VF Commodore: Tailored to retail buyers

Holden says its new VF Commodore is better tailored to its customers than any model before it. Indeed, in an ironic turn of circumstances, it says the move of many family car and fleet buyers to alternative types of vehicles has allowed Holden's designers and engineers to focus the VF on buyers looking for a premium sedan experience.

GM Holden's Design Director Andrew Smith led the charge at the VF's media preview on Friday.

"Today's market is very different than when we were planning the vehicle [VE] or launching it... The other thing that's really changed in the past few years is what a family car is and what people choose to buy, the types of vehicles they look at...

"There's been lots of fragmentation of the market. That might sound like a bad thing – that a traditional rear wheel drive car is no longer a jack of all trades -- but from a designer's perspective it's an advantage."

"What it really means is we can focus on the type of car that we want to develop and [tailor it] to the people who want the car, who have always wanted the car."

Holden boss Mike Devereux agrees.

"We're certainly realistic about the fragmentation of not just this market but all auto markets... The large car isn’t designed to do the same job [now, as] it did ten years ago.

"So what we are able to do, I think, is bring a level of refinement and sophistication to Commodore – and technology – that, when you're trying to be all things to all people and have such huge, broad appeal [you are not able to]..."Mr Devereux told motoring.com.au.

"We know how many people want this kind of car and we're tailoring it exactly to those people," he said.

But the Holden Chairman and CEO is not writing off fleets.

I think you'll see more balance in fleets... The [fleet] market is different... whether it's user chooser, whether it's government, whether it's private... It's all changed - so don't fight that, embrace that."

Actual sales of the VF are still some months away. Mr Devereux says the VE run-out will proceed as planned – despite the early launch of VF.

"This timing of launch is driven by the desire to take advantage of the Daytona 500 and the Chevy SS launch -- announcing our export program. It's a few months earlier than we normally would show a car but there's a lot of life in the old girl, the VE. There's some great value deals on that car as we run out the Z Series."

He says Holden has not written off the period until VF variants go on sale mid-year.

"Not at all... We have reasonable sales targets for each of those product lines [being replaced in 2013] including the VE. In the last year of a seven year model run you're playing a value story, a value game. We've added a lot of content in the Z spec [variants of the VE] and it's still hitting our internal sales targets," he stated.

See the full Commodore VF gallery at motoring.com.

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