Manufacturers Holden

Tucked away near the end of a nondescript industrial drive in Sterling Heights, Michigan, is a classic car gold mine.

Looks like Australians love their SUVs more than they love their babies.

International markets get so many cool cars that we can’t get our hands on here in North America. 

If you have done some traveling around the world, it’s likely you’ve seen the same cars abroad except with different names than what you’re used to in North America.

Although pickups are a big deal in the United States, there are still plenty of trucks that are sold in worldwide markets that have never made their way into North America.

GM could be bidding farewell to the Holden Commodore in style with a Hellcat fighter.

Car companies are pretty clever. A lot of time, research and money gets spent before a new product is created.

Every day that passes is another where Holden draws closer to shuttering its Australian factories, but the company isn’t prepared to do that without releasing a few more of the thunderous products its customers love.

Yesterday we took eight fun-to-drive performance vehicles under $30,000 and put them through their paces on the street.

After much deliberation, we chose the 2014 Ford Fiesta ST as the king of the street. Despite a somewhat harsh ride, nothing else matches the raw, hilariously fun driving experience behind the wheel.

Holden shut down its Australian manufacturing operation in 2017, but not before going out with a bang.

Despite GM’s plan to end end Australian production in 2017, tuning partner HSV will likely remain in business to create manic versions of Holden-badged products beyond that point.

Despite its decision to shutter Australian auto manufacturing in 2017, General Motors’ Holden subsidiary will continue to engineer, test and develop vehicles in the country.

General Motors’ choice to stop manufacturing Holden vehicles in Australia could have some entertaining consequences for driving enthusiasts in the U.S.

General Motors will keep its Australian marque alive after production stops in 2017.

GM and Holden’s announcement yesterday that they’ll cease their Australian operations in 2017 could put the Australian automotive industry in jeopardy.

General Motors’  Holden unit has confirmed that it will cease its Australian manufacturing operations in 2017.

General Motors might have already come to a final decision about the future of its vehicle manufacturing operation in Australia.

Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) has revealed its Gen-F model lineup, based on the VF Commodore but packing plenty more power under the hood.

Take a look at Australia’s most powerful car: a 575-hp Holden HSV GTS powered by the same supercharged V8 from the Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.

Holden, General Motors’ Australian subsidiary, unveiled another version of its new Commodore sedan that previews the upcoming Chevrolet SS performance sedan more than ever.

Holden has revealed its all-new VF Commodore, giving Americans a preview of the Chevrolet SS Sports Sedan that will be imported from Australia.

Bigger isn’t always better, although domestic automakers are pretending not to hear you when it comes to compact pickups. Why?

Toyota has announced its sales figures for the first half of 2012, and the numbers look like Toyota will be able to beat out  GM and Volkswagen in sales for 2012. In the first six months of this year the Japanese automaker sold 4.97 million vehicles.

We might have some fancy cars over here in the USA, but there are quite a few vehicles overseas that we can’t help but think are desperately missing from our shores. More than a few are niche market models perfect for auto-enthusiasts, while others are more stylish or practical than what’s currently available in the US. And some are both.

The latest rumblings from Down Under are suggesting that GM subsidiary Holden will soon announce its plan to export the V8 Commodore to the American market as the Chevrolet SS Performance sedan.

We found out recently that the 2014 Chevrolet SS Performance Sedan is likely  coming in 2014. We also speculated that this car is likely a re-release of the old Pontiac G8, which is based on the Holden Commodore (seen above)

Not long ago, we reported that General Motors was possibly looking to move Commodore production out of Australia, which would have resulted in the loss of some 12,000 jobs at Holden and affected numerous other positions in directly.

With only about three weeks until 2012, the Australian car market could end 2011 with a new best-selling sedan for the first time in 15 years. Although the Holden Commodore has been Australia’s favorite and a sales leader since 1997, Australia’s Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries revealed that the Mazda3 has currently sold 301 more units than the Holden. What’s more, the Commodore faces a threat from another Japanese sedan, the Toyota Corolla, which has managed to gain “top-seller” honors for four months out of 2011.

Between 250 and 300 engineering jobs in Australia may disappear in the next two years if Holden stops producing its Commodore at home.

In Australia, few concept cars are as revered as the Holden Hurricane, which originally debuted at the 1969 Melbourne Motor Show.

Over the last decade, this Aussie racing series has expanded beyond its island home, having staged races in China, New Zealand and the Middle-East. Now it is looking at the United States to stage a race, and it will probably be at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas. This circuit is being built especially to host Formula-One races in the coming years, and since the Australian V8 Supercars are an FIA sanctioned race series, it makes sense to race at this new circuit.

The famous Australian V8 Supercars series may be making the Trans-Pacific voyage to North America. Many world-renowned racing drivers like Dario Franchitti, Helio Castroneves, Jacques Villenueve and Sebatian Bourdais have moved to compete in the V8 racing. Furthermore, the international coverage of the series has grown immensely, prompting many international companies to invest in the series.

At least that’s what Joel Ewanick, GM’s new Chief Marketing officer says. Ewanick, who was the brains behind Hyundai’s rather successful ‘Guarantee’ program, responded to a tweet by @chevyavalanche which said “I want a new El Camino. Badly, please!”

The Holden Commodore Ute has had more false starts in the United States than Elizabeth Taylor has had marriages, but rising gas prices might give General Motors an impetus to import the Ute as a pickup alternative at a time when high gas prices are making large trucks economically unfeasible.

Easily the best thing to come out of the now-defunct Pontiac brand in recent memory was the G8 sports sedan – based on the Australian Commodore. Not only was it an impressive performance machine, but it gave North America a taste of just how good a job Holden is doing down under.

With the Chevrolet Cobalt SS being a critical (if not commercial) success, General Motors has been pushing for an SS version of their new Chevrolet Cruze small car, and the program looks like it’s a go, with much of the work being done by their Australian Holden division.

TrueCar.com released their rankings of the Top 10 Most Fuel Efficient vehicles in both the hybrid and non-hybrid category, an important distinction according to TrueCar, because “Hybrids offer great fuel economy but most don’t provide the value consumers are seeking.”

The hybrid list is predictably topped by the Toyota Prius, followed by the Lexus CT200h and Honda Insight. The non-hybrid category is led by the Hyundai Elantra, the Chevrolet Cruze Eco and the Toyota Yaris. The much lauded diesels sold by Volkswagen and Audi took 6th through 8th spots respectively.

Hit the jump to read the official press release

[Source: TrueCar]

The death of the Pontiac brand, and subsequently the G8 sports sedan, also marked the end of the rumored Pontiac G8 ST. The ST was said to be a version of the Holden Ute (above), and the spiritual successor to the famed El Camino.

Although the good Lord chose to take the Pontiac G8 from us far too early in its life, other countries can still enjoy GM’s Zeta platform superstar in all it’s Holden Commodore-based goodness.

Race car magnate Tom Walkinshaw has died at age 64 after being diagnosed with lung cancer. Walkinshaw began his career as a driver, and then established legendary firm Tom Walkinshaw Racing (TWR) in 1976, and contested European and Australian motor racing, with his team winning the Bathurst 1000 endurance race in 1985.

Our second installment of the Best In Show series profiles the cars that made SEMA what it is – sport compacts. Yes, some of these cars push the boundaries of taste, but others are fairly creative and actually enhance the looks of the stock car.

Today’s shocking bit of news comes from a Motor Trend article on the future of Cadillac. While discussing future plans for the big rear-drive Zeta platform, MT claimed that the next generation Holden Commodore would switch to the Epsilon II platform that currently underpins cars like the Chevrolet Malibu and Buick Lacrosse.

General Motors is hoping to expand their Opel nameplate beyond its traditional European markets to places like China, Australia, South America and other unspecified Asian countries.

General Motors is hoping that their Chevrolet Cruze compact car will increase sales in Europe, where Chevrolets have previously been re-branded versions of cheap Daewoos.

General Motors’ Australian Holden brand remains the choice of hooligans down under, as police in the Australian state of Victoria announced that 46% of cars impounded under their “ hoon” laws. Ford is the second most popular with 16.7% of the impound share, while Nissan is third with 7.8%.

Before Chevrolet‘s Cruze compact sedan has even launched in Canada or the United States, the automaker has already sold 340,000 units across the globe.

We recently reported on rumors that Chevrolet is planning to bring back the Caprice full-sized sedan, based on the RWD Holden Statesman. This, however, is being denied by the folks at Holden, with Emily Perry, the Australian automaker’s communications director, commenting that “We have no plans to export that vehicle as a civilian car at this stage.”