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Holden Commodore Wiki

The Holden Commodore is a car manufactured since 1978 by Holden in Australia and, formerly, in New Zealand.For the original model, Holden replaced the long-serving Kingswood and Premier large cars developed in Australia, with another rear wheel drive (RWD) platform that was, however, based on a smaller European design by Opel, re-engineered for Australian conditions. Subsequent series became larger, culminating with the fourth generation Commodore, fully developed in Australia and based on the GM Zeta platform.Initially introduced as a single sedan body style, the range expanded in 1979 to include a station wagon. From 1984, Holden began branding the flagship Commodore model as Holden Calais, with the Commodore Berlina introduced in 1984 gaining independent Holden Berlina nomenclature in 1988. Long-wheelbase Statesman/Caprice derivatives and Commodore utility body variants followed in 1990. The third generation architecture spawned the most body styles, with a new Holden utility launched in 2000 (now officially as the Holden Ute), reborn Monaro coupé in 2001, four-door Holden Crewman utility and all-wheel drive (AWD) Holden Adventra crossover in 2003. Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) in 1987 began official modification of high performance variants of the Commodore and its derivatives, under its own nameplate.Rivalry came predominantly from the Ford Falcon—also locally built. Prior to the second generation Commodore of 1988, the Holden was positioned a full class below the full-size Falcon. To varying degrees, competition also came from mid-size offerings from Toyota Australia as well as Chrysler Australia, which morphed into Mitsubishi Motors Australia. Moreover, between 1989 and 1997, Australian federal government policy saw the launch of the Toyota Lexcen, which was a rebadged version of the second generation Commodore. With the introduction of the third generation in 1997, Holden implemented its largest export programs involving Commodore and its derivatives. In the Middle East, South Africa and Brazil, the Commodore sold as a Chevrolet. High-performance export versions followed in North America, sold as Pontiac and later Chevrolet. HSV also exported to the United Kingdom as Vauxhall, in the Middle East as Chevrolet Special Vehicles (CSV) and in New Zealand and Singapore as HSV.In December 2013, Holden announced that it would cease its local production by 2017 committing, however, to use long-standing Commodore nameplate on its fifth-generation fully imported replacement, moving to a front-wheel drive (FWD) platform.