Holden: VE Commodore improves efficiency

Holden has pledged to keep trimming weight and improving aerodynamics, as well as making engines more efficient. Photo / Suppleid

Holden has pledged to keep trimming weight and improving aerodynamics, as well as making engines more efficient.

Fuel economy 18pc better than when VE Commodore releasedThere are ways to improve the old internal combustion engine.Mike Devereux Holden has made fuel-efficiency improvements across its VE Commodore range, saying the entry-level 3-litre Omega sedan and station wagon gets an official 8.9 litres/100km rating for the first time.

But the next-generation VF Commodore range will be thriftier again, offering consumption around the "mid-eights", Holden Australia chairman and managing director Mike Devereux told an alternative fuels conference in Brisbane.

"When we launched VE in 2006 we had about 10.8 litres/100km in the Omega and over the last five or six years we've been able to take that down to 8.9," Devereux was quoted as saying.

"That's an 18 per cent improvement in fuel economy. It's largely due to our approach to things like direct-injection, a smarter approach to the way air flows underneath the vehicle and tiny things like a change last year to the tailgate of the vehicle to make air flow more efficiently off the back of the vehicle.

"So there are ways to improve the old internal combustion engine and right now our fuel economy targets of 8.9, we are trying to take down to the mid-eights as we go forward into our next generation of Commodore, which is about two years from now."

Devereux said the next Commodore would be more efficient after a "significant light-weighting" programme, including aluminium panels and other technical advances such as electric power steering.

For now, the updated Commodore range - due on sale in New Zealand next month - will be 2 and 3 per cent more economical at base level, with the Omega 3.0L SIDI automatic sedan and wagon returning 8.9 litres/100km (down from a respective 9.1 and 9.2 litres/100km), with a corresponding CO2 emissions cut, to 210 grams per kilometre for both models.

Automatic versions of the 3.6-litre SV6 and Calais/Calais V sedan will also be 3 per cent more fuel-efficient, at 9.5 litres/100km, while the 3-litre Berlina Sportwagon will be use 2 per cent less fuel (9.2 litres/100km), and the Calais/Calais V Sportwagon auto (9.8 litres/100km), SV6 Ute auto and Caprice V6 will also be 1 per cent less thirsty at 9.8 litres/100km. Other Commodore models are unchanged.

Holden says the efficiency gains are due to a series of detail running changes, including "on-going vehicle mass reduction", an improved automatic transmission that reduces mechanical losses for all V6 models, a revised torque converter for 3.0 SIDI V6 variants and a reworked air-conditioning system that draws less operating power.

Holden also announced all 2012 model Commodores would be ethanol-capable, following production of an E85-compatible 3.6-litre version of GM's Port Melbourne-built V6.

Holden New Zealand managing director Jeff Murray said offering alternative fuel options like LPG and bio-ethanol provide Kiwis with greater choice.

"Bringing more dedicated LPG and flex-fuel vehicles to market will help drive demand for alternative fuel vehicles and help people to become more aware of the benefits they offer."