Weight savings

[J-Rod]

Maybe this has been asked before, but I didn't see it right off, so I thought I would ask. Forgive me if this has already been covered.

One of the things that strikes me about the Holden, and specifically here in the U.S. is the weight of the vehicle. In looking at the vehicle, I can't for the life of me see where the 500 extra lbs is hiding.

I have been told that the dash area, and the firewall are quite heavey based upon the design criteria of the vehicle, and based upon some procedure in which the vehicle is basically glued together at the cowl area (making LHD or RHD quite easy to swap to). Anyhow it has been explained to me (right or wrong) that this adds considerable weight to the vehicle.

Is there any way to get the platform down to ~3200-3300lbs?

Just curious.

Thanks.

[Holden]

J-Rod - nice to see your interest from the States. Weight in a car is always a consideration and there are trade-offs to install extra safety, technology and features. Having said that, Holden cars are competitive or lighter than their comparable vehicles in this market. Not sure about your 'extra 500 pounds' ... your target weight of 3200-3300 lb is Carrera/Evo size and spec using two examples. The US-spec Volkswagen R32 is 3400 lbs according to Motor Trend magazine. Everyone is trying to make cars lighter while balancing the expectations for more and more features packed into the bodyshell. Hope this helps.

[J-Rod]

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess let me preface it by expalining my point of view. The Holden is a pretty heavy car compared to many U.S. cars in this market space. Not all, but let me give you a perspective over here.

We don't pay much attention to the VW over here. The EVO is strictly for the "ricer" crowd with all the wing and F&F tack ons.

The Holden was borught in to the U.S. to be the GTO. Right now, this is the only car that the owners of the F-Body platform can move to. A Camaro was around 3300-3400lbs. In fact minimum class weight for these cars stock is set around 3350-3400 with driver in many of the class racers here in the U.S. My own Z06 (which is obviously not a fair example) is 3250 with me in the car. One of my car which I have always felt was a big heavy pig (and now I don't feel so bad on) is my 1987 Buick Grandnational. This car was a dealer demo car with T-Tops and power seats. it was about as heavy as car as you were going to find. It weighed 3674. Lighter wheels and removal of weight from the factory steel bumpers dropped a ton out of the car. But I haven't had time to weigh it since that was all done.


Anyhow, my point is that in that market segment the weight seesm high. By comparison the F-Body had a huge rear greenhouse. That glass is heavy. The car is about the same size, just a lot less weight. When you put an F-Body or say a current FWD Buick GS, or some Gm platform of similar size the Holden just seems to be carrying about 500 extra lbs.

Since this paltform is used over here now, I figured I'd ask you guys if there were plan to lighten the car up some. Also, since we have a lot more access to you than perhaps we do with the PMD guys her ein the states can you let them know that the GTO front end is an abomination. Bigggest complaint of the entire car is it makes it look like a Grand Prix. Now one wants a Grand Prix. The car I think would seell much better if they had just shipped it with either the Monaro front end, or use the Saudi/UAE spec front end. Either one is much better than the front end in place now.

Anyhow, thanks for the replies.