From A to Z with Holden

A more up-market, flexible architecture holds huge potential, writes motoring editor ALASTAIR SLOANE


Holden Special Vehicles' latest model, the all-wheel-drive Avalanche twin-cab ute unveiled at the Melbourne motor show yesterday, comes as Holden moves towards an influential global role within parent company General Motors.

Holden Australia's new VE Commodore platform, made in Australia and codenamed Zeta in GM, is expected to underpin hundreds of thousands of vehicles built in GM plants worldwide.

A more detailed role for Holden is likely to be known within the next few months, perhaps in April when the first Zeta-based concept car, the Buick soft-top, is unveiled at the New York motor show.

The first production car to use the Zeta platform will be the all-new Holden Commodore VE, due in two years. A Buick will be the first American model, in three years.

Zeta was developed by Holden for the VE and its derivatives and will be used worldwide as part of GM's global architecture. It can be used with a variety of wheelbases for rear-drive, four-wheel-drive, V6 and V8 drivetrains.

GM product chief Bob Lutz predicts a "huge" future for Holden as a result.

"Holden has a major, major role to play in at least one worldwide architecture," said Lutz, in Australia to look over the VE and other spin-off concepts from the Zeta platform.

"Its potential could be huge. We're talking rear-wheel-drive, all-wheel-drive, V6, V8," Lutz said.

"Some of the plans are still fuzzy, but if you look at the European potential, the Asian potential, Holden and the United States and it could be 400,000 [production]."

The Zeta architecture will be made in Australia and used in the VE sedan/wagon/ute/Monaro, future niche models, and left-hand-drive Pontiac GTO.

In the United States, it will be under Buicks, Chevrolets and Pontiacs. In Europe, it is likely to underpin a new Opel large car and the replacement for the Saab 9-5 sedan and wagon.

Holden already exports Commodores, Monaros and long-wheelbase cars as rebadged Chevrolets and Pontiacs.

But the flexibility of the Zeta platform will allow GM plants outside Australia to make cars that bear little or no resemblance to a Holden.

Future American cars such as the 2007 Buick luxury sedan, 2008 Buick convertible, 2008 Pontiac Grand Prix, 2009 Chevrolet Impala and 2010 Chevrolet Monte Carlo will sit on the Zeta platform.

GM picked Buick first because it plans to go up-market with the nameplate, offering American classic design to challenge the luxury leader Lexus. Also Buick sales in recent years have been much weaker than Chevrolet or Pontiac.

The Avalanche XUV (X-treme Utility Vehicle) is HSV's performance version of the four-door Crewman Cross8 ute, launched in New Zealand last year. It was unveiled alongside Holden's Series III Monaro and its SST concept ute.

It joins the Maloo as the second utility in the HSV range. It also shares its name, its 18-inch wheels and its all-wheel-drive system with the recently released Avalanche sports station wagon, which hasn't made it to New Zealand yet. The only all-wheel-drive Holden station wagon on sale here is the Adventra. Both Avalanche models will be joined in a few months by a third all-wheel-drive HSV, the Monaro-based Coupe4.

HSV says the Avalanche ute has an advantage over its namesake station wagon in that it offers a more rugged load area totally separated from the passenger cabin.

"I think with this style of vehicle the tougher and more robust it looks the more accepted it becomes," says Julian Quincey, HSV's new head of design, who styled the XUV ute and wagon. "We achieved the rugged look by using chunky bumpers and wheel arches and we made a feature of the driving lights by adding bezels to emphasise the vehicle's tough, capable all-wheel-drive image."

The four-door ute will go on sale in Australia next month, priced at around A$70,000 ($78,000). It is likely to go on sale in New Zealand around June. HSV expects the XUV's 200mm ground clearance and its braked towing capacity of 2100kg to appeal to people looking for a workhorse-cum-leisure machine, as well as to companies wanting an image vehicle to promote a business or lifestyle.

Under the skin, it shares much of its mechanical hardware with its Avalanche wagon sibling. Up front is the familiar HSV-enhanced 5.7-litre LS1 V8 generating 270kW at 5700rpm and 475Nm at 4000rpm.

HSV says the XUV sprints from zero to 100km/h in 6.5 seconds and has a standing 400m time of 14.6 seconds. It gets a performance brake package, with ventilated and grooved 336mm front and 315mm rear discs.

The engine drives through a 4L65E automatic transmission to all four wheels through Holden's Cross Trac permanent all-wheel-drive system, calibrated to suit the deformable surfaces that are to be found in this part of the world.

The strut front suspension is shared with the Avalanche wagon, as are the Bridgestone directional tyres. But HSV swapped the wagon's independent rear set-up for the Crewman's leaf-sprung live rear axle, a configuration it says is better suited to the heavy-duty applications for which it is likely to be used.

HSV says its suspension engineers have delivered a dynamic package that gives XUV the capacity to be driven through bends like no other vehicle of its ilk.

XUV will be available in Phantom Black, Turbine Grey, Heron White and three HSV exclusive colours - HSV Racing Green, HSV Ultra Violet 2 and HSV Sting Red.

Options will include Xenon driving lights, a new HSV tyre pressure monitoring system, HSV glass panel sunroof, HSV-embossed cargo liner and XUV lockable hard tonneau cover.