Holden Commodore: FAQs

First launched in 1978, the Commodore comprises four generations of locally-built models and a fifth that was imported after the General Motors brand ceased local manufacture in 2017.

The fifth generation, the ZB, is also the last as Holden has been closed down by GM.

Selecting the best Commodore is fraught with danger considering it has been one of Australia’s most popular vehicles, memorably selling nearly 95,000 examples in 1998 alone.

The Commodore came as a sedan, ute and wagon and spawned coupe, long wheelbase luxury, high-performance HSV and even all-wheel drive SUV derivatives during its lifespan.

Powertrains included four-cylinder (briefly), inline six and then V6 and V8. Apart from the rare AWD spin-offs, locally-made Commodores were rear-wheel drive.

Given vehicles consistently improve through the generations as technology improves, it’s hard to go past the VFII Commodore as the best of the breed.

The final VE/VF Commodore was the first to be developed from the ground-up in and for Australia, whereas the previous generations were re-engineered from Opel platforms.

The VFII was the ultimate expression of the breed and models like the SS-V Redline were inspiringly good to drive and affordable to purchase.

Bloody oath it is. The SS was based on the 2014 VF Holden Commodore, built in Adelaide and then exported to the US market.

It even became the nameplate raced by Chevrolet in the red-white-and-blue NASCAR stock car series, although the road and race car had nothing more in common than the bowtie badge.

The Chevy SS road car was actually unveiled in the USA ahead of the local roll-out of the VF and came with some key additions. It had the LS3 6.2-litre V8 engine (Commodore had a 6.0 at the time), a driver’s knee airbag, upgraded front seats and paddles on the steering wheel.

The SS was only ever sold in limited numbers and production wound up mid-2017 bringing to an end a concerted export effort to the US that included the Monaro rebadged as a reborn Pontiac GTO, the VE Commodore becoming the Pontiac G8 and the long wheelbase Caprice a police car.

Considering Holden started manufacturing cars in 1948 and proceeded to build an extraordinary number of models and derivatives, that question is almost impossible to answer.

Let’s just take the HK Holden built from January 1968 to May 1969 as an example. It came as a Belmont, Kingswood, Premier, Brougham and Monaro. As a two-door coupe, four-door sedan, wagon, ute and long-wheelbase. Playing the options game with this range produced more than two million variations!

But if you want to turn that question around to what Holdens you should be looking out for as an investment then we’re way ahead of you. Check this article out.

The start of the end for Holden was the closure of local assembly. With it went the Commodore V6 and V8 sports sedans upon which the brand’s image was built.

To add fuel to the fire, the imported Commodore was a front-/all-wheel drive Toyota Camry rival that provoked rather than satisfied Holden fans.

Sales dived as a hodge-podge of imported replacements failed to tap into the SUV boom or appeal to existing customers.

All this happened as parent General Motors was withdrawing from smaller and less lucrative markets, most notably selling off Opel to the PSA Group in 2017.

As Opel was one of Holden’s key model suppliers and Australia (and New Zealand) was a rare right-hand drive market GM was still invested in, it was no surprise questions about the future of the brand became all the more frequent.

In the end GM just concluded it was all too hard and swung the axe. It hasn’t left the country altogether, launching a new business called GM Specialty Vehicles to import and sell cool Yankee iron like the Corvette and Silverado.

If you’re hunting around new car showrooms looking for a bargain then for sure. If you want that purchase to have decent resale value in a few years then probably not.

Buying used? Do your research and have any prospective purchase inspected, just like any vehicle you might go hunting for on carsales.com.au.

And while Holden is closing, General Motors has guaranteed service and spare parts support for a minimum 10 years. So, you’re not going to be left completely high and dry.

Of course, chuck the rational stuff aside if you’re a Holden fan who has always hankered after a cool sports sedan. Now’s the time to get out there and find yourself a clean VE or VF Commodore SV6 or SS.

The Holden Calais is a luxurious version of the Holden Commodore. The nameplate first appeared as part of the VK Commodore model series launched in March 1984 and remained in the line-up right up until the final, imported model, the ZB launched in 2018.

But that rebadged Opel didn’t truly capture what Calais was all about. For that look to the final locally-assembled VFII iteration in 2015. By then the Calais was a truly capable rear-wheel drive tourer. In fact, in Calais V form, it was world class.