As you might have heard by now, Australia’s car manufacturing sector is preparing to breathe its last breath. Ford Australia stopped production altogether, and by the end of 2017, Holden is next. Alas, the VF Commodore will die off, making way for the NG Commodore. Unsurprisingly, the next iteration will be related to the 2017 Opel Insignia Grand Sport and the 2018 Buick Regal.
Not too long ago, Holden’s Mark Bernhard told that the “next-gen Commodore will live up to the iconic nameplate.” It won’t, if I’m to be honest. Here are two reasons: it’ll be mid-sized, not a full-size four-door sedan, and it will be inherently FWD, not RWD. What’s more, the upcoming take on the Commodore sedan will be, for all intents and purposes, a five-door liftback.
Compared to the VF, the NG is 74 mm shorter (4,899 mm), 36 mm narrower (1,899 mm), and sports a 36 mm shorter wheelbase (2,829 mm). Compared to the first-gen Insignia, the new kid on the block will be known as the Opel Insignia Grand Sport in Europe. Size-wise, it’s 5.5 cm longer than the Insignia A and it boasts a wheelbase that’s almost 9 cm longer. Thanks to the GM E2XX that made its debut in the 2016 Chevrolet Malibu, the Insignia will “shave up to 175 kilograms (385 pounds)off” its venerable predecessor.
To debut at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show, the 2017 Opel Insignia Grand Sport will reflect “the efficient dynamics of the Monza Concept as much as it does our pride in the magnificent Opel classics Kapitan, Admiral, and Diplomat.” At least that’s what Opel head honcho Karl-Thomas Neumann wants us to believe. “Our future flagship represents a new dimension – elegance, lightness, and sportiness blend to create an extremely attractive combination,” he added about the all-new Insignia.
On the oily bits front, we turn our attention back to the Australian continent. Holden let it slip that the range-topping NG Commodore will be powered by a V6 engine with 230 kW (313 PS) and 370 Nm (273 lb-ft) on tap. That output will be channeled to all four wheels via a Ford-GM-developed 9-speed automatic that’s also available in the 2017 Chevrolet Malibu Premier.
A 2.0-liter turbo four-banger and a 2.0-liter turbo diesel are also in the offing. Other goodies you should look from the new Insignia / Commodore / Regal come in the form of adaptive suspension, matrix LED adaptive lighting system, torque vectoring and a twin-clutch rear differential for the all-wheel-drive system, as well as Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, an 8-inch digital instrument cluster, as well as a next-generation head-up display.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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