The new ZB Holden Commodore is a mid-sized passenger vehicle produced by Opel, formerly owned by General Motors and now owned by the French company Groupe PSA who manufacture vehicles like Peugeot and Citroen.

This Commodore is the first of a fifth-generation Commodore platform, and in reality, a rebadged Opel Insignia.
The range includes a 5-door lift-back and a 5-door station-wagon.

It’s the first Holden Commodore model to be manufactured outside of Australia, following the closure in October 2017 of Holden's Australian vehicle manufacturing facilities at Elizabeth, South Australia and Fisherman’s Bend in Victoria.

It’s the first Commodore in 30 years to come with a 4-cylinder engine as standard and controversially the first in its 40-year production not to have a V8 option.

So far in New Zealand the reaction to the ZB Commodore is positive, although still very early in its life cycle it has become the top selling passenger vehicle, even out selling the ubiquitous Toyota Corolla.

Some of the early registrations would have been demonstrators by the dealerships however, most were genuine Commodore sales as there appears to be a strong public awareness and interest in the new Commodore.

As we know, registrations for vehicles in New Zealand have changed over the last few years with SUV’s and Commercial Vehicles making up the lion share of the market place. That’s why it’s interesting to see the Commodore so high up in the mix.

It’s a far different story in Australia with sales slumping from 20% of the market share to just 5% currently. After its launch in February this year, predicted resale values tanked. The ZB Commodore has the worst resale value of any new car on the market.

Compared to the VF2 the ZB Commodore sales are running at half the rate of the VF2, causing Holden to have the worst year in their history.

June 2018