Your verdict on next Commodore

What’s in a name? Plenty when it comes to rear-drive Australian automotive icons, it seems.

When Ford ceases production of the Falcon in around seven weeks (October 7), it will permanently retire the long-running Blue Oval nameplate from its model line-up. Over at Team Red, however, a very different decision has been taken.

After the last locally-produced rear-drive Commodore rolls off Holden’s production line in Adelaide in October 2017, the badge and name will be migrated to an all-new front/all-wheel drive car that elsewhere in the world is sold as the Opel Insignia.

Holden will even race the new car — albeit with reduced sponsorship support.

Who cares? Well, judging by the comments at carsales.com.au and motoring.com.au Facebook pages, plenty of you.

Such was the volume and scale of the response on a post we rolled out last week highlighting Holden’s viewpoint on the qualities of the new car, we thought it well worthwhile to reproduce some of the sentiments here. After all, not every one of our readers is fixated on certain social media channels.

In the post we posed the question: should Holden have retired the Commodore name purely out of respect? A few selected but unedited comments feature below.

motoring.com.au Facebook

Ryan Norvall
Yes they should retire the name. They are completely ruining a legacy that has been around since what 1979. Show some respect for the dying the insignia is an insult to the commodore. I mean fwd hatch that's not a commodore. Just call it what it actually is a Holden insignia, at least ford let the falcon die with dignity ????????

David Warwick
Goodbye Holden sales, post final commodore. No Holden enthusiast is going to buy that fwd, hatch replacement. It's against the spirit of what the commodore is about.

Andrew McCluskey
Yes, but I don't think they should call insignia, or Malibu either, although that's what it is, those names don't have the best wrap here. If they do, it will be purely a business decision. The name Commodore is a house hold name among car enthusiast and non-enthusiasts alike and if they keep the name they should be able to deceive at least 40% of buyers who know jack all about cars and keep sales strong. The risk would be from the backlash and bad PR of the 5% keen enthusiasts who will cry fowl (and rightfully so) claiming it's disrespectful and a disgrace to use the Commodore name. No doubt GMH board of directors will have more respect for their wallets then the name Commodore so a financial risk assessment will probably be conducted.

Nik Karamoshos
Unfortunately that's it for me. My VF SS Wagon is coming up for trade in at the end of 2017 and I will not be buying a front wheel drive rubbish car from HOLDEN to replace it. Call It what you like and sugar coat things all you can, the true HOLDEN was destroyed in this country so don't expect us to keep supporting you with the rubbish your about to dish out.

Ashley Pritchard
They can call it what they like, to me the commodore will die when the last one rolls off the production line in Elizabeth.

carsales.com.au Facebook

Kirk Murray
The decision to keep the Commodore name for this vehicle is utter stupidity. The Commodore has always been a rear wheel drive Australian built vehicle with a V8 option. The name should be consigned to history along with the car at the end of production. How hard is it to just think up a new name? Don't tarnish the Commodore's 30+ year history with this imported fwd POS that will not sell!

Scott Alchin
Well given the original commodore was an Opel sedan imported to Australia this makes sense. I only hope the fuel caps don't fall off the too.

Joel Brady
Few will buy a FWD falcodore. It's over. What Holden should have done before they carked it is slimmed the commodre down to a few models, a luxury sports and economy model and shifted HSV's focus from four door sedans to two door supercars

John Dique
I was thinking they should start making Kingswoods again, maybe with an Ecotec 3.8 litre and a low ratio 4 speed auto for pottering around town . You would get good mileage , longevity, and probably fewer high speed accidents. But of course, all the important people are in such a hurry these days, so of course they will want something with incredible aerodynamics and 2 overdrive gears. I wonder what they are all running away from?

So who has it right? Of the roughly 440 comments posted, the vast majority suggest Holden is making a mistake by retaining the Commodore name.

We’re not so sure. Car companies spend literally millions of dollars (in some cases billions) building equity in car model names – Holden, with Commodore, is no exception.

And the marketeers will not leave acceptance of the new Commodore to chance. You can expect Holden to make a song and dance of the Australianisation of the car. Perhaps -- just perhaps -- there might be powertrain options that are unique to this marketplace… And then there’s the potential of HSV wielding its wand.

Many of you might not like it now, but Holden is hoping it can change your mind… If only as an exercise in automotive brand management, the next year or so will make for interesting times…