Who's fuelling whom?

Words -- Otto Insider

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If you believed the papers, Holden's slip in not fronting the VE Series cars reveal complete with fuel consumption figures was designed to hide the horrific news that these behemoths of modern motoring were destined to slurp vast quantities of our ever-decreasing oil reserves.

But far from driving the nation to drink, the results were spectacularly unspectacular.

With some finessing of their bigger, safer, more advanced cars, the figures were pretty well line-ball with the old car, allowing for the fact that the standard ADR test is no measure of real world driving, but a lab test designed to keep the statisticians happy. Anyone who has driven an Aussie big-six in the city knows the official figures border on fanciful.

And as the furore over the fuel figures has calmed, so too has the petrol price panic. Though still volatile, in our minds we're making peace with Aussie-spec 91 Octane dishwater at $1.20 per litre. We've worked out the actual increase in expenditure is equal to a couple of lattés a week in most cases.

The degree of price volatility, rather than the actual price, is perhaps something worth investigating another day. Linking the highs and lows to the global price (through our notorious price parity system) is often blamed for the movements, but on a week by week basis over a long period, you might get to thinking there are other more base forces at work -- what some may call manipulating profitability, and others ‘gouging'.

But back to the Holden VE series cars, including the long-wheelbase Statesman and Caprice… Now while Ford ponders the future of its (pretty much domestic market only) long-wheelbase cars, Holden has its vast export markets primed to receive copious quantities of LWB cars ensuring stretched Holdens will be with us for a long while.

And both the Commodore family cars and the LWB models have shown a remarkable level of local buyer support for the 270kW V8 engine range. Indeed, the initial buyer acceptance goes well beyond regular (even Holden's) expectation, especially considering the aforementioned petrol price issues and V6 engine consumption figures. (BTW: oddly there are no fuel consumption figures for the VE Series cars on the holden.com.au website, not even in the Technical Specs section.)

Of course, V8s will be thirstier, thanks to added capacity and more cylinders, but Holden has pretty well tuned its engines for a balance of power and parsimony. And from the customer perspective, it seems there's still ain't no substitute for cubic inches with Holden's V8 grunters currently accounting for darn near 25 per cent of all of the new generation cars produced for the domestic market to date.

This is a massive figure! Traditionally you'd expect a new Aussie car to have a rich first mix. That's where the cashed-up buyers wade in first, eager to be first in the company, street, or postcode with the new car, and as flashy as possible (Calais V and SS V would fill this bill well).

Wealthier buyers get their orders in early, less concerned with the ultimate invoice price than they are with garnering the most admiration for the new motor from their mates and neighbours. Passing the driveway test is important.

But even allowing for this there has been a bigger surge than expected behind the 6.0-litre V8s.

Assisting the cause has been HSV. Celebrating 20 years on the job, to the end of November (December figures are still not available) the Clayton Holden speed machine has delivered up two successive record months of output to customers, with the new generation cars covering off a full third of their annual production allocation in this time period

This suggests the future is very bright for fans of Hot Holdens, especially those down the food chain who surge in for seconds, 18 -- 24 months down the line as the cars are passed on.

The red lion hasn't had all the action either with Ford Performance Vehicles believed to have posted strong results for the third quarter and motoring well in the fourth.

Ford and Holden aren't the sole purveyors of V8s though, with Audi adding V8 engines to more of its cars (currently available in S4, RS4, S6 and A8/S8 guise), while BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Jaguar, Aston Martin, Chrysler and Jeep are as active as ever, and even Volvo has climbed into the V8 market.

Volvo's first-ever V8 powers not only the XC90 but the soon to come S80 limo-length executive cruiser, and Lexus has revealed plans to shoe-horn a V8 into the IS in the near future. Meanwhile BMW has doubled sales of its V8 and V10 6 Series cars this year so far, and websites (including this one) continue to proclaim the coming of the V8 M3 Messiah.

The whole market isn't of course turning to V8 power. Some of us seem to have a sense of propriety, that's why light car sales are booming, small cars remain extraordinarily high, and compact SUVs are the only SUV segment showing growth.

That said, with increasingly efficient and intelligent fuel system management, you can have an engine that's abstemious round town at low revs, but able to come out and play when you sink the slipper.

That's probably why in addition to booming V8 sales, hot six-cylinder cars from the locals are seen as playing a key role into the future. Exhibits A and B would be the FPV F6 Typhoon and Tornado ute, while in the 'other' red corner Toyota has revealed in the past month a car that could finally give chase to the hot big six market.

Though touted as a development car, the TRD Aurion, as a lot more than a hurried up six-pot Camry has a future in Australia. It looks like it has a fearsome bent eight lurking, but the Altona-built V6 delivers a suitably muscular 230kW in prototype guise (though actual production figures could go up or down).

While dressed to thrill the concept does apparently come with a gasp-worthy projected ticket price in excess of $70,000.

Before you choke on the cornflakes, remember this hot to trot Toyota would be a niche car, aimed at a small dedicated market of brand loyalists. And with a lead in the local market in excess of 60,000 vehicles in 2006, and dominating so much of the Australian market, why shouldn't Toyota push the boat out?

It's all about brand stretch, and Toyota has a history of successful brand stretch that would equal or exceed anyone else in the industry. But it doesn't take uncalculated gambles. And it does not like to be wrong. There won't be a second Avalon style stuff-up... errr... learning experience.

So if it comes, expect the TRD Aurion to be here for a while. HSV/FPV performance, looks and driving excitement with Toyota quality? I'd like to see that...