2009 Holden Commodore range preview
17 Jun, 2008
35 Comments 
GM Holden has unveiled the first of what is sure to be many images resulting from a mid-life update to the VE Commodore range, beginning with the new MY09 VE Omega.
The full range is expected to make its debut later this year or early 2009, however this may be thrown awry by the recent announcement of alternative fuel developments.
As well as a few minor aesthetic revisions, the biggest change is expected to come from a new generation of fuel-efficient and environmentally friendly engine technologies.
The first results of this strategy are likely to come from V8 engines featuring cylinder de-activation, allowing them to run on four-cylinders, LPG and E85 compatible Commodores coinciding with the 2009 update, with diesel and hybrid options following by 2010.
This hybrid fleet already has the backing of the NSW Government, pledging to support the project by assuring they would be the first in line to purchase an eco-fleet.
Location: Home / Hybrid, New South Wales, electric, Holden, Holden VE Commodore, Fuel News, Australian Car Industry News, Diesel, Car News / ...
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June 17th, 2008 at 5:57 am
cant see a difference.but i like this new model year stratergy stops resale falling as badly.
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June 17th, 2008 at 8:19 am
The article really didn’t say the difference
I was hoping for 1) Direct Injection engines. 2) a 6 speed auto across the range.
Those are more necessary than e85 right now
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June 17th, 2008 at 8:47 am
in other words, Holden don’t have anything interesting to show us, so its just a teaser. An Eco commodore would be interesting, but I doubt we’ll be seeing anything in 2010. Lets face it Holden aren’t about Eco cars.
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June 17th, 2008 at 8:48 am
Things must not being going good for Holden if they’re drip feeding this sort of information now.
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June 17th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Not sure what these “teaser” images are - is this one of them? Has Car Advice printed the wrong stock? This pic has been on the Holden website for some months and these cars have been on the road for a while.
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June 17th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Please don’t hound us with useless Holden information, if there is no real changes now why bother us with Commondore advertising.
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June 17th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Looks like it just gained a set of bland alloys, as opposed to… hubcaps?
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June 17th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Tony M - just timing on Holden\’s part to try and take a little shine off the FG Falcon maybe?
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June 17th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Yawn
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June 17th, 2008 at 11:47 am
hmm holden updated the omega model quite a while ago, the pic in this article was released by holden quite a while ago when they updated it. The updates include aircon as standard, curtain airbags standard, alloys standard, a new grille and slightly more sliver bits on the dashboard.
The only real “new” news here is confirmation that cylinder deactivation will debut later this year, but regular readers of wheels and motor would already know this.
As for 2010, holden will launch a V6 diesel and a hybrid V8, with a hybrid 4cyl to follow. Also a turbo 4cyl is likely to become part of the range in 2010 also. Holden is very serious about making the commodore a fuel efficient range, despite what lazybones pre-conceived brand perceptions tell him
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June 17th, 2008 at 11:52 am
Thanks Richo.
Your post was more informative and far more interesting than the article. I can’t wait to see how the T4, diesel and hybrids turn out.
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June 17th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Hey Holden, how about a Diesel Hybrid? Now that would be a great move!
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June 17th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
i think an LPG hybrid would be even better Jimbo
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June 17th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
The Omega still looks pretty horrible.
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June 17th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
looks good from the side and front in my opinion, as all VE’s do, the problem for the omega is the rear, headlights are too small and up too high
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June 17th, 2008 at 4:52 pm
tailights i mean, headlights are on the front!
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June 17th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Hey fellows, this ‘MY’ stuff is crap and not relevant to the Oz market. A great marketing move by US manufacturers in the 60s that’s been belatedly picked up by antipodean motoring journos 40 years later.
The VE Omega shown is simply an upgrade that went on sale on 15 March. If there is another update later this year, what will it be MY09.5 perhaps?
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June 17th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Weird looking re-call prone car with horrible thrashy engines.
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June 17th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
Nothing new here. When the MY09 model is released, Petrol is still going to be $1.60+ and people will STILL be buying smaller, cheaper cars that use less petrol UNLESS Holden make a big change quickly! They need to update their under powered fuel guzzling V6 engines, match Toyota with a standard 6 speed auto and quickly introduce other technologies such as dedicated LPG much sooner than 2010 if they want to maintain/increase sales. By the time the next all new model is released, Petrol will probably be $2.50+ per litre and it will no longer be viable for Holden to sell an Australian made car that will probably be struggling to sell 2000 per month, let alone dwindling exports. If they don’t change now, they will die a long, slow death.
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June 17th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
lol Brett, dwindling exports.. at a time when holdens exports are at record highs and they are actually fast running out of capacity at their manufacturing plant! Oh and interesting note, on a wheels comparison both the VE omega and the BF XT falcon returned better “real world” fuel economy then the toyota aurion! whoops! lol
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June 17th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
Richo,
NO!!!! that cant be……..
the Aurion changed the game, dont you remember???
ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
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June 17th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
^I wonder what TP has to say, oh crap forget about TP, Dingo’s Coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hide from his stupidity remarks!
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June 17th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
Saw a new Omega on the road today. Looked really nice. I thought it looked a bit cheap and nasty with the old hubcaps, black door handles and black mirrors. Nice upgrade.
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June 17th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Agreed Adam, thank god they are color coding the door handles now! that really did look cheap…
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June 17th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Hey Donkey666 - Oh so buy a big V8 then drive it round on 4 cylinders, yeh make really good sense to me.
How you doing little bunnies, Oh you trees look bigger today. Toady toad says there’s some carigenic fuel deposits in the pond.
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June 17th, 2008 at 10:48 pm
It still looks like a HQ
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June 18th, 2008 at 8:03 am
@ Richo,
Whether the commodore uses less fuel than an Aurion is debatable but my point is this: is this minor update to the commodore going to be enough to stop their decreasing sales with the price of petrol this high? I seriously doubt it. Hopefully the 2010 hybrid introduction will be enough to curb the decrease in sales, but who knows how much we will be paying for petrol by then.
They should follow Hyundai and bring a Hybrid + LPG model to the market. I think that would be their best bet at increasing their sales without having to rely on steady exports to maintain viable Australian production.
Just my 2 cents
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:20 am
DOHCV8:
Great one! Looks heaps like a … oh wait.. no. No it doesn’t looks nothing like a HQ…
Freak.
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June 18th, 2008 at 9:29 am
LPG is still oil derived though. Why not get away from oil price dependency with natural gas? We’ve got stacks of it in Australia and its quite cheap and clean. Good enough for buses.
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June 18th, 2008 at 10:07 am
According to the CEO of LPGas Australia comments in yesterdays media reports, Australia has enough LPG reserves to run every vehicle in the country that currently runs on either petrol or diesel for the next 70 years. Surely LPG is a serious alternative for Australia, especially if the cost per litre can either be maintained or even reduced.
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June 18th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
HQ ha, I think it looks more like a P76 (seriously it has a number of similar design cues).
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July 10th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
Why doesn’t the VE Berlina get the curtain airbags as standard now? and when will they finally let the old 4-speed auto retire from its long term of service. Also get rid of the hideous handbrake and that interior seems a bit dull compared to the rounded and colourful features of the previous VY-VZ model. If I were ever to buy a Commodore never get the first version, always wait till the Series II or even the second major overhaul Series II. Also, Holden get that Torana made!! A 3-series rival is definately a good idea also as is alternative fuel technologies.
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July 15th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^”Why doesn’t the VE Berlina get the curtain airbags standard now?”
Are you joking right Andrew? The Berlina has Curtain Airbags standard it has always with the VE. And now the base-line Omega Commodore has Curtain airbags standard.
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August 24th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I think Holden should release a new look commodore with new engines and lighter weight all at once to provoke more sales and a new market. Also add a suv to the zeta platform for australia. Does anybody know when the medium car/ torana is supposed to be released?
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August 24th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Bill the New Look VF is expected to be released around June Next year and will most likely feature a new DI V6 a Diesel V6 and a V8 with DOD. At the same time as the VF is released Don;t be surprised if Holden bring back the AWD Crewman Ute.
At The Moment there aren’t any real plans to build a Territory like Soft Roader/Cross-Over Vehicle on the Zeta Platform. If there were any plans I think Holden would most likely import something like the Chevrolet HH-R.. which is also available as a Deliveryvan > The New Sandman!
As for the “Torana” its expected to be released in 2010-12.
it will be built on the same platform as the new Opel Insignia and will therefore be able to be built in either RWD AWD and even FWD. The Torana sedan is “locked in” as it will also be sold as the Pontiac G6 in the USA.
However; there are rumours from within Holden that a Torana COupe could also be a possibility [GTR-XU1 or A9-X]
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