Saturday, August 02, 2008

Holden Commodore save the planet?

Strange as it may seem the Holden Commodore might help reduce fuel use and save the planet. The Australian produced Holden VE Commodore is exported to the USA as the Pontiac G8. This is a large passenger car in the Australian context, but in the USA the Holden Ute version ("Pontiac G8 sport truck,") , is small compared to North American full-size pickups. The Commodore Sportwagon station wagon is small compared to full size SUVs.

Perhaps the Sportswagon could be made to look even sportier by
adding a barrier behind the rear seat, removing the rear and side glass behind the seat. The read window surrounds could then be painted to appear to be roll bars over a small pick up truck tray. The tray would not be a lot of use, but SUVs are not sold based on any practical consideration. Most SUVs are used as regular passenger cars. So a small one which uses less fuel and is based on a safer car platform would be better than a large one based on a truck.

There may be no need to do any bodywork to
Sportswagons, just some black and silver paint around the rear windows. From a distance and in photos, the rear bodywork would not be visible and the car would appear to have an open tray with a roll bar. That might not genuine enough for the average consumer, but generations of car buyers have purchased vehicles with imitation wood cladding and stick on adornments.

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