Melbourne Show: GM's Holden Debuts Cruze Sedan in Australia

Unless Holden is readying another small car, the Cruze is the compact model that GM's Australian subsidiary announced at the end of 2008. If that's the case, then the Cruze has nothing in common with the teaser sketch released at the time of the announcement. Instead, the only differences between the Chevy and Holden Cruze concern the badges and the front grille.

When it goes on sale in Australia in the second quarter of 2009, the right-hand drive Cruze will be offered with a 1.8-litre 4-cylinder ECOTEC petrol engine and a 2.0-liter 4-cylinder turbocharged common rail diesel engine. Power will be transferred to the front-wheels through a five speed manual transmission or optionally, a six speed automatic transmission with Active Select.

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Melbourne Show: Chevy Volt Rebadged as a Holden

Following the announcement on the Opel Ampera, GM has released details on the third variant of its Chevrolet Volt extended range electric vehicle, this time adorned with the Holden badge. Unlike the subtly restyled Ampera, the Holden Volt that was revealed in right-hand drive form at the Melbourne Auto Show today, does not differ in any way from its Chevy counterpart. The Volt, which can travel up to 64 kilometres on electricity before using petrol or producing exhaust pipe emissions, will be launched in Australia in 2012.

"We think Volt has the potential to change the game in Australian motoring," said GM Holden Chairman and Managing Director Mark Reuss. "Since we announced our plans to introduce Volt to Australia, we have been overwhelmed by public interest in the car and the technology that makes it work. At Holden, we believe Volt will play an incredibly important role in our efforts to make motoring better for the environment," he said.

According to GM's estimates, when compared to similar sized petrol-powered vehicles, the Volt will save motorists up to 1892 litres of fuel a year. This calculation is based on US research that identifies 75 percent of commuters travel an average daily distance of less than 40 miles or 64 kilometres.

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Holden Launches EcoLine Series - We Wonder What's So 'eco' about a V8

Don't get us wrong, we totally dig the fact that Aussies have managed one way or another to keep the "RWD V8" flame well and alive into the 21st century. However, we find the Holden marketing team's decision to include its V8-powered vehicles (aka the Commodore and its derivatives) in the newly launched EcoLine range just because they're adding GM's Active Fuel Management (AFM) that enables an eight cylinder vehicle to automatically operate on four cylinders in certain driving conditions, as a pure joke. -Continued

Even if this tech can deliver fuel savings of up to one liter per 100 km as Holden supports, we're still talking about large V8-powered cars and Utes - what's so eco-friendly about that?

Launched at the Australian International Motor Show in Sydney, Holden EcoLine will include models from GM Holden's range of diesel, LPG and Active Fuel Management (AFM) enabled vehicles.

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