http://www.smh.com.au/news/news/conc...330815418.html

A production version has been built. Testing is being done with a Comodore body over it. Production begins in early 2008.

Hope it is all true!

 

cool article

 

Just before Christmas, Holden's engineering division completed the first "body in white" - in layman's terms, the first body built to production specifications."

who has pics?

 

GM has pic you should ask them!

There are none for the public yet but we will see them soon enough!

Body in white will not tell you much other than the general shape of unibody. It would be hard to detect small changes anyway.

 

I hope I see the production car soon. . . I'm getting antz in my pantz

 

Good article. So it looks they have the whole chassis/suspension/powertrain put together then and it just has a different body over it for the time being for testing purposes?

 

a very common practice for manufacturers to do.

Remeber the Cormaro? It was a C5 chasis with an altered Camaro body on it. It was the 1st "streetable" test C5 chasis the engineers put together for testing.

 

I hope so, the earlier the better... I become more and more tired of driving this Aveo every day. Especially after filling the gas tank ($1.99 here) yesterday and comparing the amount of gas to miles driven. Just another testament to how horrible the Aveo's engine is, I got 19 mpg. 19!?!?!?

 

Sorry, but I looked at the article and it looks mostly like fluff. A journalist who snagged a ride in the concept car. No quotes, no references, just some talk about the body in white as if it's fact. The between-the-lines writing is that he's ASSUMING that it's a body in white, and that it's probably running around Australia at the moment. Nowhere does he state that he's seen it, or that someone at GM has told him that it exists.

Nice read, anyway. He got a ride in the concept which is definitely more than I can say. However I withold judgement on pre-production prototypes until I see a more credible source.

 

Do you think that maybe, as part of getting to drive the concept, he might possibly have had some conversations with GM folks? Do you think it's possible that they told him stuff "not for attribution"?

"Credible" and "attributed to official sources" aren't the same thing.

 

Sure, but it's a big "maybe". GM folks are not generally going to tell a journalist something that might endanger their jobs. The guy got a ride in the concept, that's all. Believe him if you want: I choose to remain skeptical until additional sources of information surface.

One thing is for sure: Pre-production test mules WILL be built somewhere, and they will be driven somewhere. Probably around Milford Proving grounds, and probably at GM's desert proving grounds. Probably around some Holden facility, but probably not on the streets of Sydney.

 

Good article! Can't wait to see some pic's of the 5th Gen being tested!

 

I just glanced at it and will read it again later, but does it say where in aus its being tested? I have friends that are down there now and if they are in the general area i'll have to tell them to keep an eye out

 

I hope they don't just test the car with a dummy body on it, I wanna see spyshots of the production body for christs sake!

 

Uhhh...are you sure you didn't calculate that wrong???