Holden: 10 new models in 20 months

Holden's line-up will get a long overdue freshen-up over the next two years, with almost every car in its catalogue being replaced by an all-new model -- plus there will be a couple of surprise additions to the family.

The new model renaissance started today with the Barina Spark hatch, Holden's first contender in the Sub-Light Car class. With a starting price of $12,490*, it is designed to take on the bargain basement end of the new-car market.

The Spark will be joined by a bigger, new generation Barina hatch and sedan late in the second half of next year. Both models are long overdue; the current model Barinas are 12-plus years old Daewoos under their Holden skin. But the new generation Barina sedan and hatch will truly take on the Light Car class leaders such as the Toyota Yaris, Mazda2 and Suzuki Swift.

Australia's biggest selling midsize softroader, the Holden Captiva, gains a new nose, new engines and a new interior in the first half of next year.

The Cruze small-medium sedan will get some minor updates once it switches from Korean to local production in March next year, while the locally made Cruze hatch will come on line late in 2011.

Holden has high hopes for the locally-made Cruze models, which have been partly funded by the Federal Government's Green Car Innovation Fund. Without a hatch, the Cruze sedan is already Australia's fifth best-selling car -- and even outsold the Ford Falcon last month.

Meanwhile, the Commodore won't be completely ignored; it's due to come in for some attention, getting a new LPG system some time in the next 12 months, and E85 compatibility on the 3.6 V6 models (joining the 3.0 V6 and 6.0 V8, which were upgraded to E85 in August this year).

In the first half of 2012 Holden is due to replace the Colorado pick-up range; the current model and its earlier derivatives are also now more than 12 years old. As with the current Colorado, it will be built in Thailand.

The new generation Colorado is expected to come with six airbags and stability control, which are quickly becoming the norm for the crew cab ute class, especially given that the top-line Toyota HiLux, Mitsubishi Triton and Nissan Navara already have these features -- and Ford and Mazda will follow suit with their new utes from mid 2011.

About six months after the all-new ute, the Colorado is also expected to spawn a seven-seat wagon off the same platform, in much the same way as Nissan bases the Pathfinder on the Navara pick-up and Mitsubishi's Triton spawns Challenger.

Another model long overdue for replacement, although not talked about by Holden executives, is the Epica medium-sized sedan. Like the current Barina, Holden's Camry competitor is in fact an old Daewoo in new clothes -- a 12-plus years veteran. The Carsales Network understands that, with the new model, said to be a world class mid-size car developed for GM globally, Holden will dump the Epica name.

The year 2012 could also see Holden introduce a compact softroader to sit beneath the mid-size Captiva. Holden executives would not confirm if such a vehicle was under development, but one insider said: "It'd be nice wouldn't it?"

Holden is currently not competing in the biggest softroader segment in Australia, although in the meantime it has been using sharply-priced five-seater versions of its mid-size Captiva to make some inroads in the sub $30,000 softroader price bracket. It is currently advertising the Captiva 5 for $28,990 drive-away.

But the biggest headline for Holden will come when the Chevrolet Volt petrol-electric car arrives, mid to late-2012. The Volt has just gone on sale in North America and has turned the electric car and hybrid concepts on their heads.

By using a small petrol engine as a generator to charge an onboard battery pack, the Volt has a petrol-free driving range of 64km (the Prius has 2km of petrol-free range). Once the Volt's battery runs dry you can keep running on the petrol motor for up to 400km -- or recharge the battery at work or home.

Some other new models that are not confirmed for Holden are the German-sourced Opel range of cars. In recent weeks, Nick Reilly, the boss of Opel, a GM-owned brand, has said he wants to export cars to Australia, likely as a stand-alone brand but perhaps with some help from Holden.

However, the boss of Holden Mike Devereux (pictured at AIMS) told the Carsales Network: "Yes, we are being asked to study [the viability of] Opel, but we are happy with the path we are on. We already have Holden's new model line-up mapped out."

* manufacturer's list price, not including on-road costs and dealer pre-delivery

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