When Holden built an electric Commodore
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2025
- Remembering the Holden ECommodore hybrid electric vehicle - Can the Australian auto manufacturing industry be resurrected with the new era of electric vehicles?
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When Holden built an electric Commodore
Can the Australian auto manufacturing industry be resurrected with the new era of electric vehicles?
*Get your track gear!* 👉 shop.fullboost.com.au
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Yes it can’ by dissolving this fraudulent government
No
No! Electronic vehicles are bad for the environment and we don't need a factory here.
Our auto industry is dead mate.
I doubt it. Holden is dead
As always, great video with a highly relevant topic. I’m a petrol head who makes lithium ion batteries for a living, not vehicle batteries but the ones that power people’s homes. For years I have been trying to wrap my head around why we, Australia, sell our own minerals just to buy them back at a higher cost. Create jobs here at home.
Cut the nose the spite the face… oh I meant some getting kickbacks
@@wobblysauce how dare you... Speak the factual truth that's the EXACT reason why this will continue to stay the way it is. China is buying up Aus with golden handshakes every faster, but Aus has never not been owned and operated by American, British and other slave trader owned countries.
The human farm continues and nothing surprises me as a highly informed corruption conniseure. We should be making billions from using our mighty farming abilities to grow high grade outdoor cannabis from TAS to the top end, dirt cheap, organic and reap the rewards of the MASSIVE legal weed trade that's barely begun and the Aus illicit weed trade alone dwarfs the wine industry profits several fold. That's just one tiny idea of many. We could remove invasive camphor laurel trees, extract the safrole and produce much of world's MDMA no worries while helping the environment too. Booze is the most toxic and dangerous substance to the user and the community around users in general (this poison is absolutely fine in moderation like all things) so let's stop the illicit drug profits that also make billions for coked up politicians and elites every month just in smaller countries.
Bulk farming bugs for the billion plus people that already use them as a common protein source would also be a massively beneficial and cheap,high profit industry that's going to be necessary as our current protein sources get ever more expensive and not worth the effort. With fewer people already unable to pay all their bill's, buying expensive animal and seafood proteins. Plants have protein sources, but much is unavailable to us because we're not herbivores with the corresponding digestive system to make the most of plant proteins that cause vegans countless health problems in the long run such as leaky gut and even life long, deadly medical issues.
Neither Labor or Liberal have our best interests at heart
We should be one of the leading producers of batteries
Not many Australians with the funds to build large automated manufacturing facilities locally let alone who would want to take the 'risk'.
…and also why are we pushing and subsidising EV’s but NOT household batteries??? Australian households use MORE energy per day, than that of an average daily EV commute… it doesn’t make sense! The batteries can even be used to buffer the grid🤷♂️
Oh wait, yeah it does… Home batteries would stop energy companies getting half price feed-in power, would decimate their “peak” power sales and place some of the energy control in the consumers hands. You could even charge the battery using off peak power, then sell it back at a better rate.
You can’t do any of that with an EV, in fact an EV would outstrip most batteries capacity just from charging… and when are most EV’s being charged? At night, when renewables aren’t producing… but at least they will create a steady income stream for the energy companies🤡🤡
I've seen the hybrid VT at the Birdwood motor museum. I have to say the wheels have aged poorly but the car looks stunning. Half Monaro half sedan.
Last saw this car at Birdwood in September parked up next to a GM EV1... both highly underrated cars in AU / GM history~!
Great vid mate, the opportunity for new industry here simply shouldn't be overlooked and seems like a no brainer. Time will tell.
perfect video and reporting, you dont get this from the mainstream media! well done
The first time I ever got to sit in an EV was Conversion of old cars in 2004 using brand new Prismatic Lithium Ion bricks. This knowledge and methods was a child of the World Solar Challenge from the 1990s. TRITIUM one of the world's leading DC Fast Charger manufacturer in Brisbane was a direct descendant of that competition. Having been a BEV nerd in Aus for almost 19 years. It's truly sad to see how we squandered our business opportunities instead just exporting the raw material to be made more profitable elsewhere. A domestic Battery & Power Electronics industry could of kept soo many manufacturing jobs from the collapse of our auto industry. What we really lost was the highly experienced technical talent that was poached overseas now working in places like Tesla, Rivian and many other foreign startups. I sadly think it's too late.
First ive heard of this car.
Absolutely we should revive Aussie car industry and make and build it all in house
To expensive to employ aussies . You get cheap slaves to build them .
💪...but this time round, let's make sure we OWN the company so it can't cut'n'run first whiff of a crisis in the US.
@@johnkraft7461 💯👍
Yeah but let’s not build evs
I remember taking the VE concept for a drive in 2012/13 thanks to the guys at Better Place during their short life in Australia.
WTF Better Place had show rooms in Aus? I had no clue, thought they were just in Israel.
I have seen this car and the Holden volt in the Birdwood Museum. I think you are right. We mine the metals we should put the factories in place industry in place to manufacture batteries and sell the batteries and make Australia richer
On to it comments on all points. Local industry is a plus, being part of more that just raw material supply adds so much value
Value up. The multiple effects onto jobs is HUGE. Manufacturing and supply, training...
Really important video. More people should be talking about this.. 👍👍
There are some very poignant points made in this, well done to Fullboost for highlighting the potential industry Australia could have if we actually used these precious resources from our land to support secondary industry.
We lost so much when Toyota, Ford & Holden ceased production in our country.
That fastback Commodore 4 door looks sweet, it's a pity that body shape didn't make it into production.
Holden were stymied many times by Detroit when they tried to innovate. There’s a very interesting article online about the secret deal Holden tried to cook up with SAAB to do a turbo 4 cylinder VP Commodore - they even had prototypes running the engine, which was apparently excellent and much better than the old 3.8L V6, but when GM found out they stopped SAAB from selling Holden engines and knocked the whole project on the head. This sort of thing happened many times over the years.
Thanks for this video.
It seems ridiculous that Australia is so far behind in the take-up of EV's. We could easily manufacture them here, and there's a real export market for high quality Australian cars, as demonstrated by Holden with Pontiac in the US in the mid 2010's.
We should have been well established as a high quality EV manufacturer by now- but like with so many other things, we're behind the eight ball yet again.
Great video mate, hit the nail on the head!
Holden were always ahead of the time when they built prototypes but I can’t see a car industry returning to this country as car manufacturers around the world need government support to survive and in this country everyone seems to want to kill it. I’ve seen this EV and yes it is at the Birdwood museum in South Australia
You did a great job reviewing this car. I recall It also has a Holden Vectra front end rails when building the body.
I'm just gunna say it... yes I would absolutely love to see Holden start up (No pun) again and locally manufacture EV cars, even if they're exclusively EV... take advantage of the new market
I'd be happy with a retrofit EV kit for older vehicles at an affordable price.
Affordable price is the key.
EV designs look horrid.
I'll electric convert my commodore when I can keep and then explode my t5 with electric powered 3rd gear clutch kicks.
@@reecemartin453 You're subjectively wrong :P
You will lose much of your boot with an EV conversion. The battery pack has to go somewhere. It is not cost effective to convert ICE cars to EVs. Consumers are far, far better off just buying a new EV car.
Problem is a retro fit into existing ICE chassis would have low performance especially Range. Such a limited supply of parts would be wasted on mass production of conversions.
The issue with minerals being used here for products, there is apparently no money in it for the government, so its sold to overseas buyer
I saw this car in the flesh in Birdwood last year and I believe if they pursued this tech, Holden would still be alive today.
I must have been to young to really understand what I was looking at.. only been once as a kid, would love to go again.. some real awesome stuff there
It was so ahead of its time
I just think our manufacturers had so many missed opportunities
Great commentary, and very valid points. Interesting to see Holden's look in to this market
Awesome video guys as always, couldn't agree more. I live and breathe high performance turbo cars. But just placed an order for a byd atto 3 for my daily. I would have happily spent more to buy an Australian made ev. Hopefully our local industry sees the opportunity.
Great idea. Adapt and flourish.
Great video, very interesting history .
Please build the ve in an full electric. If I gotta have an ev at the least make it look cool and be somewhat familiar.
But could it do burnouts?
Kn ey backwards in the wet
Yeah, when the Lithium meets water.
@@_wallnutz_ There is ZERO Lithium METAL in Lithium ION batteries. Meanwhile Sōryū class SUBMARINE stores power in Lithium Ion battery.
Burnouts is what Powerful Electric Cars do best. They roast tires with ease and fine control.
Something about the ECommodore was that when they showed it off at the Sydney Olympics the hybrid system didnt actually work, theres a chance it never actually worked properly.
Great video
I saw this car at the powerhouse museum in Sydney a few years ago
great video mate, never heard about this before.
i always thought that the government should buy / take all the tooling for the latest aus-made models from holden and get an EV manufacturer up and running.
here you go boys, the design and marketing is basically all done for you, just design an EV platform to fit underneath and bob's your uncle. obviously it would not be that straightforward, but surely it'd be doable. i don't even particularly like holdens, but i'd buy a locally-made EV that looked like the second last generation of commodore.
The biggest problem is and has always been RRP. If you pay your workers $30/hour like Aussies get (rough numbers) the retail price would be far too expensive to compete with current options on the market. We can't compete with companies with more population and cheaper work force. On top of that you also have the added problem of people knowing these companies have died off once what's stopping it from happening again and leaving their customer base unsupported. The EV push at the moment is getting a lot of looks, money and pressure but there's also a lot of stress for consumers. What happens in 10 years time when EVs are obsolete and new tech comes in? All the customers get left in the dark again with no support. I'm all for more competition in the space but realistically and financially it's not viable for Australia to be a player.
Worker wages NEVER had anything to do with the financial issues facing the Australian car manufacturing industry. Stop believing what Rupert Murdoch tells you.
@Christopher Hallett it's not about the media portrayal it's business. You can't use normal mechanics for EVs you need electronically trained people who require degrees greater than a normal ICE mechanic. You require more development for businesses you require far greater investments than what it would normally take. But wages are a simple example of what the retail price ends up having to take into account. It's pure business.
We should make nothing then. OR all be paid 10 bucks an hour according to your logic
With the advances in automation, there were actually not a lot of human hours involved in putting the last commodores together. Wages were in insignificant cost compared to all the imported components. The wages argument may have been valid in the 80s when it took thousands more workers to man the plants, but the workforce was constantly reducing as automation increased. Back in the 80s it took multiple people to assemble a dashboard into a car, piece by piece, with a total of many person-hours, but the VE/VF dash assembly and installation took less than 1/10th of that manual labour thanks to clever design, off-line sub-assembly, and robot installation as one unit.
@0:48 I think you meant they promised to DOUBLE the fuel economy or HALVE the fuel consumption, it would've been a bit of a blunder if they halved the fuel economy haha. Very interesting vid, the thing gives me the creeps looking like a Monaro/VT hybrid (quite literally hybrid).
If I could buy an electric commodore, I’d do so in a heartbeat. I love my Holden Adventra, one of the best cars I think Holden ever made, but its old and tired and due for replacement
I much prefer this body styling over what we actually got with the VT and VX. Though I'm still not a big fan of the front end. If only holden went along with the concept. Even if it was a limited run like the Group A HSVs.
I remember seeing this one in Questacon in Canberra back in 2008 - they were pulling it off display at the time. Probably got crushed :(
probably at the Birdwood Museum.
hybrids would have sold well as fleet vehicles (if the price could be kept low) I recon
I wonder if Holden were early adopters they would be still around...Slight possibility maybe🤷♂️
I still find it hard to accept they aren't.
Those were some super skinny wheels on that commodore. Was a good looking 4 door though!
Australia just never trusts itself enough to really try.
We have the smarts, the space, the money, the materials and the highly skilled labour, but don't do anything with it all.
So sad.
I never knew holden made ev commodores or hybrid commodores, i was born in 2005 so i never knew about the vt ev in 2011 i also never knew about the ev calais
They made one mate
Looks good body wise, idk about the ecotec Barina motor tho 🤔
For EV's to become mainstream they need to do what they have not been able to do in the last 20 years let alone the last 120 years - make a battery with high capacity, light, cheap and fast to charge. That is not going to happen any time soon. All that said I would love to see our car industry reignited.
There is an electric VE Commodore built by GE getting around Brisbane. I see it at least once a week.
I worked for Holden in vehicle development and felt Marketing (who called the shots in many ways) were unable to adapt to a fast changing auto industry.
We still see it now with legacy manufacturers playing catch up to the likes of Tesla, but are years behind.
I agree with you 100% But it would take huge amounts to re start. Probably would take a joint venture with a state and commonwealth funding. This is allowed for in our original constitution>
One problem.
Wage cost.
And "Aussies" don't want an "entry level" job any more.
Manager, Director, CEO or couch!
Literally everything you said was incorrect.
"Yeah nah yeah nah"- Big Lez
Holden has always been a leader in automotive technology and innovation. Looking back we had so much great content in our HSVs over virtually all other import brands at the time
Unfortunately, the only way to restore manufacturing in Australia of any kind is to restore import tariffs to level the playing field. That will never happen, therefore, manufacturing is lost to Australia...
We still make things here in Australia. We actually manufacture and export farm machinery to the USA.
@Tom Newham one of the few things left I guess. Wonder how long that will last?
The Lima Agreement of 1975 should answer your question quickly. It's not about what we can manufacture using our own resources - it's about exporting our resources so "un-developed' countries can benefit. Australia is nothing more than a source of resources for other countries hence the dramatic loss of our manufacturing, textile and primary industries. Pretty straight forward.
It's my opinion that our government is, and will remain, firmly in the pocket of the corporations that would not want this to occur. That's why our auto industry was killed off in the first place. I'd love to be wrong, though.
The Aussie car industry died because there were not enough Commodores, Falcons and Camrys sold here. If Holden could sold 200,000 commodores here in Australia each year then perhaps we would still have an auto industry. But even in their last year they didn't even sell 50,000.
I've been saying this for years and if it revived Holden or ford here even better
Would have been interesting to see what could have happened if they kept at it
I've been driving what most likely has some of their tech in it for the last 10yrs the Holden Volt which is a rebadged Chevy Volt.
And of course got that right there people did love v8s but the market would've eventually move on to electric its a shame that Holden didnt took the opportunity if i was ceo of Holden i would've pushed forward releasing this car in the market and overseas it would've set holden for the future
Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The public's attitude towards electric vehicles was very different to how it is now.
Not all of their customers wanted a V8. I'd have bought a hybrid or BEV Holden. I'd give my eye teeth to get my hands on one now.
We should never have let the car industry die in Australia and we should be producing all end use that we mine in Australia
For everyone’s sake, I hope that EV’s are the automotive equivalent of the mini disc.
Forget it. Well before 2030, petrol ICE cars will be totally obsolete.
Only a moron in 2030 would insist on buying a new petrol ICE car, with the commensurate $30,000 combined petrol and ICE maintenance bill over its 15 year lifecycle.
On the other hand, home solar energy is free. FREE.
@@user-kc1tf7zm3b well, considering my workmate just had to replace a battery pack in an 8 yr old hybrid vehicle at a cost of $4500 plus ongoing costs, I’ll stick with my 17yo Passat.
@@alakablam7901 ‘Considering…’ The experience of your workmate is just not representative of EV owners. EVs are nothing new, with the Tesla Roadster and the Tesla Model S being produced since 2008 and 2012, respectively. The battery packs are lifetime components which should only experience a slight reduction on battery capacity after 10 years. This has been well and truly proven with the many owner experiences of these older Tesla EVs.
Sticking with an ICE car for the next 15 years means a total petrol and ICE maintenance bill of a staggering $30,000. Only a moron would want this.
On the other hand, home solar energy is free. FREE.
@@user-kc1tf7zm3b I don’t know where you live but our solar home energy (with a projected lifespan of 10 yrs) is connected to the internet. Meaning the power company has the ability to turn it on and off when they choose. If you are ok with the inconvenience of charging times, intermittent power availability and other headaches that go with an ev, then have at it. Some of us are quite happy with our petrol cars and don’t appreciate the green movement forcing us to change our ways appease the climate gods. Porsche and Cupra are working towards a zero emission synthetic fuel that will give us the ability to keep using our cars without the ridiculous outlay for a glorified R/C car. Until then, I’m happy to pay for the convenience.
@@alakablam7901 Unfortunately we have all been paying for fossil fuel subsidies for long enough, as well as breathing in the crap that comes out the tailpipe. My glorified R/C is awesome to drive, better than all the ICE cars I have driven. Very convenient to charge at home too.
If the last 3 yrs has exposed anything it is our reliance on import and lack of local production in all industries. But we wont change, too much vested interests in the mine and flog model.
It’s hard to find workers anywhere atm, let a lone creating another massive industry.
Such an informative video. Who’s gonna be aussie elon?
1000 kms range / hybrid. Only way to go for large scale sales. Holden was heading into the right direction but the bean counters from the USA put a end to that.
Stevewilldoit intro music 😂
2:53 "ice owners"?
Internal Combustion Engine
Australia mines all the minerals currently used in Lithium-Ion batteries, why Australia isn't cutting out the middleman and making the batteries onshore is crazy.
The other car that could have given us a Cleaner transition to EV's was Pritchards Steam Engine. I saw his 2.0 Version which was a Torana with fibreglass in Metallic 70's green at a Sothebys Auction in the Hyde park Barracks in the 1980's. I know it went to a Car Museum in Dreamworld but have seen No sign of it since.
That would of been an interesting Generator for a PHEV.
You see in the US and UK shops that offer Tesla swaps into any car you want and some that have kits for popular cars or at least ones they've already done a few of so the R&D side of it is already done. If there's not already there's no reason Aussie's can't do the same.
wasnt the vr/s commo the most aero efficient of them all merge that with a wrecked tesla plaid
👎
Fuel cars only’ I’d never buy a battery operated car ever
Neither would I! I refuse to support the cobalt industry in the Congo using child miners
Most EV car manufacturers have already phased out, or a planning to phase out cobalt in their batteries.
In the meantime: we produce cobalt in Australia without child labour.
Many years ago GM in the US showed a hydrogen fuel cell powered electric design with a ‘skateboard’ chassis. That’s what I’d be interested in. I think Toyota are doing a Miro ? now on a similar design.
Hydrogen is totally pointless for passenger cars. This explains why Volkswagen and Mercedes gave up on the concept long ago.
If it's cheaper to buy overseas nothing will ever be manufactured in Australia again, just like every other manufacturer we have lost in Australia. People don't care about quality anymore ,its getting extremely hard to find things not made in China. It makes me sick.
I'd happily pay twice as much for a local item if it lasts ten times as long, saving you $ in the long run.
@@noelgibson5956 same here mate, I try my best to by Aussie made and gladly pay what ever it takes.🖒🍻
Sweet VT that would have sold so much probably only 29k retail or so not like the new electric cards asking house deposit price
why didn't they make the monaro sedan as standard? it looks much better imo
You have to ask why! Was it all closed down in Australia, they clearly had the know how, good on ya Tony Abbot, a bit susspect to me, definitely a conflict of interest but hay we will never know
It had nothing to do with the government. Simple economics really, not enough cars were sold here to make it economically viable. It is the same with most labour intensive products, it is cheaper to make in country's with low labour costs.
@@tomnewham1269 some things should be made at home regardless of price, if they had more incentive for home grown products and tax’s on overseas produce it would work but there’s a lot more going on like trade agreements and under table deals
Australia cannot turn to only electric cars because we are a country where a lot of long distance driving is required and a lot of regional towns will not have the charging stations and such needed for the upkeep, you know what I mean but Im not saying it the best.
Yes EVs are simply an alternative, they are not a solution.
If they are to integrate induction charging on highways for long hauls, there might be a reason to switch.
@@garystinten9339 They can't even fix pot holes I can't see that happening any time soon. :)
Asking this question way too late!! Should have been doing so 20 years ago, so by 10 years ago when there was a chance in hell it could have been done.
If the previous government had recouped a couple of billion dollars they gave to companies that didn't need it during the pandemic, they could have built a megafactory easily.
What a missed opportunity. But if evs do increase in popularity there certainly is the chance local production could be revived
Petrol ICE cars will be totally obsolete well before 2030.
In Norway, EV sales made up a staggering 87% of all new car sales for March 2023. Moreover, Norwegians drive _more_ than Australians do.
Come 2030, only a moron would insist on buying a new petrol ICE car, with the concomitant $30,000 petrol and ICE maintenance bills over its 15 year lifecycle.
Hindsight can be a cruel mistress 🤔
We could make a local one especially if we use local materials and sell em cheap. but we wont cause we make too much money exporting.
You see why we only have two fuel refineries left, especially with electric vehicles in the future, there’s no insensitive for building new refineries.
We will need more power plants...
Look at Toyota Hybrids today.😊
Astra engine combined with an electric motor?
I respect it but I don’t want it
Same
Who wants to fund this ?? I'd be happy to bring back Australia's manufacturing .
Half the moden day problem we have .
Short sighted governments is the problem here .There is a huge industry to be had in aus in not only ev but renewables and of course steel manufacturing.
Given we are a resource ritch country with loads of room and good infrastructure it is only short sight and red tape holding us back .Of course hight labour price will isn't great but people don't mind paying top dollar for a quality product as opposed to a china bay product that lasts a week or so .
The tooling is LooooNg gone now .. yeahhh?
If anyone was looking to build a new car in Australia they sure as fuck wouldn't be interested in building old bodies, why would they want the old tooling?
As an African living in Australia for half of my life, I’m beginning to question our Aussie leaders. With all the natural resources in the country yet we still struggle to keep up with other well developed countries financially. Australia is a RICH country in resources, but doesn’t it reminds of DR of Congo or South Africa? Greed has taken over like some African countries with wealthy governments and poor economies🧐
Looked like an ACA segment. Back to you Tracey……
I probably should have had a pensioner complaining about their power bill hey...
Looks like it was fwd
Oh thats what she says
GM Detroit made all Holden's decisions. Hard to point to a more self-sabotaging, autocratic car-maker. "These are the new cars and trucks you will buy from us..."
Late but for the ones with brains. The answer is no, you must factor in all business expenses to understand why an industry fails, and what it really came down to was "safety" which slows production and increases complexity, and therefore price. The car becomes unaffordable to buy AND unprofitable to sell doesn't meet sales targets and the company loses. Electric cars are proven to use more energy per km always than petrol and diesel, they do not last anywhere near as well with age and the batteries are not recyclable and there are something like 20,000 individual "vape" batteries to make the power pack in the average car which if meticulously cared for last 10 years. The entire thing is ridiculous with current technology and unless they make huge revisions it's pointless to talk about. EVs are the next bud light, they will screw us worse than ever before. Wait until we get the BYD cars over here in AUS they won't be able to get rid of them fast enough
australia has some of the highest power rates per kw
I just suck that we have everything here in house yet we dont supports it but when someone elses made (Tesla) everyone buy them like hot cake.
More EVs and leave all the petrol for me...Yes please.
i see a VE commadore kicking around kilysth all the time and its a full EV
Holden would still be making cars had they gone Hybrid. The Real Government of Australia ( The minerals Council)is still getting over the change from Horse and Buggy to Cars
Let the haters hate😂