The buzz around OZ this morning is that Holden is taking significant steps to go green. The first step in going green is to reintroduce a 4 cylinder engine that will not doubt bring flashbacks back to those who remember the sluggish flight of the 1984 Holden Commodore. However, unlike the 4 of 1984, the possible upcoming will likely have a turbocharger that should allow the bird to crank out more power than the current 3.6 liter V6.
Nick Reilly, General Motors Group VP stated that in addition to a smaller power plant, other environmentally friendly technologies are also being researched including diesel, CNG (natural gas) and hybrid, and quickly confirmed that a hybrid Commodore would be on sale sometime around 2010.
Since the Holden Commodore is build on the Zeta platform shared by it’s American brother, the Pontiac G8, any powertrain that is made for the Commodore, will easily slide into the G8 engine bay. When Holden does finally go green, there is a strong possibility that the Pontiac G8 will go green as well in the form of a Hybrid Pontiac G8 (ahem…we told ya so) or a turbocharged 4-banger. Buy your Pontiac G8 this decade folks!