Holden VE development story

[nota]

Factory promo tells the story in videos & pictures of the design, development and testing procedures for the new-generation VE Commodore

http://www.holden.com.au/www-holden/...odoreframe.jsp

(some of the more interesting videos might be these two in 'Driving Passion' category)
'Supercar Drivers' includes Peter Brock back from the dead, and Top Gear-style action within 'Handling' segment

[fpv_gtho]

You'll have to forgive me for being so cynical, but some of the remarks there (understandable for a Holden endorsed presentation) must leave a fair few exec's in Europe thinking "welcome to the 21st century".

[Mr. Jinx]

It will also have them thinking "this is what a low-cost family sedan should be"

From a purely aesthetic view, its very nice. But you would expect that from Holden's marketing.

[fpv_gtho]

It will also have them thinking "this is what a low-cost family sedan should be"

Maybe, but do you think they wouldnt have had similar feelings in 2002 with the BA? You have to wonder whether Holden's hype and claims represent 4 years of development in the "real" world, not just Australia. Afterall, whilst theyve done a brilliant job for the money, at 6 years for the development, theyve taken twice as long as the industry standard.

[adrenaline]

at 6 years for the development, theyve taken twice as long as the industry standard.

I've always thought that 6 years was a bit over the top. When did Ford begin work on Orion?

[fpv_gtho]

Not sure. Some parts are already out, like the rear suspension and the new DOHC head for the I6. Wouldve been the same sort of development length though.

[adrenaline]

Orion's development is strange. It should have launched this March or there abouts, but they say they delayed to keep in tune with Holden's VE delay. They were never going to launch in 2007, not when the first prototype was hand built as recently as december.

Then I hear that the project was still up in the air back when the VE was launching. Their numbers are all over the place as well. Some people are saying they're in the hundreds of millions, others are saying it's above a billion.

If we don't start seeing prototypes in the coming months, I doubt they will launch early 2008.

[fpv_gtho]

Ive got it under good authority its over a billion, but thats Falcon/Territory combined. Orion was supposed to be the same level of investment VE is, but AU went sour, meaning more had to go into BA and Orion had to be pushed back to make it economical. Now theyve also had to rationalise some costs due to dropping sales.

[syko]

The good thing about the orion is that it saved quite a few aussie jobs, Tom Gorman said that he wouldn't be able to deliver it on time if australia got the same 30% cutbacks in work force that the rest of the Ford world got.

[Mr. Jinx]

Maybe, but do you think they wouldnt have had similar feelings in 2002 with the BA?

You've got me there.