Muscling in on the US market

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

The Holden Monaro will be given more power when it goes on sale in America next year as a reborn Pontiac GTO. General Motors engineers in Detroit believe the V8 engine in the GTO must push out no less than 350bhp (261kW) if the car is to be taken seriously in America's muscle market.

The revised figure means the 5.7-litre Generation III Chevrolet V8 engine in the Pontiac will produce at least 36kW more than it does in the standard 225kW Monaro and 6kW more than the 255kW Holden Special Vehicles Coupe GTO.

The V8 engine is presently shared by the Holden Commodore, Monaro and Chevrolet Corvette. But the power boost for the Pontiac will be child's play for Holden engineers because the engine already produces 350bhp in the Corvette.

GM's product boss, Bob Lutz, who has pushed the rebadged Pontiac project all along, was quoted as saying the GTO would have "American-style off-the-line performance of squealing tyres.

"For a car to be credible, accepted as a rebirth of the rear-drive American muscle car, it has got to have that rocket-sled acceleration off the line."

The deal to export rebadged Monaros was signed between Holden Australia and its GM parent the other day. It means Holden cars will be sent to America in volume for the first time since General Motors-Holden was established in Australia in 1931.

The left-hand-drive Pontiac GTO will be built at Holden's plant at Elizabeth, South Australia, from September next year. The export agreement is for 18,000 cars a year, with the first examples going on sale in America late next year badged as 2004 models and equipped with six-speed manual or four-speed automatic transmissions. The cars are expected to be priced between US$30,000 ($60,850) and US$35,000 ($71,000).

Americans will get their first look at the new Pontiac GTO when GM exhibits a near-production model at motor shows in Los Angeles and Detroit next January, roughly 10 months before the car reaches showrooms.

Holden had to comply with American safety rules for the redesigned Pontiac - things like moving the Monaro's fuel tank from behind the rear axle to in front of it.

Holden chairman and managing director, Peter Hanenberger, said the contract was "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and we will use it as a platform for further growth.

"The rebirth of Monaro was more a case of we must build this car than developing the business case to do it - meeting US export requirements will be exactly the same," he said.

"The new GTO will be part of Pontiac's continuing evolution and deliver a high-performance sports coupe to reintroduce a new generation to the legendary GTO name.

"This will be an ideal marriage between Australian design, engineering and development and the all-American 5.7-litre Gen III engine and transmission."

The contract will increase production at the Elizabeth plant to more than 160,000 vehicles - 19 domestic and 13 export variants - of which 50,000 will be exported to America, New Zealand, the Middle East, South Africa, Brazil and the Asia-Pacific.

Lutz and a team of GM executives were in Australia in February to drive the cars Holden makes.

On his return to America, Lutz told reporters at the New York motor show that he had liked what he saw and loved what he drove. "Monaro shares that V8 heritage and a brawny, muscular stance with the classic GTO and it will make a fine flagship for Pontiac. I think people will love driving them," he said.

GM's decision is seen as a global salute to the reborn Monaro which made its debut at the Sydney motor show last October, having been unveiled as a design concept in 1998.

Holden estimated that its A$60 million ($70 million) Monaro programme - A$40 million for plant tooling and A$20 million for design and engineering - cost considerably less than a more traditional approach would have required, thanks to a special computer design programme.

The original Monaro made its debut in July 1968 and subsequently became one of Australia's most loved cars. Holden continued production of the Monaro until the appearance of its HZ series in 1977.

The Pontiac GTO, nicknamed the "Goat", was America's first performance car and was built between 1964 and 1974. GTO stood for Grand Turismo Omologato, an Italian term that originally identified grand touring coupes qualified for road racing.

Soon after the GTO was launched, American pop group Ronnie & the Daytonas reached No 4 on the charts with their song Little GTO.

Numerous other muscle cars followed, including the Ford Mustang, the Chevrolet Camaro and the Dodge Charger. GM has said it will stop making the Camaro and the Firebird this year, leaving the Mustang as the last of the breed.

GTO remains a familiar name in America.

According to an enthusiasts' website, a GTO was smashed up by the bus in Speed, two were blown up during the course of Miami Vice, and George's father bought one to recapture his youth in an episode of Seinfeld.