VE under the skin: easier to build, but where's our split-fold?

"Ask anyone on the factory floor and they'll tell you the new Commodore is much easier to build than the last one," says Holden's Director of Engineering, Tony Hyde.

A big contributor is the VE's walk-in front-end. A first for both Holden and General Motors, the configuration literally allows assembly operators to walk into the car's engine bay and gain easy access during the build of the car. This speeds up construction and solves around 30 assembly-related ergonomic issues in one fell swoop. It echoes the best practices of key European brands.

This walk-in configuration is made possible thanks to the VE's ground-up design. In contrast to the VE, the VT-VZ chassis relied on a bonded firewall/dash/instrument panel module for a portion of its front-end rigidity. A by-product of building the VT from a widened Opel body design, the unit complicated the build process and (down the track) durability and major crash repairs. It was the first element race teams removed and re-welded when building V8 Supercars such was its effect on the body's structural integrity.

The new walk-in design also sees the use for the first time ever on a GM vehicle of a front end module. Produced in-house at the Elizabeth plant, the plastic-over-metal module houses multiple components including the headlamps, horns, the aluminium front bumper beam, and the airbag sensors, and supports for cooling system ancillaries.

An obvious example of how this new approach contributes to efficiency and thus quality is that it allows precise setting of the headlights, which is done even before the module is bolted into the car. When mated to the car the lamps fit flush, eliminating the need for seals.

Because the whole front end is now so easy to remove, low speed crash repair costs will be significantly reduced, Holden claims.

As noted above the new Commodore doesn't ‘link' instrument panel and firewall. Behind the instrument panel of the VE lies some impressive new technology, which also makes a significant contribution to quality, vehicle rigidity and safety (especially in side impacts). The key component is a cross-car beam -- a thick precision-manufactured tubular section which links the A-pillars and forms the underlying structure for the dashboard.

It is no Holden invention but the engineers insists theirs is straighter and better designed than anything they have seen in rival vehicles. Reduced squeaks, superior steering column stiffness, and a closer fit between instrument panel and doortrim are other benefits.

The design of the rear portion of the car is, however, arguably less advanced. In an era when many expect a split-fold rear seat, Holden does not provide one, insisting that research shows this is not a high priority with their customers.

At the VT launch (spring 1997) the argument was vehicle rigidity but now, Tony Stolfo, design director, concedes the issues are cost and mass. (The rigidity argument must have lost credibility when Mercedes-Benz and BMW began to offer this feature as an option on their E-Class and 5 Series models, whoops!)

The claim is that the VE's larger boot combines with a wide ski-port to satisfy most people, but you certainly cannot fit, for example, an adult-sized pushbike into the available space without removing both wheels. Certainly the ski port allows the carriage of long skinny objects but it places great constraints on the total versatility of the VE and will send some consumers, perhaps reluctantly, towards a Falcon.

On the positive side, the new boot hinging arrangement is via a four-bar folding hinge rather than the old gooseneck appendage. This, says, Tony Hyde, looks after his golf clubs better.

It also makes a contribution to the improvement in boot capacity by about 30 litres to 496.