Aussie Motoring

A frayed fuel hose that could result in a fuel leak that could then lead to a fire has encouraged Holden to issue a recall notice for VE and WM model Holden Commodores.

This recall involves an extensive number of vehicles across a range of Vehicle Identification Numbers. Those involved fall within the following ranges:

VE Model.
6G1E######L000001 to 6G1E######L130299.
6G1E######L554668 to 6G1E######L563931.
6G1E######L814193 to 6G1E######L983864.

WM Model.
6G1M######L000080 to 6G1M######L129470.
6G1M######L550614 to 6G1M######L563928.
6G1M######L814190 to 6G1M######L983785.

Hash (#) represents an alpha or numeric character not relevant to determining affected vehicles.

Several media outlets indicated that owners should return their vehicles to the nearest Holden dealer but the official recall notice states:

Owners of the affected vehicles will be contacted by letter requesting that they contact a Holden Dealer of their choice for inspection and rectification. Further information is available from your Holden Dealer Service Department or the Holden Recall Advice Line on 1800 632 826 between 8am to 7pm EST Monday to Friday and 9am to 1pm EST Saturday.

All I can say is Hmmm.

The Wheels Car of the Year has just been announced and it happens to be the VE Commodore - the modern vehicle that has a fuel consumption slightly worse than my seven year old Hyundai and a spare wheel that is not really designed for Australian conditions.

If I was the other two finalists I’d be feeling rather pissed off about now.

Does Wheels honestly expect us to believe that Holden is better than BMW? Or that a poor fuel consumption figure in this day of high fuel prices is something that should somehow be overlooked, forgotten or considered to be of little consequence?

As I said, it just makes me go Hmmmm.

11,584 VE and WM sedans and wagons to be recalled

This recall affects all VE and WM model Commodores built prior to 11 September 2006 because of a potential problem with rear seatbelt buckles. A spring within the assembly could be bent and this may cause the belt to release when in use.

Holden says that owners of the affected Commodores will be contacted directly by mail and advised of the problem and where to take their car to have the problem rectified.

.. and the WM series as well.

It seems that Holden has discovered a problem with the fuel line and one hose in particular may be faulty and so all Commodores manufactured in July and August this year will be recalled.

Holden says that the problem has the potential to cause a fuel leak although there have yet been none reported.

Update - It seems that the recall for the fuel line problem only applies to around 1521 V8 Commodores - and you can see the full details here

The Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries announced today new car sales continue to lag behind sales for the same time last year. 1079 fewer new vehicles were sold during July than for July 2005. That monthly drop now means that 3.1% fewer new cars have been sold so far this year compared to the same period last year.

Toyota sold the most number of new vehicles with 16,977; Holden came second with 11,129 new vehicles sold and Ford could only manage third with 9,627.

The top selling car was the Toyota Corolla with 4711 units sold during July. Holden sold 4022 Commodores and Ford sold 3951 Falcons.

Kia

On a worldwide basis Kia reported a 2.3% decrease in overseas sales despite recording 1.8% increase in US sales. In Europe, where Kia is in the midst of bringing a new plant online, sales were down 1.4% although that drop in sales may turn around when they release their new European built small car code named the ED in December.

The new European built Kia will only be sold in Europe

‘Check back next month’ seems to be the main response when Tom Gorman, Ford Australia’s president was asked what Ford was planning on doing to meet the new competition.

Ford will be releasing an updated Falcon next month but one thing Ford claims it won’t be doing is cutting prices to keep Falcon sales happening.

The industrial dispute involving pars supplier Huon Corporation may be over for Ford and Toyota but Holden is still not receiving the parts they need to continue production.

Ford and Toyota both signed on to a rescue package for the troubled parts supplier but Holden has not yet agreed to it.

Workers at Huon’s Bendigo plant are refusing to make Holden parts and workers at Huon’s Frankston plant - which specialises in Holden parts - have not yet returned to work.

A Holden spokesman admits that this could cause delays to the production of the new VE Commodore.

Holden have finally announced the fuel consumption figures for the new Holden VE Commodore.

I think most people might have expected better figures than these but most of them are slightly down on the figures for the last Commodore.

The VE Commodore’s fuel consumption varies from 10.9 litres per 100km for the base model Omega with air conditioning through to a wopping 14.4 litres per 100km for manual 6 speed SS and SS V.

Interestingly the other V8 models can only achieve 14.3 litres per 100km when coupled to the 6 speed automatic transmission.

The Holden VE Commodore Pricing list can be found by following the link.

The Holden VE Commodore is definitely the car on everyone is thinking about at the moment. Even the release of the new Toyota Camry isn’t arousing as much interest - even though it’s more likely to be the vehicle that people would tend to buy in these days of high petrol prices.

If you would like to catch a glimpse of the new VE Commodore in action then follow this link . You’ll some interesting video as well as some news stories about the new Holden Commodore that you might have missed.

Holden’s new VE Commodore has been launched - although you won’t find one in a showroom just yet. This model is said to be the first all new Commodore since 1997 and despite years of work and a lot of testing Holden have not yet been able to produce fuel consumption figures.

Despite some criticism from the press there is no doubt that the lines of the new VE Commodore look interesting. The angle at which it sits on the road is also interesting for a family sedan.

Holden’s marketing strategy is also interesting. In what is supposed to be car for all Australia you can only get a full-size spare tyre if you pay extra for it. Otherwise your stuck with space-saving spare that has a speed limit of 80km/h.

I wouldn’t want to be stuck out on the Nullabor with a flat tyre and have to then drive to the nearest repair place at 80km/h, would you?

If you want to see more of the new VE Commodore you will find a site dedicated to it here but don’t expect it to load quickly before the release date.