Direct-injection Holden already in Australia?

Late last week we brought you reports that Holden was considering installing the direct-injection V6 into the upgraded Commodore due later this year (more here). There has since been a further development to this story with a Statesman-based development mule spotted by the Carsales Network in Melbourne this week.

Sporting Buick badges the long-wheelbase Park Avenue looked like a standard left-hand drive Chinese export model; but it didn't sound normal. Instead, the note from under the bonnet had a very different sound to the current 3.6-litre V6. All the hallmarks of a direct-injection V6 were present -- a burble and growl not associated with the current port-injected engine.

Naturally Holden wasn't giving anything way when contacted but did admit that several prototypes are running around both the proving grounds at Lang Lang and suburban Melbourne.

The Buick development model was most likely fitted with a version of the direct-injection V6 from the Cadillac CTS. It is considered the most likely candidate to replace the current V6 found in the Commodore and its export/CKD models including the Park Avenue, Pontiac G8, Chevrolet Lumina and Daewoo Veritas.

The High-Feature V6 from the CTS produces 225kW compared to the 195kW of regular V6, while still returning better economy. General Motors also has a 3.0-litre V6 with direct-injection technology which makes similar power to the current engine but with significantly better economy as well as being E85 capable.

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