[monaroCountry]

Is it the wrong time? Maybe if $US100-a-barrel oil is coming," Conomos says.

"But we can switch to Camry four. What can Ford switch to? What can Holden switch to?" Conomos is hopeful that the drop in big-six sales has ended and believes the new product offensive this year will bring people back to the local heroes. "Where do large cars settle? About now," he says.

I think Toyotas thinking of Holden having no flexibity is flawed.

Both Holden and ford have a huge market in LPG cars, with plenty of development from their taxi range. Holden has also got excellent development in ethanol and E-85 fuels, from their commodore range to Brasil. With the Amricans willingness to swith to alternative fuel like ethanol I think that Toyota might have been caught with their pants down.

Holden has several engine sizes at their disposal, since they supply 2.8 and up V6 to europe and asia. In addition the HFV6 is still having new technology introduced to it along with better transmission.

Aparently the base Holden V6 would be 200kw (thats the lowest spec). Im finding it very hard to imagine Toyota challengine HSV and FPV with their big V8s (also under developed) and quick turbo I6.