Holden exports from Australia to the US may be on again now General Motors is reported to be “actively” studying salvaging the relatively new G8 large sedan from the axed Pontiac brand in order to give it to the Chevrolet division as a revived Caprice.
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According to media reports, GM vice chairman Bob Lutz said the G8, which went on sale in 2008, is “finally being discovered” by consumers and “is attracting almost a cult following. He said “we like the idea” of keeping the G8 alive by installing the model in GM’s core Chevrolet brand, which will soon account for nearly three quarters of GM’s US sales.
The interest by Lutz, called back from a planned year-end retirement by new GM CEO Fritz Henderson is unsurprising considering he initiated the Holden US export programme a few years ago with a revived Pontiac GTO, a variant of Holden’s previous generation Monaro coupe.
Holden has previously exported the Commodore and variants – basis of the G8 – to the Middle East using both Chevrolet and Caprice nameplates.
Lutz said no other axed Pontiac models would transfer to the remaining four brands the ‘new GM’ will sell – Chevrolet, Cadillac, GMC and Buick.
About 15,000 V6 and V8-powered rear drive G8s were sold in the first half of 2009, up 150% year on year.
Lutz said in a webchat: “So we’re studying the feasibility of bringing it in as a Caprice for both law enforcement and the public.”
A version of the old North American-made Chevrolet Caprice – a nameplate dating back to the 1960s – was once a mainstay of US law enforcement agencies.
Though the G8 is built in Australia, it contains numerous US-built components Lutz thinks it is “so American in character that I don’t believe the law enforcement agencies would have any problems with the assembly origin of the vehicle.”
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