The billion dollar car

One billion dollars. It rolls off the tongue easily enough but off a balance sheet... That's a different matter.

One billion is the development pricetag of the new Holden Commodore VE range unveiled today in Melbourne. And it's a dollar amount that makes the General's new large car singularly the most expensive and largest automotive project in Australia's history.

The number is staggering, and a backdrop of record fuel prices, and a moribund local large car marketplace, must have Holden and General Motors execs worldwide holding their breath.

Or at least it would if Australia was the sole market for the VE and its long-wheelbase WM derivative.

The cost and complexity of the VE/WM program is a measure of the importance of this new car range to GM worldwide. At this morning's launch Holden boss Denny Mooney (pictured) stressed that the VE isn't just another Commodore.

"[This is] the car that moves us from really being Australia's own car company to a new role of designing rear-wheel drive vehicles for General Motors [worldwide]."

In development for almost a decade, the VE range has already completed 3.4 million kilometres in testing according to Holden. Alongside the $1 billion investment directly on the VE, Holden claims to have invested more than $6.1 billion in Australian in the same period: The equivalent of three of Melbourne's CityLink or four stretches of Sydney's M7 Motorway, Mooney quipped.

Unlike any previous new Holden launch, the world stage featured heavily in Mooney's address. The theme that the new VE is designed as a world car was prominent. Holden has effectively 'future proofed' the car taking into account all international crash and safety standards.

The chassis of the car has been developed so it can accommodate all current (and we'd presume medium-term future) passive and active safety systems.

Benchmarked against the best Europeans, the new car has also seen a significant upgrade in 'hidden' technology of quality -- the way body sections are stamped and welded together. At this morning's reveal Holden execs were talking openly about best-of-industry aims regards panel gaps and the un-sexy stuff like door seals and boot hinges.

The full extent of the changes to the engineering of the car will become apparent as the information is released over Holden's staged press briefings over the next two weeks.

In the meantime Holden is upbeat about the car's potential to recharge the large car market locally and its export potential to existing markets -- especially the Middle East. Local cars will be in dealers' showrooms by the middle of August. Left-hand drive cars are already in pre-production alongside the cars for local consumers.

New export markets were not the subject of Mooney's address but CarPoint can confirm from Holden sources that the VE range -- or at least selected models -- will be sold in Brazil, Argentina and the UK.

The VE has not only changed the face of Holden... It has the potential to change the face and the place of the Australian car industry on a global scale.

Keep an eye on

And don’t forget the August issue of Wheels (on sale July 26) which features the full and exclusive behind-the-scenes story on the development of the VE Commodore.