Holden VE Commodore Wagon spy photos
November 23, 2007 by Alborz Fallah
It didn’t take long for Car Advice readers to send through spy photos of the upcoming Holden VE Wagon. Of course, when we heard spy photos, we expected the entire car to be covered, not so.
Parked casually out the front of what can only be a Holden employee’s home, the VE (SS?) Wagon is a little less spectacular than the Sportswagon we saw at the Sydney Motor Show.
Nonetheless, the next-generation wagon should see a great deal of enthusiasm in showrooms given its good looks and unique character. But it’s not only Australians keen to get their hands on the new wagon, news from a few days ago suggests that even the Americans are interested.
Expect the new Wagon in the showrooms early next year. You can read more about the Sportswagon concept here.
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heh sorry my sense of humor is a bit strange, i was actually having a joke at how ford fans get all excited when one of their drivers leave for the other side and holden fans do the same visa versa. It’s no secret though that in recent years ford has had a larger “driver budget” then holden has as holden has prefered to pile money into the teams themselfs more then the drivers. If you actually look at the drivers who have left holden, they have all done it for the right reason:
Ingall – couldnt get along with larry and holden couldn’t find him another competitive drive
Whincup – Roland Dane was willing to pay him alot more then Tasman Motorsport where
Bright – Ford gave him a better opportunity to set up his own team then Holden could
Richards – Alot more money then Larry Perkins was willing to pay, Holden didn’t have another competitive holden drive to offer him
Bargs – Holden didn’t want him anymore (which was sad)
Lowndes – Was very bitter at Tom Walkinshaw for pulling the money out from underneath him in europe effectively ending his Formula One dream, then Uncle Tom refused to let him drive for any other holden team other then HRT, and because lowndes didn’t want to drive for the team owned by walkinshaw he left for ford
Richo,
mate we could go on for ever with the driver swapping reasons i feel,
Whincup,
holden failed to recognise his full potential but roland did.
Ingall,
couldnt get along with SBR and ford couldnt find him another competitive seat. ingall also wanted to move to QLD which meant it 99% odds had to be ford
Bright,
he went to FPR before his own team so that couldnt be a full excuse. he was also ford before HRT too. prob his most memorable/historic moment in V8’s came in a ford…….Bathurst ‘98
Richards,
once again was with ford before perkins and like brighty one his most memorable/historic moments involved winning bathurst ‘98 with brighty.
he returned to the team where he once was. also castrol played a big part in setting him up. castrol was one of those sponsors that likes to follow its driver. just like caltex appears to be following ingall
Bargs,
well i agree there. holden didnt want him……yep sad
Lowndes,
thats right, if you treat a good NO terrific driver like shite then…well… what do you expect?
I think he was also chasing the QLD lifestyle too. he loves it on his farm up here.
Bright definetly went to ford for his teams sake. Ford where willing to help his team start up by providing him with not only financial support, but also ALOT of technical support from FPR, however part of the deal was that in return he had to drive for FPR for two seasons. Brighty said when he left PWR that he wanted to start his own team and prefered it to be holden, however he couldn’t knock back the ford deal.
The rest of what you said is pretty much right, except that lowndes moved to queensland a couple of years before he left HRT, his original ford team was melbourne based, as was FPR, 888 is the only queensland based team he has ever raced for. That part of the deal never entered the equation for him as he always intended to live in queensland regardless of where his team was based. His intention was never to leave HRT, infact he has even admitted in recent times that he had actually agreed to drive for fred gibson in a holden (kmart racing) but when walkinshaw blocked the deal craig’s hands where tied and he had to go to ford, and fred gibson wasn’t about to see craig lowndes slip through his fingers so he went to ford with him! Greg murphy at the time was very upset about it because he was driving for gibson motorsport/kmart racing at the time and the move effectively left him out of a drive, however holden salvaged the kmart racing deal by merging it into HRT, hence why at the time HRT and kmart racing where refered to as the “evil empire” as people thought that HRT’s dominace would spread into kmart racing aswell, however their fears where not realised when uncle tom’s racing empire went pear shaped
sorry i screwed up in there, i said lowndes’s intention was never to leave HRT, i meant his intention was never to leave HOLDEN, ofcourse he always intended to leave HRT because he hated tom walkinshaw for what he did to him
Richo,
yep but there is no fun in flying to melbourne to go to work if cause you want to live in QLD. you cant tell me that didnt make the decision easier.
and to reiterate if you treat a terrific driver like shite then dont expect him to hang around
oh by the way missile,
russell wont have to move.
We were just discussing that ourselves……….lifestyles!
QLD for Russ with his boat out the front and great lifestyle or Melbourne! Sorry Matt……..I know your there honey but even I would live closer to the mother in law if I had to choose between QLD and VIC! argggh …….mother inlaws!!!!
Why? I thought Morris was based in Melbourne?
No QLD.
Oh really that explains the bad wine!!!!!!!!!hahahaha
i told you earlier that the only credible holden move was to morris because he was a QLD team,
hah women they never listen ha ha ha ha ha
yeah bad wine here as opposed to you guys over there who appear to have nothing but a good whine…..
ha ha ha ha
ah what do i care im not one for wine
Sorry but we do have good wine! Margaret River stuff is sold world wide!
Nice Pun!hahahahha
Your more a beer bloke…….real ladies dont drink beer……….hehehe . Im a Champagne girl anyway!Expensive tastes!
1. This is the nicest wagon holden has ever built, the structure of all pillars incorporate cleanly with the body, and its look is quite luxurious
2. All holden haterz thought the VE look like shit when the spy shots were released, but now they all think they are a great car, and some have even merged to holden
Lastly, dont under estimate the way holden is moving forward, because through its remodelling over a decade, australia can now be seen as one of the worlds competitors amongst higher classed manufacturers
The holden VE is spectacular in all its forms!
You are rude arent you Barvarian Missile
And oh yeah the new wagon looks like the best wagon ever!
Duck,
watch your words.
it may be the best looking commy wagon but i wouldnt go saying its the best wagon ever…..
thats a big call
you have obviously forgotten the euro brands have been doing sports wagons for quite a while
Yeah your right Andrew M, but it is the best Australian Wagon Ever! Better than fords anyway! Do you agree!
But it is quite good for it’s price
yes i agree it is the best looking australian wagon, BUT
it depends what you demand out of a vehicle.
the ford wagon targets a totally different market. it is practical like a wagon should be and can carry weight.
and if the mountain of gremlins/complaints with the quality of the VE sedan range are anything to go off i wouldnt be calling this the greatest wagon ever just yet.
yes it has best looking at the moment but that may be it. hell you cant even win a beauty pagent with just good looks so i dont think you can win a best car award with just looks either
There is not much space difference between the VZ-VE Wagon Right!
Andrew M, but would you call ford australian even though it came from america!
Well lets all see how she performs at the Bathurst 12 hour………..It does look good though!!!!! Somethings aren’t all about looks !
The Commodore VE Wagon has about ten centermetres less boot space than the outgoimg model VZ, thats impreive
Duck,
yes i would call ford australian.
over the years they have actually developed and manufactured more here than holden. so if holden is australian than ford is easily too.
do you call holden australian because they are actually part of GM?
if you are ruling out ford as australin then you are also holden is winning a 1 horse race. if you regard them as the only aust. manufacturer then id be a bit worried if you said it wasnt the best Aust. wagon.
but that is not the case, i just see your reasoning as a bit odd
we can be both called american or australian then!!!!!!
Most people consider things that are made in or come from Australia to be Australian or Australian Made [funny that]
I mean you may have parents from Russia; Greece; South Africa; Denmark; Canada or whereever but if you were born here you are most likely going to be called an Australian
Therefore even though both Ford and Holden have foreign parents because they make cars here they are considered to be Australian – at least by the majority of people on this site.
Given that the build quality and the fit/finish of both the Falcon and Commodore exceeds anything from their parents homeland we should be proud to call them Australian
But I guess the tall poppy syndrome rears it’s ugly head and you get those who think just because its Australian it can’t be any good.
To those people I say just look at the other quality products we export such as wine; wool; etc.. which proves we must make top quality stuff because it seems that the world obviously can’t get enough of it.
Australia makes alot of quality things!
I buy Aussie made wherever possible. Depending on the product, I’d still buy Aussie even if the quality was a notch lower than the alternative.
^But, try to tell Paul that!
Ford is Ford full stop. More australians believe Holden is home grown because the name was and is unique, General Motors or GM thought when Holden evolved GM didn’t believe in telling or advertising to everyone their motorcar’s essentially have a another secoundary badge that was from the USA, so Holden Australia had a head start in our local market, we become naive of this as our daddy’s said Holden is the greatest car ever built = engraving (****crap I’m guilty, 20 years ago it took me awhile or even anyone truthfully telling me what GM badge stood for or where it originaly came from..
Holden Australia does it still with the daewoo sourced variants following suit with the companys lying history “ADVERTISING IS SO POWERFUL YOU BECOME NUMB” cheat on any car purchase with no research and you will end up cheated on..
holden 08 will be strong with the team changes. most teams using hrt engines. how good does the wagon look me. oh shit ur posting on a holden page
Id rather own the wagon ss than the sedan!
Well i just ordered my Calais-V V8 Sportwagon, hope this works out, i dont like buying cars i have not driven. aspecially not at $70K
^^^^What options did you get?
I got FE2 & LSD, Full Alloy spare, Tint, Steel Cargo Barrier Extended Warrenty 36Months 100,00Km, and Sunroof, but there is no factory sunroof, it is a hollandia, but thats OK i have one in my current Calais, and the advantage with the hollandia is i get to keep the sunglass holder. They also gave me Mats and Paint, Leather & Vinyl Guard protection. Still waiting for a firm delivery date, they say June. same specs generated prices ranging from $65K to $70K, some dealers realised that keeping the cost of the base car below $57,123 saved $2000 in tax.
^Nice stuff mate!
Does that mean no more 7 seat wagon?
I Guess not.
No room for the Catholic Pack.
in fact i am making it clear there is no room for the German Shepherd, too much hair. Thats why we have the VY International. But the wife now says if i have a wagon, she gets a Monaro.
:( not if i have to pay for it!
Just another peice of shit for me to work on while all of these idiots on here wank off over the pics
Bear are you SHAKER? Because SHAKER does the same thing and goes onto other posts and stirs up s#$*t!
Duck, Who is “Shaker”. Just telling it as i see it.Most cars on here are just that , a piece of shit but everyone goes on how that the vehicle is just the best thing that has been built. I work on new vehicles all day at a local dealership and once you start to work on them it shows how nasty some of them have been designed and built
Yes Bear alot of new cars are like that!
i KNOW THAT MY SELF!
The new wagon will sell more than the sedan commodore version I reckon! Does anybody else agree?
Duck, dunno about that. But I do reckon it will be the most popular wagon by percentage of build that we’ve seen for a long time.
Well Holden have added the final page ( Accessories ), to the Sportwagon micro site.
There is no more marketing to be done now, they just need to start building and delivering the cars.
I believe that production of the Sportwagon is expected to start sometime in june [within the next couple of weeks] They will create a stockpile of them inorder to meet the initial high demand.. before sending demo models out to dealerships just as they did with the VE sedan
And yes BM you can get a V8 Calais-V Portwagon with 6 Speed Manual
Wheelnut,
want to tell me how, i have asked for Manual on my last two Calais’s and they say Sorry no way, you cannot even get a Senator in a manual anymore, so the dealers have told me.
A Friend from SA called me tonight to tell me that the VE Sportwagon had joined the line and was now in full production, so I guess they should start arriving at dealers for test drives in the next few weeks.
As one sales rep put it, the loyal customers will have to wait till all the dealers have cars to show.
I would have thought as a loyal customer willing to part with over $65K that we would come first, but I guess I was wrong i am not told Aug/Sep.
It is said that there are 20-30 going down the line a day, but as of yet, none are for customers, but that a July delivery date is slim but possible.