Diesel Commodore On The Way

Aussie carmaker looking to add diesel and hybrid to Commodore line-up

By Oli S / Tuesday, 20 May 2008 / Loading comments

Oil be back

The Holden Commodore, which spawned the meaty Vauxhall VXR8, is a real man’s car. The kind of car you can herd cattle in and has a mullet stain on the headrest.

It is not the kind of car you would expect to have a hybrid or diesel motor under the bonnet – until now.

According to reports General Motors group vice president Nick Reilly was recently in Melbourne, Australia, for Holden’s quarterly strategy meeting and revealed that petrol may soon not be the only fuel in the company’s range.

Interestingly a hybrid is the first thing the carmaker would look at in ‘the next couple of years’, adding that the Commodore 'could be one of the first hybrids you could see [in Australia from GM]. I would put a time frame on that of probably a couple of years,' according to Drive.com.

He said the company would then look at bring out an oil burner: ‘We don’t don’t yet have a diesel Commodore but that will come.’

Another shock for the Aussie Commodore fan was that the company may even look at a puny four-cylinder engine to join the fold, which could be a 2.0-litre turbo.

What next – a diesel VXR8? Who knows…