Unless you are following the 48 hour countdown (now getting down to 24 hours), there has been a complete lack of any new news today. So for a diversion, I'll toss out an idea.

After spending enough time around Monaros last year to get temporarily sick of them, I can point out that the GTOs we are getting here in 7 months will be a step above the CV8s being sold down under, in both performance & equptment. However, one very good Monaro that's being forgotten is the CV6, which I got to briefly drive.

It has a supercharged V6, which in GTP-type potency combined with GTO's low restriction exhaust system should easily make a 280 in torque & horsepower figures. With GTO's 3.42 rear end, the car won't be a holy terror on the streets, but it would still take some serious machinery to beat it. Why not import a number of CV6s for Chevrolet?

GTOs when they come over will cost about as much as CV8s do in Australia, despite more power & the changes needed for US standards (right around $32,000). CV6s there cost roughly $27-28,000, so could be sold here for the same price. There would be relatively no money needed to develop this car!

Consider:
*Via GTO, all changes & certifications to the chassis have been done. Like Monaro's LS1, the supercharged V6 is the same as the one in our Grand Prixs, Bonnevilles, Regals, and Park Avenues (and soon in Monte Carlos & Impalas).

*The Chevrolet front end is already done & in use on Holden's exports to the middle east!

*Should a name (such as CAPRICE SS) be used, even the labels are done (Australia has a full size sedan named Caprice). Even if the LUMINA SS name can be used (also a car nameplate currently in existance from Holden).

*Chevrolet has traditionally been a simplier & cheaper version of Pontiac. A CV6 based Caprice or Lumina would certainly be in Chevy's traditional position next to GTO.


I know there are plenty of reasons not to do it:

*Holden isn't quite up to making the quanity of CV6s needed (it would most certainly outsell the more costly GTO, even though the Goat's much faster).

*What would Chevrolet do with all those supercharged Monte Carlo SSs piling up on dealer's lots?
(Unless I'm wrong, it would run the same price & be in the same class as Monte Carlo)

*It might confuse the product line when Chevy does a version of this idea for real in a couple of years.

Just the same, being that it would cost next to nothing since the GTO's comming anyway, there's no arguing that something like this is very, very doable!

http://www.gmarabia.com/chevrolet_ca...ina/lumina.htm (Lumina front end)
http://galleries.wheels24.co.za/cars.../Lumina/07.asp

 

If Chevy gets a Holden I want it to be the SS UTE (El Camnio). IMO the Lumina name is too tarnished to sell something like that here, and as you pointed out, it creates too much competition for the Monte SS.

Its kinda funny that we want all of Holdens cars though, maybe instead of importing cars to US, we should export ourselves to down under!

 

No no no. Why would we want a Monaro with a different front clip rebadged (yet again) as a Chevy this time? Talk about confusion for the general public. At least Camaro and Firebird looked distinctive from every angle. I think GM is trying to get away from the whole same car/different badges idea that has plagued them for way too long (even though they're still guilty with Colorado/Canyon).

 

Slap on a Caprice/Statesman front clip, and add a Buick hood ornament. Presto, we've got on ourselves an instant Riviera. The only remaining question is how many golf bags you can fit in the trunk?

Of course if you wanted to go all-out, you'd ask the Aussies to drill a few "portholes" in the front fenders.

 

no paint it black call it a GN.

 

I suggested this months ago in another thread. Your slacking guionM

 

Why not just use the Holden Caprice SS? Its bigger, like a Caprice should be.

 

Now THAT would be something!!


Yep, I remember.

But it's usually around these slow news times when someone comes up with yet another "I hate GTO because it's not retro" or " Mustang sucks, and I'm going to ignore/forget Camaro's dead" threads that crop up to fill the dead space.

 

If they want to do this, then they had better hurry and tell Holden. The CV6 is on borrowed time, making up just 3% of total Monaro sales. Hard to keep recouping development costs on a model that sells less than 10 a month ...

 

Just my guesses:

1) Chevrolet is keeping the public from forgetting Camaro.
2) The next Camaro will have more in common with the 3 box design of the 1st gen (note: I didn't say retro) than it will the oversized doorstop look of my 4th gen.

Why #1? Why advertize a dead car??

Why #2? Chevrolet could use the Camaro of the early 70s, the Camaro of the 1980s, or the 4th gen Camaro in these ads, but instead (and this isn't the 1st time) uses a 1st gen car. While it seems Chevrolet wants the public to forget the 4th gen, it still occasionally brings up early Camaros

Also worth noting, GM designer Bryan Nesbitt (imported from Chrysler, and the one who designed the PT Crusier), the person most likely to be responsible for the 5th gen Camaro's design is known to heavily favor the look of early Camaros.

Good for you retro buffs. Bad for people like Darth & myself.

 

I also feel that GM should import the CV6. But instead of as a Chevy, give it a toned down version of the GTO's nose and call it the Tempest. No scoops or spoilers, smaller steel wheels, less equipment, and maybe even a normally aspirated 3.8 producing around 205 HP. Price it around 20-23K and watch them fly out the door.
It's the same recipe Pontiac used years ago. The GTO brought you in, but you settled for the lesser Tempest/LeMans.
I would buy one of those for an everyday car. 2 doors, RWD, stick, acceptable power. What's not to like?

 

Sounds good but PLEASE God don't let GM use the names Caprice or Lumina ever again.

 

Your suggestion makes too much sense. An imported Holden Statesman/Commodore would make an interesting full-sized performance car. It makes more sense for GM to take on the Marauder than to pretend they're competing with BMW.

I would like to thank Bob Lutz for importing the one Holden that is absolutely pointless. We couldn't have a cheap midsized performance sedan, or a spacious wagon. Instead of getting a unique El Camino-type vehicle, or Impalla SS replacement, he had to bring over the doofy looking coupe. Thanks Bob!

 

Maurader dead after this year.

Ute would face a 25% import tax as a pickup truck.

Commodore would take away from the Impala.

Statesman apparently doesn't intrest Chevrolet (though Buick was very interested some years back).

From a personal standpoint, I'd prefer a GTO than a Grand Prix GTP coupe by a light year.

 

No - enough of the rebadged imports . We already have Deawoos and Suzukis disguised as Chevys. A really novel idea would be for Chevy to build a "made in America" rear-wheel drive Caprice.

I understand the "world car" thing and the economics that go with it. But, let's not forget a slogan from the past... baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet!

Let Holdens come here as Holdens and sell them at Saturn dealers. They can fill the gap left by Olds.