While it has been on the cards for some time, Holden have confirmed the Commodore will reach the end of the line in late 2016.
Speaking at the Detroit motor show, Holden managing director Mike Devereux says the company has a plan to put a second vehicle type into production alongside the Cruze before 2017.
While details are guarded, the vehicle will likely be built on a medium-size, four-cylinder, front-drive platform.
The revelation comes a day after Holden admitted that the jobs of the 320 workers at its Port Melbourne V6 engine plant are in jeopardy beyond the end of 2016 as car buyers around the world shift to four-cylinder cars.
Ford has said for some time the future of the Falcon and its Broadmeadows manufacturing facility is not guaranteed beyond 2016.
Given continuing strong growth in sales of SUVs, now the second biggest vehicle category in Australia, Holden says it won’t confirm the type of vehicle it may produce.
“We have a plan that we signed with the government of Australia that does outline two vehicles,” says Devereux. “Could we change the second one if things continue to change? Yes we could.”
But Devereux would not confirm or speculate on what the second vehicle would be alongside the Cruze.
“If we did change what we’re going to build the only reason we’d be changing it is because we thought we could sell more.”
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