General Motors’ Australian arm Holden has updated its domestic and imported petrol vehicle range to comply with stricter Euro 3 (Australian Design Rule [ADR] 79/01) regulations which came into effect on 1 January.
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Australian federal government legislation requires all 2006 petrol engine cars and light commercial vehicles to meet Euro 3 requirements – including new standards for exhaust emissions and restrictions on fuel evaporation.
Current exhaust emission limits (ADR 79/00 or Euro 2) restrict hydrocarbon and oxides of nitrogen emissions to 0.5 grams per kilometre and carbon monoxide to 2.2gm/km. Euro 3 (ADR 79/01) requirements restrict hydrocarbon emissions to 0.2gm/km, oxides of nitrogen to 0.15gm/km and carbon monoxide to 2.3gm/km.
To prepare for the introduction of the new ADR 79/01 regulations, Holden introduced new sealed heat soak facilities at its Lang Lang proving ground to test hydrocarbon evaporation emissions – mainly from fuel but also other hydrocarbons such as plastics.
It also built extensive cold-soak testing facilities to conform to new sub-zero temperature start-up emissions restrictions introduced under ADR 79/01.
The locally-made 3.6-litre ‘Alloytec’ engine introduced in the VZ Commodore series in 2004 required minor changes to the engine, exhaust system and calibration to meet the Euro 3 requirements.
These changes included new fuel injectors and a new exhaust catalyst.
The six-litre L76 alloy engine, a member of GM’s fourth generation small block V8 family imported from the US, is new to Holden.
Details of the L76 engine were announced in North America in late 2005 and it was developed as Euro 3-compliant. However, significant testing and calibration development requirements mean that Holden has not adopted the cylinder deactivation technology used in North America for the Australian market.
Holden’s other petrol-engined models are fully imported from Suzuki in Japan, Isuzu in Thailand, GM-Daewoo in South Korea and GM’s own plants in Europe.
As it prepares to launch the fully redesigned, locally-made Commodore large car model line in the second half of 2006, Holden has dropped production of the V8 Adventra ‘crossover’ variant due to predominant sales of V6 versions and the need to reduce manufacturing complexity at the Elizabeth, South Australia plant.
One Tonner cab-chassis variants have also been axed.
