Monaro's Future - From Moody

[CraigH]

An Excerpt from This weeks mellors interviews with Holden.


"So what is going on?
Monaro has a future, but not necessarily on the
VE Commodore platform.
Holden offi cials are saying that the Monaro –
and the Pontiac GTO – built on a VZ Commodore
platform will continue.
Holden executive director of engineering, Tony
Hyde, said that Monaro had a fi nite life but the
current shell would continue for Pontiac for as
long as Pontiac could justify a business case for
it.
He said Monaro would continue to be made
after the VE architecture was launched as a sedan
and wagon next year because it took a time-line of
about six years to engineer and introduce all the
variants on the Commodore architecture.
When the VT was launched in 1997, it was a
sedan and a wagon. In 1999, the long-wheelbase
models were added, followed by the Ute in 2000,
the Monaro in 2001 and later the crew-cab,
chassis-cab and Adventra 4WD.
This means that Holden will make both the
VE Commodore wagon and sedan alongside the
remaining VZ models.
“We have no choice but to do this on a rolling
process. Whatever models still make business
sense at that time will be included in the rolling
process,” Mr Hyde said"


Looks like an LS2 Monaro in 2006 could be available if it sits beside the VE's for an extended period.

Regards

[mmciau]

That's consistent with past practices - the VN-VS Ute continued long into the era of the VT + Models (Sedans and Waggons).

The intro of the VE will be wholly on the basic Holdens - Sedans and Waggons in the first years so the VT-VZ styled Utes and Monaro will be treated in the same way.

Mike

[bigdongers]

would be interesting to see how much longer the Monaro will continue to be built side by side with the VE. What I really want to know is what other revisions they could make to it to keep it fresh. They cant really change the shape.

[MNR-0]

What a crock of sh_t. They designed the VE with a coupe in mind - interchangable parts, moulds etc.. They did this to avoid the expensive costs of modifying an existing platform post design and were always planning for a drop-top Monaro. There is technically no reason why they can't release one alongside the sedan and wagon.

Seems someone has miffed the public yet again. Dare I say the true reason come from the States and not within OZ.

[Marco]

They might have designed the VE with a coupe in mind, but that doesn't necessarily mean they have a coupe ready to go. More likely they design in the things they will need later to make it a coupe, and would work on it (and the Statesman, Ute etc.) once they've broken the back of the VE sedan work.

Why else would the other variants take a few years to come to market? It doesn't do Holden any favours to have products like the Statesman and Ute on the market for 2-3 years after a new sedan, because it's obvious to everyone that they're old product and a new one isn't far away.

[VHSLE]

A VZ Monaro alongside VE Commos is better than no Monaro at all.

It is one thing to design it so panels interchange, it's another thing to produce it. I would imagine it's going to come down to whether Pontiac would buy a new model off us or not.

If they do, I'd expect to see a new Monaro, if not, the tooling costs may be economically unviable. From the limited info I have been reading I have gotten the impression Holden's new GM is alot more focused on the numbers.

Cheers

[ABS]

Does that confirm that there will in fact be a VE Commodore wagon? I was under the impression that the wagon was being phased out after VZ to make way for the rebadged Daewoo-built SUV in 2006.

[Marco]

The quote from the director of engineering specifically mentions a wagon, so I guess a wagon is looking more likely again. On the other hand, it's a paraphrased quote, not a direct one - Tony Hyde might just have said "when VE is launched" and the author of the article assumed sedan and wagon.

If they do replace it with the Daewoo SUV, I'd expect to see them bring the Vectra wagon as well to cater for those who don't want the whole SUV thing. Maybe bringing the Astra wagon to Aus later this year is also part of this strategy?

[CraigH]

Well for me it means I can decide next year between a Monaro or the VE SS.

Both with LS2 I hope.

I agree the life of Monaro will depend on US sales and they seem to have gone up a bit recently

[mmciau]

What a crock of sh_t. They designed the VE with a coupe in mind - interchangable parts, moulds etc.. They did this to avoid the expensive costs of modifying an existing platform post design and were always planning for a drop-top Monaro. There is technically no reason why they can't release one alongside the sedan and wagon.

Seems someone has miffed the public yet again. Dare I say the true reason come from the States and not within OZ.

MNR-0 - I would suggest designing a car and tooling of a car is quite different to introducing production runs in amongst main stream cars and waggons. Holden's did this with the Ute and the Statesman in past and current models.

Mike

[kryten2001]

Well for me it means I can decide next year between a Monaro or the VE SS.

Both with LS2 I hope.


Mmmm, assuming the Monaro continues.. It's all conjecture at this point unfortunately.

I'd love an LS2 Monaro, but I didn't want to wait for Holden to play its hand. If they decide to pull it from the market, the remaning Monaros could dry up real fast - and good luck negotiating a half reasonable price!!!

On the other hand, if they DO release a LS2 Monaro, I'll trade the VZ I spose.. Will probably burn quite a few bucks, but that's the way it goes.

At least for me, I didn't want to wait and see what happens and risk having nothing at all... (I wouldn't want to be a current GTO buyer... Weighing up whether or not to drop the coin on a 6.0 coupe in the hope that it's not released on the monaro next year, or the assumption that it'll be the last GTO in a while). If another comes out next year with a 6.2, you'll be plenty sore. On the other hand, if it's the last GTO for a while - you'd better get in quick, at the risk of never having owned a 6.0 coupe in any guise! (how many GTOs are left to be built??)

The only way to be certain is to buy now and take the chance. Worse thing that can happen is you burn some bucks next year if/when something better comes along.. Better that than to miss out altogether.

my 2c anyhoo....

[CraigH]

At least this is the strongest indicator yet of availability into 2006 :-)

[Nobby]

Well, at least we're certain the Wagon is going ahead!

Cat -> out of bag

[Patrick]

Well, at least we're certain the Wagon is going ahead!

Cat -> out of bag

Yeah looks like it. :)

And the current Monaro will continue after launch of VE as well. :cool:

[VZKOOP]

would be interesting to see how much longer the Monaro will continue to be built side by side with the VE. What I really want to know is what other revisions they could make to it to keep it fresh. They cant really change the shape.
And why would they want to? The Monaro in it's current form is still the best looking car made in Australia today. I parked my car at the airport the other day along side a new XR6T & FPV GT. I hadn't ever seen the cars together before. I was truly taken aback with how streamlined and low and compact the Monaro was next to the "new" shaped Fords. Got me all goose bumpy again over how nice my car looked.

PS I am not biased in anyway ;)

[gameover]

my bet is this:

Holden Monaro is dead.

HSV imports US made GTO's and continues selling the Coupe as limited production.

30 years later the Monaro name is revived again...

[Dacious]

I reckon they'll keep eking them out. I would in some ways prefer it was dead - make mine worth more in the long run; although paradoxically I have no intention of selling.

Vauxhall don't want to lose their halo car - and I reckon Pontiac will come 'round to that way of thinking. All they need to do is feed some HSV kit into that market to keep selling them - the GTO has plenty of performance and is coming to get a performance profile making up for appearance shortcomings which is gradually improving. Opel also supposedly made overtures about a continental version.

They styling made be old, but it's still classic styling.

[SV300]

Have been told Monaro is no more from 2006. Well for the time being anyway.


James

[dominik]

And why would they want to? The Monaro in it's current form is still the best looking car made in Australia today. I parked my car at the airport the other day along side a new XR6T & FPV GT. I hadn't ever seen the cars together before. I was truly taken aback with how streamlined and low and compact the Monaro was next to the "new" shaped Fords. Got me all goose bumpy again over how nice my car looked.

PS I am not biased in anyway ;)Well said. It's held up well against the design of the VY/VZ sedans and still looks better than everything else. I agree with what was said earlier about Monaro production continuing in its current form being better than no Monaro at all. Besides, there's a few things they could do to improve it without even touching the shell which would interest buyers like dropping an LS2 in there for starters.

[mavss]

It's probably an expensive exercise to have the Monaro / GTO sporting 2 engine derivatives - namely the GenIII in the Monaro & GenIV in the GTO.

My bet is we'll see the GenIV dropped into the Monaro around the VE release to keep it fresh and appealing, especially if it is to remain in VZ guise for a while longer.

[ralcool]

With some of the lessons learnt with the concept convertable monaro (ala Marilyn) in regards to wet sealing the rear fwd qtr panels, and adding a retractable rear windows.

For a last hurah for the last Monaro /GTO for '06 why not have retractable rear windows like the old Monaro's did, and please an LS2 6.0 or 6.2L for fun?


Sean