The Holden Commodore That Never Was! The secret car, cab chassis and Subaru Outback-style SUV were several years ahead of their time, which may have turned Holden upside down and rewritten his future.
Holden never released an improved version of the original V-car Commodore, but he came very close to it. (Image credit: William Vicente)
A newly discovered photo showed never-before-seen Holden models that, had they been put into production in the early 1980s rather than thrown away, could have changed the course of GMH history and even changed the Australian family car.
Lurking in the background of a full-size clay proposal for a 1981 VH Commodore that was also ultimately rejected, they include drawings of a Commodore utility and a one-color tray behind the model, as well as a version of a raised crossover hanging on another wall.
The body and cab tray is clearly based on the first generation Commodore V-car sedan and wagon (VB/VC/VH/VK/VL from 1978 to 1988) and even carry a "V-Truck" as a gift. title as evidence.
Pictures taken at GMH's design studio in Fisherman's Bend around late 1979 or early 1980, when the VB Commodore was still selling out, show that Holden planned to release commercial versions of the Commodore around the mid-1980s (the VK Commodore era).
This clay proposal for the VH Commodore was apparently rejected. (Image: Holden)
These were most likely replacements for the WB Kingswood based cars and vans that were biding their time at the time, but in fact they were apparently based on the 1971 Kingswood HQ, so they were already aged by the time this photo was taken. almost ten years.
Unfortunately, the V-Truck and Tray never arrived, and Holden continued to suffer a catastrophic drop in sales from the Ford Falcon lineup, including the more recent XD-XF Falcon ute and van, for which the outdated WB lineup was too old. challenge properly—until GMH finally faced bankruptcy and, in December 1986, American parent company General Motors was forced to bail it out.
These Easter eggs suggest that commercial variants of the Commodore were planned for the mid-80s. (Image: Holden)
Reorganized and rid of unsustainable debts after a financial bailout, Holden did not repeat the same mistake twice, launching the VG Commodore ute in 1990, two years after the introduction of the second generation VN Commodore, playing a key role in rejuvenating the company in the 1990s.
Based on the VN station wagon (using its coil-spring rear end - Australia's first non-leaf spring car in the rear), the VG ute was launched on a whim for just $10 million (about $20 million in 2021 dollars) - a paltry sum, on which today can hardly be bought redesigned taillights.
Sign it: The first production Commodore ute didn't come until 1990 with the VG. (Image: Holden)
Whether or not Holden blew away the ute rendering for the VG is unknown, but the tray pattern bears a marked resemblance to the third-generation Commodore-based ute, a one-color cab-and-chassis tray VY released in 2003—more than 20 years after the V-Truck sketches were born.
The first production single-ton aircraft Commodore appeared only in 2003 with the VY. (Image: Holden)
20+ years before Adventra
Meanwhile, Holden's other first-generation Commodore-based offering, the Commodore Wagon crossover, is even more surprising given how much it was ahead of the market in '79/80.
The 4WD off-road capability, chunky wheels/tires, bulging arches, Land Rover Discovery style high roof and skylights are evident from the rendering, suggesting that this was a Commodore 4WD wagon some 15 years before the original Subaru. Outback 1996 years and more than 20 years before the release of Holden's own crossover VY Adventra in XNUMX.
The real Holden Adventra did not appear until 2003 (VZ model shown). (Image: Holden)
Was this the inspiration for Adventra? While the latter failed in the marketplace compared to the more ambitious Ford Territory launched a few months later in 2004 (as Australia's only ever SUV), things could have been different if Holden had found the resources (and courage) to come out. to a new level. in the early to mid 1980s with this.
SUVs were nothing special at the time, and the only comparable passenger car-based crossover was the American Motors Concord 4WD and, to a lesser extent, the smaller Subaru Leone 4WD station wagon. Both were actively sold.
Whether this Holden crossover concept was based on the Commodore V-car station wagon or the related V-Truck from a single low resolution image is hard to tell, as it most closely resembles a larger version of the Matra Simca Rancho. — although it was a ute-based, front-wheel-drive three-door proto-SUV produced in France from 1977 to 1984.
Was Holden inspired by Matra Simca Rancho? (Image: archives)
As a new part of Holden's long-lost history, it's a bittersweet thing to behold this newly discovered photograph. As production models, the potential for rendering to prevent a drastic drop in market share and push GMH into fertile new markets a few decades ago is clear in hindsight given the 20/20 ratio, especially as SUVs will account for more than 50 percent of the total. sales in Australia in 2021. and pickups nearly 25 percent.
More importantly, they prove that Holden had the foresight and will to accurately predict where Australian new car buyers would move in the future.
As for the car in the foreground - what do we do with the failed VH Commodore bid?
The six-window profile was delayed until the September 1981 launch of the actual production VH sedan, but retained for its early 1984 VK successor.
We think GMH did the right thing in turning down the offer because the seemingly ported headlights of the VB/VC are even less modified than the VH's more sloping and sleeker front end, the latter being accused of being too "same" for Australian oversized headlights. car buyers were trading in their earlier Commodores, exacerbating VH's sales problems. In addition, the narrow grille sits awkwardly and is unnecessarily fussy in our eyes.
However, the bumpers appear to be plastic copies of the steel pieces they replaced, which would visually resemble the XD Falcon at the time, so it's understandable why Holden's designers experimented with this.
Back to the paintings on the wall… what do you think? Do you think Holden should have designed and built the VH-VK-VL era Commodore ute and the Adventra-style crossover?
