New Holden Colorado looming

Holden is poised to unveil its updated Colorado utility and Colorado 7 SUV, with the national media launch of the two siblings set to take place on Queensland's Sunshine Coast tomorrow (November 19).

The MY15 iteration of the Colorado represents the second revision since the latest generation was released in mid-2012. The generation before that was largely a restyled version of the older Rodeo, which in turn was built on an Isuzu platform.

The Colorado range spans four trim levels (DX, LS, LT and LTZ) and three body styles (single cab, space cab and crew cab), with models available in both cab/chassis and pickup versions in a choice of 4x2 and 4x4. The Colorado 7 adds third-row seating to take the badge into SUV territory.

The first revision of the current generation was unveiled here in October 2013; Holden dropped the 2.5-litre diesel engine and slotted in its revamped Duramax 2 across the range – a 2.8-litre four-cylinder turbo-diesel good for a claimed 147kW and 500Nm in the auto. For the manual torque drops to 440Nm.

The five-speed manual was replaced with a six-speeder while the six-speed auto was tweaked to minimise the 'hunting' that occurred between fifth and sixth on inclines, while in the cab the Colorado benefitted from the addition of Holden's MyLink colour touchscreen entertainment/communications system.

While the latest generation still essentially shares the same chassis as the Isuzu D-MAX (but little else), GM relinquished its major stake in Isuzu in 2006, the split forcing GM to rebadge the Rodeo as the Colorado from 2008.

Built at Chevrolet's Thai production facility, the current generation was the product of a five-year and $2 billion development program.

According to FCAI data to the end of October 2014, the Colorado 4x4 holds 11.8 per cent of the lucrative 4x4 pickup market in this country, and is currently sitting in fourth place in terms of year-to-date sales behind Toyota's dominant HiLux, Ford's Ranger and Mitsubishi's Triton.

The picture isn't quite so rosy for the Colorado 7 SUV, which holds just a 1.4 per cent slice of the large SUV (sub $70,000) market.

Will Holden's latest update add some extra momentum to the Colorado's progress? We'll bring you a full rundown on the updated models shortly…