MotorTrend: The Four-Door Corvette

Holden-Based Performance Chevy Gains Momentum Among Key GM Execs Several senior General Motors executives are pushing for the Holden Commodore-based Pontiac G8 sedan to come back to America as a high-performance Chevrolet. GM Vice President Bob Lutz describes it as a "four-door Corvette."

"There's a possibility of [the Pontiac G8 coming back as] a high-end Chevrolet sedan that would be sold in limited numbers," Lutz told international media at the Detroit auto show. Volume would be limited because "with the U.S. fuel economy legislation, we just can't afford to sell too many of them."

Lutz is a great fan of Holden's rear-drive Commodore sedan, which is available in several high-performance variants. "The thrill of high-performance driving is unmatched by anything that doesn't have rear drive, bags of torque, and a nice transmission," he says. "I think of it as a four-door Corvette."

Lutz says the Commodore-based Chevy sport sedan could be on sale "well within five years" but declined to be more specific on timing. "I'd prefer to let Holden tell you when they're going to do their next aesthetic job," he said.

Earlier at the Detroit show, Mike Simcoe, the Australian-born head of GM's North American design studio, also hinted that the Pontiac G8 would "probably make a very nice Chevrolet." While at Holden, Simcoe led the design team that developed the Commodore.

"There is absolutely a chance the Commodore could come back to America," says Mark Reuss, the new president of GM North America. "I would love to have that car here."

Reuss, who headed GM's Holden operation in Australia until September and is intimately familiar with the Commodore program, says there is no impediment to bringing the car back other than the number of vehicles GM wants to put into the Chevy portfolio.

The repositioning of the Pontiac G8 as a Chevrolet would also dovetail nicely with GM's original plan to offer a Pontiac G8 pickup based on the Holden Commodore Ute. "I thought we'd have a hard time putting Ute into Pontiac," says Reuss. "But...I think another brand with the Ute would be pretty attractive."

While a reborn Chevy El Camino might seem the obvious choice, Reuss' concern about overloading the Chevy franchise suggests GM might look at selling the Ute as a GMC. There is a precedent -- GMC sold a rebadged version of the El Camino called the Caballero in the '60s and '70s -- and as vehicles such as the Acadia, Terrain, and the Granite Concept (which is built on what is effectively the long wheelbase version of GM's Gamma small car architecture) show that GMC is evolving into more than just a body-on-frame truck brand.

Holden execs are keen to revive an export deal to replace the now-axed Pontiac G8 program, because a U.S. export deal is crucial to their manufacturing operations. About 41,000 Pontiac G8s were sold in 14 months in North America, compared to 45,000 Commodores sold in Australia in the full 12 months of 2009. The Commodore recorded the second-lowest annual sales in its 31-year history last year. The previous all-time low was set in 1983.

Holden is currently working on an export version of the long-wheelbase Caprice sedan to sell to the North American police car market from 2011. Engineers have to develop a column-shift for the car so police hardware, including computers, can be fitted to the center of the car.