Rumorpile: End Of The Line For The Commodore Name

[William Maley]

Since the announcement came down that Holden would shutter its operations in 2017, the rumors and speculations began flying about the fate of the Commodore. Would it become a big front-wheel drive model or stick to its rear-drive roots? Was the nameplate destined to stay around? It seems we might have answer to the latter question.

CarsGuide.com.au reports that Holden has been fighting with General Motors to keep the Commodore name around. Sources say Philip Brook, Holden’s sales and marketing executive has been begging Mike Devereux, formerly the head of Holden and now GM's ice president of sales and marketing for international operations to keep the Commodore name around.

“I need the Commodore name to help sell this car.” Brook has allegedly said.

When asked, Brook denied making those comments.

“It’s up for discussion. You’ve got to talk to customers, at the end of the day you’ve got to do what makes the most sense from a customer perspective and from a market perspective,” Brook told Drive.com.au.

Asked if the Commodore name would live on, Brook said that a decision on that is way down the road.

“We’re just going to work through that. It’s a significant decision that we need to make in amongst a whole lot of other significant decisions we need to make.”

Source: CarsGuide.com.au, Drive.com.au

William Maley is a staff writer for Cheers & Gears. He can be reached at [email protected] or you can follow him on twitter at @realmudmonster.

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[G. David Felt]

I can understand that this name is big in their country, but for a world stage model, it has no weight. Time to retire and move on with a world wide name.

[riviera74]

The car itself needs to be saved AND be put into service as a direct competitor to the 300/Charger twins.  (I know that the Chevy SS exists, but that is a 300 SRT8 competitor only.)  An upmarket version should be available as an Equus, if not 7/S-Class/LS, fighter for Cadillac.

 

Other than sites like this one and car magazines, I have never heard of a Commodore.  The name can retire, but the car must be saved.

[A Horse With No Name]

Agree with Riv74.

[Z-06]

Short wheelbase Chevy SS and a long wheelbase Buick's Equus competitor is what should be done. Cadillac will have LTS anyways.