Holden ZB Commodore takes a leaf out of Ford’s book

GM Holden’s first imported Commodore will officially be called the ZB-series – the same model code Ford gave to one of its first homegrown Fairlanes.

That’s right, when it arrives in Holden showrooms next February, the ZB Commodore will share its model code with Ford’s 1968 ZB Fairlane, which was based on the XT Falcon.

Its predecessor was the 1967 ZA Fairlane – created from Ford’s first all-Australian Falcon, the XR – and it followed a series of long-wheelbase Ford luxury sedans based on US-designed Falcons dating back to 1960.

No doubt Holden hopes its all-new ZB Commodore doesn’t suffer the same fate as Ford’s long-dead Fairlane.

Despite outselling Holden’s direct competitor, the Statesman, for many years and taking its name from Henry Ford’s estate house (‘Fair Lane’), Ford axed the Fairlane in 1970 in North America and in 2007 in Australia due to slow sales.

However, Ford’s early Fairlane didn’t inspire the 2018 Commodore’s code name and nor is it a nod to the current VFII model’s homegrown Zeta platform or Holden’s original VB Commodore of 1978.

Instead, it lifts its ZB model code – which emerged in an official Australian Design Rule certification approval document this week -- directly from its twin, Germany’s second-generation Opel Insignia ‘B’, which is known internally as the Z-B.

Until now, Holden has referred to it publicly as the ‘NG’ (for Next Generation) Commodore, and internally as the E2 – a reference to the platform on which it’s based.

E2 replaces the Epsilon II platform that underpinned the outgoing Opel Insignia, which continues to be available here as the Holden Insignia VXR, and the previous Malibu, which Holden axed from its showrooms last year.

Holden’s next Commodore is effectively a rebadged version of the MkII Opel/Vauxhall Insignia, which is also sold in the US as the Buick Regal Sportback and in China as the Buick Regal GS.

It will be sold in Australia and New Zealand from next year as a replacement for the last locally-made Commodore, which ceases production at Holden’s Elizabeth plant in Adelaide on October 20 but will continue alongside the imported model while stocks last.

Now undergoing final validation testing Down Under, Holden’s German-made Commodore will be available in liftback (‘sedan’), wagon (‘Sportwagon’) and crossover (‘Tourer’) forms, just like Opel’s respective Insignia Grand Sport, Grand Tourer and Country Tourer in Europe.

For the first time, entry-level Commodore variants will be front-wheel drive and powered by 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged petrol and diesel engines.

At the top of the range, Holden’s current V8 Commodore SS sedan (there will be no ute) will effectively be replaced by a VXR-badged liftback powered by a 235kW/381Nm 3.6-litre V6.

That means it will be much less powerful than the outgoing, 304kW/570Nm 6.2-litre V8-powered, rear-wheel drive Commodore, but the 2018 Commodore VXR will be lighter, more efficient and fitted with more advanced technologies.

These include all-wheel drive with torque vectoring control, a nine-speed automatic transmission, continuous damping control and three switchable driver modes.

The new Commodore flagship will also come with heated/ventilated leather seats, automated emergency braking, a 360-degree camera, adaptive cruise control, lane departure warning, lane keep assist, forward collision alert, rear cross traffic alert, head-up display, 20-inch alloy wheels, LED headlights and VXR bodykit.