It Comes From A Land Down Under

Have you heard the old joke about GM and the Australian-built rear wheel drive sedan?

2012 Holden Commodore

Back in the early 2000's, the General planned to bring several vehicles over to the US from Australia, based off of the Holden Commodore sedan. Enthusiasts and GM fans went nuts over the prospect of a full sized, rear wheel drive, V8-powered sedan, wagon, and ute hitting our shores.

The first plan was to launch the new vehicles, built off the Commodore's "Zeta" architecture for the 2006 model year. That program was scrapped so that funding could be shifted to the GMT900 program, which helped speedup the introduction of the new Chevrolet Silverado, Avalanche, Tahoe, and Suburban, GMC Sierra and Yukon, and Cadillac Escalade.

GMC Denali XT concept

The North American Zeta program was put on ice, but quickly dusted off with the plans that would bring a Pontiac sedan, a Chevrolet sedan, and a GMC ute to America. That plan did bear some fruit, in the form of the Pontiac G8 sedan. That car was critically acclaimed and embraced by the online auto enthusiast community, but never gained much traction with buyers. The G8 died along with the Pontiac brand after 2 years of disappointing sales.

2009 Pontiac G8

The Chevrolet sedan was on again, off again several times, until the program stopped making noise in 2010. A planned ute for GMC, shown in concept form as the GMC Denali XT concept, was shelved.

Fast forward to today, and GMI reports that a new Zeta-based Chevrolet sedan has been approved and assigned a production code, set to go on sale in 2013 as a 2014 model. Ute and wagons are also reported to be under development, though not confirmed for production.

The Zeta platform has made it to America, underpinning the 2010 Chevrolet Camaro, though the Camaro is produced in Canada. The Camaro has seen sales success, though it is often criticized for being too large and heavy, a direct attribute of its Zeta roots. The next generation Camaro will be built off the upcoming Alpha architecture instead.

2011 Chevrolet Caprice PPV

The new police offering from GM is also built off of Zeta; The Chevrolet Caprice PPV. This new cruiser will be built in Australia and shipped stateside.

Is it a good idea to bring a new batch of Zeta vehicles to the states? Perhaps. As Chrysler has shown with the 300 and Charger, there is a market for these vehicles. However,  Zeta has become a sort of mythical project, and I worry that any reasonably priced vehicle couldn't possibly live up to the expectations that the fans have for it.

Also, with the upcoming Alpha platform set to underpin the Cadillac ATS and CTS and Chevrolet Camaro, I have to wonder if a thoroughly modern Alpha architecture would be a better basis than an updated Zeta.

Finally, the volumes these cars will sell in (especially in wagon and ute form) will be quite modest. I won't say that GM shouldn't be exploring niche markets, but I will say they should take a back seat to making sure all four brands (I can't believe they still try to manage four brands) have extremely competitive products in all segments.

It's funny, if you think about it. In 2006, the US Zeta products were shelved to expedite the next version of the trucks and SUVs. I can't help but think that the money they're spending on this new Zeta venture would be better off hurrying the new trucks along again. The current batch of GM trucks are getting quite long in the tooth, and replacements are still a few years off.