Holden Commodore twin dead globally by the end of the year
The final link to the European-sourced Holden Commodore is headed for the end of the production line.
The vehicle that formed the basis of the final, imported Holden Commodore is about to reach the end of the production line.
German car brand Opel – formerly a division of US giant General Motors before it was sold to the French Peugeot-Citroen group – is about to call time on the Insignia family and fleet car that became the last generation of the Holden Commodore.
When Holden ended manufacturing of the homegrown Commodore in Australia in October 2017, it sourced a replacement vehicle from Opel in Europe, which at the time was owned by Holden’s parent company General Motors.
The announcement about the demise of the Opel Insignia comes less than three months after Opel affiliate Vauxhall killed its version of the Insignia in the UK.
The moves by the former subsidiaries of General Motors – Vauxhall from the UK and Opel in Germany – will sever one of the final ties to their one-time owners in the USA.
In 2017, Opel and Vauxhall became members of the PSA Group, the French automaker that also owns Peugeot and Citroen, before Stellantis absorbed them into its giant conglomerate – which includes Jeep and Alfa Romeo – in 2021.
The Opel Insignia was planned as a global General Motors model but arrived at a time when sales of family and fleet sedans were in serious decline, leading to the end of the Holden Commodore in Australia and the Buick version of the same car in the USA in 2020 – months prior to the announcement that Holden as a brand would be axed.
The Opel Insignia has survived for much longer in Europe because mid-sized sedans and wagons have, until recently, been the top choice for corporate and rental fleets.
Opel is likely to use the vacant space on its assembly line at Russelsheim in Germany to boost production of the Astra small car.
News of the Opel’s death warrant was spotted by Carscoops and originally reported by Business Insider.
“As a result of the CO2 emission regulations and the focus on the rapid ramp-up of the three new multi-energy models in Russelsheim, Insignia production will be phased-out this year,” an Opel spokesperson told Business Insider.
“We are working intensively on the successor to the Insignia, which will be electrified.
“Opel is driving the change to a purely electric brand by 2028 and is preparing the model launch of several state-of-the-art electric models, including a future electric flagship.
The successor to the Insignia is likely to arrive in 2024 using a PSA mechanical base, most likely already in use with the Peugeot 408, with some sort of fastback-crossover body.
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