Barrel, you are just plain rude and ignorant. Have u not driven a VE or FG? Truely world class cars, nothing like the models of yore. Plus our manufacturing standards seem a lot better than American cars and why would you not want to assist our local car industry and therefore our economy?
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June 9th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Go live in another country Cracker Barrel!
How about an LPG powered Hybrid?
Fords already got the I6 that will last forever on LPG.
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June 9th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
It’s good to see a state government supporting the industry. All Holden and Ford have to do is deliver. If they had less inertia and more foresight, they might’ve been in a position to deliver the goods right now.
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June 9th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
i like the sound of that realcars! but i hope that we are not going to loose the old v8 it would be a shame to car lovers everywhere
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June 9th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
It’s a pity Ford didn’t do sequential LPG with the FG update.
More space than a hybrid, more power, safer, towing ability, Australian made & around the same running costs ($9 per 100km).
Current egas engine offered by Ford still puts up a good argument though.
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June 9th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
i would ONLY consider an LPG hybrid because petrol and even diesel hybrids will still be too expensive to run!!
Hyundai are considering importing an LPG hybrid for 2009, they claim it will only cost 10 dollars a week on fuel.(for an average of 300Ks a week and LPG costing 70 cents a litre.)Currently i pay 61.9 at my local independent station!
Now that’s what i call a Prius killer!!!!
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June 9th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
Lets hope the price of LPG stays low.
Apparently Australia has huge reserves and gives the stuff away to China.
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June 9th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
never gona happen….
id buy a hybrid holden if it was a shoter, lighter wheelbased commodore…commodores mass is just a killer for anything eco.
ford could of produced a LPG hybrid for the new falcon. but …. no money in the bank.
perhaps we will see the rise of indipendent hybrid.. or eletric manufactures start up here… tesla have got some good ground up north
……………………………………………still illegal to drive eletric cars on the road in australia, yeah.. we are obviously committed to a greener future.
cookie
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June 9th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I was a Motor Vehicle Fleet Manager for a NSW Govt Department.. At the time Government regulations stated 10% of a departments fleet had to be a Hybrid - which meant we had to have 2 Priuii [plural for Prius]
However; the staff found it so user UN-friendly and had poor all-round vision etc that it got to the point that if you did something wrong you got given the Prius for a week as a form of punishment.. It was a great way to improve performance
So now that Holden are designing a rather unique Hybrid; unique in so much that it will actually have style.
I’d say provided they don’t make it that you need a certificate from mensa to start or run it they should sell quite well
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June 9th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
i wouldnt buy a hybrid full stop.
too much of a loss in the practicallity of what you need the vehicle for.
but then if you still kept the commodore/Falcon space and safety……………
naaaaahhhhh,
I’d still go the LPG.
as touched on earlier an LPG falcon is cheaper to run than a Prius anyway, let alone a large sized hybrid vehicle.
its a bit of a no brainer
I too am disappointed that ford didnt upgrade to a sequential Vapour LPG system. why didnt the government offer support to make that happen?
they didnt need to throw money at ford, but just say we will give you this contract you otherwise wouldnt have if you invest in it a little further.
and then slowly bring the private sector into the LPG motions once you have a top notch system.
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June 9th, 2008 at 7:42 pm
the gm 2 mode hybrid isn’t battery based. It is a gearbox with 2 electric motors
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-Mode_Hybrid. So no environmental downside of battery based hybrids.
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June 9th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Toyota is sure to be introducing the hybrid Camry to Australia by the sounds of it and considering Toyota’s strong track record for developing reliable, dependable and durable hybrid motor vehicles, i would be much more incline to buy from Toyota or Honda then Holden.
Infact, considerable numbers of the Prius have been known to have travelled inexcess of 300 000km’s with little or no attention bar regular / scheduled servicing.
That said, the Camry Hybrid has been on the market in the US for several years and has proven it’s everyday use with outstanding reliability and customer satisfaction unlike GM which has just reported seriuos problems with thier batteries.
Click onto ‘news’ and read the last story under ‘6th June’ which’ tells you all about it … mmm !!
Oh yeah, the Toyota Prius was just ranked NO.1 in the 2008 JD Powers Quality /Customer Satisfaction Survey beating over 100 other models.
It was further reported that customers have been particularly pleased with the quality and reliabiity of the car.
Toyota and Honda comfortably remain the leaders in such technology while GM has been plagued with questionable development and reliability of thier own versions.
Like i said, read the article i have just provided referance to and decide for yourselves.
General Motors reputation in this field is not even remotely close to that of Toyota and Honda.
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June 9th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Andrew M, once I’ll have to agree I wouldn’t want to own a hybrid and never buy one unless the government forces us in the next 20 years!
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June 9th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
GM need to fix thier battery problems first, I still think 2010 is way to late and not a viable path for Holden, Dud Rudd needs to know that a Hybrid is not green at all, when you take overall figures from production to recycling it just dosen’t add up.
Since Rudd signed up koyoto, fuel prices have rocketed and now he and those green mates want to release more oil supply to relieve pressure on global markets, make up your mind Labor before thier is a global recession and we all have to drive so called hybrid crap, which still use coal power, oil power, battery power and has really bad recycling capabilities, GOVERNMENT SHOULD THINK ABOUT AUSTRALIA’S GROWING FUTURE NOT HALF BAKED IDEAS.
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June 9th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
LPG IS STILL THE BEST WAY TO GO AT THE MOMENT.
HYDROGEN WILL BE THE BEST WHEN IT’S AVAILBLE.
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June 9th, 2008 at 9:10 pm
I wouldn’t buy a Falcon/Commodore hybrid, at least not for the first 2 generations, there will most likely be reliability problem with such a complex system especially with GM’s battery problem stated above.
If i’m to buy a locally made hybrid, it’ll be Camry Hybrid for sure, Toyota is without a doubt the leader in Hybrid technology
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June 9th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
I wouldnt buy a hybrid car
I drive electric vehicles at work and I can’t get use to auto braking which I have been told is in the prius, with auto braking there no roll in the car and it feels to me you are not in control of the vehicle.
I drive a V8, I like the feel of it when it makes power. Electric motors don’t do anything for me and I don’t care about the cost of fuel and I would convert it to run on methanol (which has no emission) if normal fuel was not available if the future, even know it would use four times as much.
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June 9th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
I hope petrol goes up more!!! Starting to love the “traffic”at the moment - especially on Saturdays!!!
Oh and I don’t drive a civic hybrid, Prius or a diesel car!! It would take a lot of convincing for me to touch one of them!
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June 9th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
The Australian automotive industry cannot survive if the government is going to be so superficial. All they want is the cachet of the word ‘hybrid’, which overlooks the complexity involved in actually getting one to market.
Why not instead sit down with auto executives before going public with something so absurd? LPG should receive more subsidy because it takes reliance off foreign oil, and it’s something local manufacturers already provide.
Toyota already has the technology in the wings, Holden MIGHT, but Ford does not; and if pressure specifically mounts on them to get a HYBRID to market (As opposed to an affordable to run, low polluting car) it could be detrimental to them.
Unfortunately burocrats are more concerned about gaining credibility with the myriad sheep who believe everything they read in the paper. It’s as if the local industry is being kicked while it’s down.
Now if you’ll excuse me I have to go vomit.
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June 9th, 2008 at 11:00 pm
GT40; Hydrogen is a pipe dream- It would be fantastic if we could switch city/housing infrastructures to Hydrogen but it doesn’t make sense in cars, and strikes me as a lip service pipe dream. All the investment in the world doesn’t draw attention away from the ridiculous amount of work involved in setting up an infrastructure.
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June 10th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Toyota is expected to annonce they will be building the Camry Hybrid in Australia … not sure when though.
They have stated instead of increasing jobs, it will help provide more stability for the exsisting worhforce which is great news.
I’m sure more news will come of this soon.
I believe the fuel consumption is slated for about 5.7 ltrs / 100km
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June 10th, 2008 at 10:41 am
STOP HIJACKING PAGES TOYOTA FANS! Post on topic or don’t post at all
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June 10th, 2008 at 10:51 am
well its not like there will actually be a hybrid commie in 2010, maybe 2015
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June 10th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
LPG-Hybrid. Sound like a killer aussie alternative. Throw one in a locally made Focus or Torana and you could be onto a winner.
Only problem I see is the considerable weight that both systems add.
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June 10th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
It’s freaky to buy a GM hybrid if they can’t even perfect a normal car in the first place. VE has glitches galore, and to successfully make a very complicated electric motor? Hah!
The diesel Falcon might borrow the Jag’s 2.7, so it should do well enough for economy and pulling power. Too bad the LPG version is pretty much the same as the BF, including the ancient gearbox. They should upgrade it.
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