Holden axed V8 Commodore in 2011

Holden fans are up in arms over the demise of the V8 rear-wheel drive Commodore, but the reality is its death warrant was signed seven years ago in 2011.

That was when Holden committed to building the next-generation Commodore on the global E2 architecture rather than stick with an evolution of the locally developed Zeta platform.

So, whether the 2018 ZB Commodore being launched now was Australian-made or imported - as it has turned out to be in the wake of the closure of the Elizabeth plant - the car would have been much the same.

Which means four- and six-cylinder engines and front- and all-wheel drive and not the rear-drive and sixes and V8s that have been essential ingredients of Commodore throughout its 40-year locally-built lifespan.

Holden director of engineering, Brett Vivian, said the company made the commitment to E2 in the knowledge there was no way a V8 engine could fit.

"We just felt the demand for a V8 in this timeframe becomes increasingly a niche, specialist vehicle," he said.

"We did expect fuel prices to go up, although that hasn't fully transpired."

Vivian, who worked on the Holden Zeta program and oversaw the adaptation of the German Opel Insignia to become the first imported Commodore, said he was philosophical about the end of the V8 and rear-wheel drive.

"I guess I've had a long time to get used to it," he said. "I drove almost nothing but V8s for almost 20 years, but you have to look at how the Australian market has fragmented.

"I think there is a place for V8s and big cars, but it is increasingly becoming a smaller and smaller slice of the pie and at the end of the day we have to pay our bills and to do that we need volume to do that.

"It just wasn't the place to place your bets and invest your money."

He acknowledged the fundamental technical changes to Commodore meant some traditionalists would be lost to the company.

"Life changes," he said. "I think there is still a place for V8s, but it's a smaller volume specialist market now."

Holden boss Mark Bernhard has urged the Holden 'heartland' to try the new commodore before making up their minds about it.

Holden fans after a V8 and rear-wheel drive are in future going to have to look to the HSV-converted Chevrolet Camaro that goes on sale in mid-2018, or the C8 Chevy Corvette expected by 2020.

Holden began studying what would replace the $1.2 billion locally-developed Zeta-based VE-VF Commodore back in 2010 and made the decision to go global the following year.

Vivian confirmed the decision-making timeline stretched back to 2010.

"It was really a case of how many architectures could General Motors afford to develop," he told motoring.com.au. "And how many different people wanted to use Zeta versus something like this (E2).

"I think we took some strategic decisions back then to do fewer architectures and put more into them and make them deeper, stronger architectures and spend our resources that way."

That decision was communicated officially at the reveal of the VF Commodore in February 2013 by then Holden managing director Mike Devereux, who said the next Commodore would be based on a global architecture.

Back then the intention was to build the car at the Elizabeth plant in Adelaide. By the end of the same year Devereux announced the end of local manufacturing by 2017.

That meant the Commodore would be built alongside the Opel Insignia and imported from Germany. Opel was the homeroom for the E2 architecture and Holden was already embedded in the development process and had successfully fought for an AWD V6 to be added to the product plan.

That decision benefitted Buick as well, as the Regal is also based on the E2 architecture and shares its sheetmetal with the Insignia and Commodore.

The end of local manufacturing did mean a possible longer wheelbase version of the ZB Commodore was never going to happen.

"We toyed for a long time with whether we would go with this Insignia-based one or a longer-wheelbase one, but ultimately we landed on Insignia which I think was the right call," Vivian said.

Considering his V8 Commodore history, Vivian admitted he had taken some time to come to terms with the concept of a four-cylinder front-drive Commodore.

"I had my preconceived notions of what a 2.0-litre turbocharged Commodore would be like until I drove it. Then I thought 'this is great, this is exceptional'.

"And we still have the V6 on top of that. Getting the all-wheel drive we felt was really important because it kept that great handling aspect that has really been part of the Holden brand for as long as I can remember.

"It was important to get that element into it and keep it a Holden."