HOLDEN COMMODOREWORDS Andrew Clarke IMAGES Holden Motorsport, Peter Norton, Autopics.com.au
or Holden it was important to have
a relationship between its race and
road car, so the new Commodore
will not have a V8. Instead, the perfor-
mance model features a turbocharged
V6 engine. And therein lies the reason
for Holden’s change.
Don’t underestimate the size of the step.
This is as big a change for Holden since the
six-cylinder Toranas switched to a V8 in the 1970s.
In effect, Holden is giving up 40 years of development
work and all that knowledge. They have been racing
this new engine elsewhere for a while but running in
Supercars is not always as easy as it sounds.
In marketing terms, however, it is important for
Holden to have alignment between the performance
car it sells and the car that it races.
It is also important that Holden remains in Supercars
and owns the intellectual property to the car, so without
the approval from head office the new car doesn’t go
racing.
The new racer is essentially an Opel Insignia and willThe new-generation imported Commodore represents a seismic change in Supercars as
the first Gen2-spec racer in the series complete with a non-V8 turbocharged engine. We
take a look under the skin of Holden’s new Supercar.