Holden: New Cars 2012

By Jez Spinks | January 27th, 2012

The locally built Cruze was Holden’s big story in 2011, but this year it’s Chevrolet models that are imported – the Colorado ute, Malibu medium car and Volt electric car.

There’s also a sedan version of the Barina city car and a dedicated-LPG variant of the Commodore that Holden will be hoping can help take the fight back against the Mazda3 that last year stole its crown as Australia’s best-selling car.

BARINA SEDAN

Vehicle type: City car. Timing: Q1

A four-door variant doubles the body style choice for Holden’s latest-generation city car that launched late last year. Expect the same non-choice of trim levels as the hatchback, which comes in just one specification, as well as identical pricing – $15,990 for a manual gearbox version or $17,990 for a six-speed auto, both of which mate to a 85kW 1.6-litre four-cylinder engine.

COMMODORE DEDICATED-LPG

Vehicle type: Family car. Timing: Q1

The Holden Commodore is currently offered with ‘Flex fuel’ capability that allows owners to run it on both unleaded petrol or ethanol-blend fuel up to 85 per cent (E85). 2012 sees the introduction of another alternative fuel variant of the Commodore – the ‘Mono-LPG’ that runs on liquefied petroleum gas. Holden has yet to confirm details of the dedicated-LPG model yet, but the new offering is expected to available for both sedan and Sportwagon body styles and and mated at least to the brand’s locally built 3.6-litre V6. The LPG tank will also be integrated rather than positioned in the boot, freeing up valuable cargo space as Holden targets an LPG solution that has no compromises for consumers.

COLORADO

Vehicle type: Ute. Timing: Mid year

2011 saw a new utility entrant from Germany with the Volkswagen Amarok and new-generation versions of the Ford Ranger and Mazda BT-50 twins, but 2012 is Holden’s turn. The Colorado, which will be built in Thailand for Australian supply (and has been delayed by the floods in that country), is the latest ute to adapt to the modern “dual use” trend where dual-cab variants in particular are used for lifestyle purposes as much as work. Expect a choice of diesel and petrol engines that include a new 132kW/470Nm 2.8-litre turbo diesel and the locally built 3.0-litre V6 currently found in the Commodore. A seven-seater SUV based on the Colorado – unimaginatively called the Colorado 7 – will arrive in early 2013.

VOLT

Vehicle type: Electric/hybrid. Timing: Q4

Holden will turn on the power for its first electric car in late 2012 with a rebadged version of the Chevrolet Volt hybrid electric car. The Volt is described as a range-extender electric vehicle because it cleverly employs a small four-cylinder petrol engine to maintain a minimum state of charge once the lithium-ion battery pack has been depleted while powering the electric motor. It’s not going to be cheap, though. An anticipated circa-$60,000 price tag for a car the size of a Cruze will show why electric cars will struggle for some time to appeal to the vast majority of consumers.

MALIBU

Vehicle type: Medium car. Timing: Q4

An all-new medium car that is another rebadged Chevrolet but is desperately needed to replace the lacklustre and slow-selling Epica. It also means a switch from the relatively thirsty V6 power of the Epica to four-cylinder engines that Holden/Chevrolet parent company General Motors promise will be both “fuel efficient and powerful”. One of the engines will include a 2.5-litre with 141kW of power and 245Nm of torque.

Leigh

more averagepoor re-badged Daewoo based rubbish from GM. open your eyes people just about every other car maker has better product then Gm Australia……

Notdave

if you’re psychic enough to have an ‘expert’ opinion on cars not even launched here why don’t you just win lotto and buy a car that is not from holden.
There’s nothing more amusing than the total lack of logic from a true hater.
Thank you for the laugh

Sumpguard

So very true and the fact these clowns believe Daewoo still make cars indicates the level of IQ they posess. Here it is for those who can’t keep up!

Here it is for those who can’t keep up! Note the part about Daewoo cars being killed off in 2011. It’s now 2012 if you go check mummy’s calendar!

Daewoo was forced to sell off its automotive arm, Daewoo Motor, to General Motors in 2001. Since then, GM has been moving to rebadge Daewoo cars as models for many brands, including Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, Holden, and Suzuki. The GM Daewoo nameplate was kept only for South Korea and Vietnam until 2011.
Daewoo Commercial Vehicles Division was sold to Tata Motors of India.

Today six companies remain with the Daewoo brand name:
Daewoo Electronics (DE) – Specializing in electronicsDaewoo Engineering & Construction – Specializing in constructionDaewoo International Corporation – Specializing in trading and investmentDaewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (DSME) – Specializing in shipbuildingS&T Daewoo – Specializing in small arms manufactureTata Daewoo Commercial Vehicle – Specializing in commercial vehicles, wholly owned by Tata

Sumpguard

   I think my post was possessed too! After a 12 hour night shift I should go straight to bed instead of visiting car sites .

   Meanwhile I hope they fiddle with the tail light design on the Malibu before releasing it here. The initial teaser shots had us all thinking camaro but once revealed they didn’t look so convincing.

    I am prepared to take bets though that this car will do MUCH better than the aweful epica. Anyone?

Brendomann

Seriously Leigh , I’m guessing your one eyed car critic! Looking at the bigger picture then just your ego!
Anonymous

Same crappy factory, same cheap components, same poor reliability, same thirsty and gutless engines with a different badge and BS propaganda marketing. If it walks like a duck its a duck, and Daewoo will always will be a lame one no matter what name you try and call it.

Ertusity

same 2002 mentality. want to join us in 2012? all it would take is opening your eyes

Anonymous

If you want to blow your money on a Daewoo lemon when there are plenty of better alternatives around be my guest – always a flock of blind sheep behind you in the queue.

Anonymous

Predictable reaction.

In reality GM is a world producer. The fact that the Barina has received at the most a lukewarm recption here contrasts to its close to rave reception, as the Chevrolet Sonic in the States. Just have a look at Car & Driver or Motor Trend.

The Malibu is a world car in just the same manner as the Ford Fusion/Mondeo will be. It is not a Daewoo car – even though many of them will be made in Korea, they are being made in the USA in Detroit and Kansas City, and in Jingjiao in China.

The future is in global brands with production facilities in many countries. We just have to hope that Australia continues to be one of those countries. But if Australian made cars cannot sell in other places as well they have no future – that is why the RWD Falcon is doomed – it can’t be justified as an Australian niche product. Commodore may continue, but it will have to produce more than 50,000 to justify its continuation, and unless Middle East exports resume this won’t happen.

Ramjet

The Falcon is guaranteed until 2016 and will then share the Mustang platform as a performance 4 door RWD model while the Mondeo will be the cheaper family FWD option.The Camaro will share a platform with Cadillac soon also. Maybe the Commodore is doomed?

Alex

I hate to tell you this guys but they’re both doomed. Here’s the list of reasons why:

1) High Aussie dollar
2) Relatively high wages
3) Australia’s distance from any decent size market
4) The unions run the wharfs making it expensive to export
5) Our new carbon tax
6) Australian’s don’t even support the cars we make by buying them
7) Our Government does’t support the cars we make by buying them 300,000 odd cars produced here every year is like throwing a bottle of Mount Franklin into the Pacific Ocean
9) Our mining boom draining jobs from other sectors
I’d like to see the counter list if one could be cobbled together, things like we love big V8 rear wheel drives don’t count, same as towing a caravan etc (these things are all things of the past)

Guest

build cars australian’s want to buy… only the Cruze is reflecting current consumer trends… and that car doesn’t have the profit margins to sustain an industry as expensive as this.
Dave S

Aussie cars to stay

1) Aussies love Aussie cars (number best selling car, at least once 5 out of 10 cars in the top 10 were Australian made.
2) Australia is a clever country and needs engineering and manufacturing.
3) Australia has a unique driving enviroment.
4) Very few countries can still design, engineer and build a car from scratch.
5) The auto industry provides many jobs, direct and indirectly.
6) Our motor industry provides the basis from mush of Australia’s motorsport categories.
7) Australian manufactures are great at getting things done on a budget (see Monaro and Camaro – built and designed quickly.

Guest

Hang on, isn’t the Tosca (Epica here) a straight six?
Anyway, apart from the Dunnydoor, its more football, meat pies, kangaroos and GM-Ks.

Sydlocal

That is exactly what I thought re the Epica engine…

Henry Toussaint

Yeah, it’s an In-Line 6 with 115kw’s and a Fuel Consumption of 9.3 litre’s

schah7

No wonder GM are trying to flog the “Volt” in Aussie, cause no one wants to buy them in the USA!

Henry Toussaint

I saw a lot when i went to L.A!

Phil

Is LA cool?

Phil

Where you getting that info from? They have a waiting list for them in the USA and are selling every one they make despite the high price (though they’re not making very many).

“Trying to flog” the Volt in Aussie? Where in Aussie? How are they trying? They haven’t tried selling any here yet.

Lynchy

GM were targeting 10,000 Volts in 2011, I think they sold 8000 or so, that seems underwhelming to me but you’ve got start somewhere. Their aiming for 45,000 in 2012 and 15,000 exports. I think the most important thing for GM is being in the market and building a brand name at this stage, in ten years time EVs and Hybrids will be everywhere, pricing will be more comparable to conventional internal combustion powered cars and the technology will have moved in leaps and bounds.

Shak

Well as usual haters will yap on before knowing any solid facts. Judging on what we do know of these cars, and the very good reviews they are getting worldwide, Holden and GM deserve to do very well with them, and they probably will.
Bowtie Lover

Bring Chevy to Australia GM the Holden brand is going down the toilet.

Shak

Really? Because being the Second best selling brand doesnt seem to me like its going down the toilet. Yes sales of the Commodore are declining, but the upcoming weight reducing measures and the mono-LPG coupled with other measures should see the decline start to taper out. Holden as a whole seem to be doing very well in sales. The Cruze is going full steam, the Captiva is still selling in healthy numbers, and even the Barina which is pretty much unanimously loathed by the Aussie motoring fraternity is selling above its predecessor.

Bowtie Lover

Every Holden product is a rebadged Chevy apart from Commodore. GM it’s a global market time for a global brand in Oz.

Des

I have seen one of the new Malibu’s in the flesh (metal?) in the Middle East and had a good look over it. It looks so dated. The rear view is awful and the dash is so seventies. I don’t hate Holdens and I don’t hate Chevs but the Malibu is just not up to the modern visual standard when sat next to a Honda or a Mazda or the new Kia Optima.

Des

“Bob” just stick to one name and leave mine alone hey?

Des

My name just happens to be Des also and I work in the Middle East hence why I have already seen the Malibu and over the years have been able to see many more cars before they hit the Oz market. And the Malibu does look shite.

Dr Claw

I would like to see more Chev cars here.

I hired a Chev Camaro 2SS Soft Top in Hawaii late last year and loved every minute with it.

But thinking about it, if Chev came out here, I could imagine a US$30,000 car would be over double here, thanks to the government, import taxes, taxes on taxes, carbon tax, luxury car tax, tax on a tax cause you’re not taxed enough tax.

What a joke….and a shame.

BIGJV

The funny thing there is that the Camaro is as much australian as it is american, was fully engineered in melbourne, the americans jsut tinkered with it a bit

Bowtie Lover

Camaro sells based on its styling, which was done in the US. Don’t fool yourself over the work being done here. The next gen Camaro won’t be based on Commodore as it was deemed ‘too heavy’.

Best Carquote

Thanks! I love the method of writing tips on this website.
Steve2012

If you want a decent GM product, buy an Opel. If you want cheap & nasty you’re in the right spot.

So Daewoo is brought out and trades under a different name and automatically they don’t exist anymore? “bah bah” I hear Holden sheep grazing on Cruze’s.
Goodfa

Another year goes by and still no VF.

Holden will be giving away Commodore’s by the end of this year. In 12 short months it will go from number one seller to number four or five.

Steve2012

By the end of the year? Is it 2009 again?
Sydlocal

Don’t you mean “in 12 short months it will go from number two seller to number four or five”?

Steve2012

Think the whole point is that the product is cheap and nasty but put a Holden badge on it and it’s loved by all. I could be missing something though…

Fredfredthy

an open mind, an unbiased opinion or rational thought….

Steve2012

Spend some time with the Holden faithful and then tell me about being rational.

Karl

Many manufacturers have one-eye’d supporters.
That’s no excuse for you to instantly start Holden-bashing.
How about looking at both what they’re doing well (new LPG tech etc.) and dishing out some fair criticism where its due (Barina, Captiva etc.).

Joker

Karl I agree with you but LPG and new tech is about it…look at the rest of their line up. They’re getting the cheap and nasty (Barina, Captiva etc) designs from GM Global. Now we know Korea can build a car but it appears GM can’t even match it with Hyundai/Kia. In my opinion the Cruze is an aging design (well…old as soon as it hit floors) and.. Their whole line up (other than commodore) is faltering. Nothing is really world class. They sell but they don’t achieve much else..

Joker

I have an issue with the whole “go holden” mantra when nothing but the Commodore ever makes it close to COTY. I know i’ll probably get yelled at but if you want a holden with great fit and finish, Commodore is about the only good one there…. go Opel , not Cheap and Nasty GM Korea.
Horse

I think if holden bring out a LPG only SV6 and why not a SS , they will be onto a winner.
Dave S

There is a lot of good stuff there. Should be another good year for Holden. It will be good to see some older products being replaced – goodbye Epica, goodbye old Rodeo.
F1

Malibu as in ‘Malibu California’? Nice place, but I don’t see the connection..