Commodore’s first designer Leo Pruneau fears Holden name will disappear from Australia in 10 years

The designer behind the first Commodore has predicted the Holden nameplate will disappear from Australia within 10 years.

Leo Pruneau, now 88, spent 15 years at Holden from 1969 to 1984. 

This included a decade-long stint as Holden’s director of design, charged with styling the very first Commodore, the VB series released in October 1978.

Touring car immortal Peter Brock was a big part of the Commodore legend, driving five of the V8s to victory at the Bathurst 1000 during the 1980s.

 

The designer behind the first Commodore has predicted the Holden nameplate will disappear from Australia within 10 years. Leo Pruneau, now 88, was the chief designer of the very first Commodore, the VB series released in 1978 (pictured right with a VF Commodore, the last made in Australia)

Touring car immortal Peter Brock was a big part of the Commodore legend, driving five of them to victory at the Bathurst 1000 during the 1980s (pictured is Brock declaring victory in 1983 after coming first in a VH Commodore, with Labor PM Bob Hawke looking on)

Touring car immortal Peter Brock was a big part of the Commodore legend, driving five of them to victory at the Bathurst 1000 during the 1980s (pictured is Brock declaring victory in 1983 after coming first in a VH Commodore, with Labor PM Bob Hawke looking on)

Peter Brock’s Bathurst victories

1972: Holden LJ Torana GTR XU-1

1975: Holden LH Torana L34

1978: Holden LX Torana A9X SS

1979: Holden LX Torana A9X SS

1980:  Holden VC Commodore

1982: Holden VH Commodore

1983: Holden VH Commodore

1984: Holden VK Commodore

1987: Holden VL Commodore SS Group A 

Leo Pruneau designed eight of the nine Holdens Brock drove to victory 

The VC, VH and VK series winners were all designed by Mr Pruneau, who now lives on a farm in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges.

Asked about the impending 2020 demise of the Commodore nameplate, after 41 years, he was sad. 

‘I’m just absolutely devastated,’ he told Daily Mail Australia from his home at Woodend.

‘For General Motors to treat Australia like that I think is just a goddamned shame.’ 

Mr Pruneau also predicted the Holden lion badge would no longer grace car bonnets within a decade, as General Motors instead sold its products as Chevrolets.

‘I would say 10 years we won’t see a Holden badge,’ he said. 

‘It’s a really sad thing to say. There’s a good chance the Holden name could disappear altogether.’

The arrival of the Chevrolet Corvette in Australia, from late 2020 or early 2021, could give GM the excuse to start phasing out the Holden name, which debuted on cars in 1948.

The VC, VH and VK series winners were all designed by Leo Pruneau, who now lives on a farm in Victoria's Macedon Ranges (pictured is a VK Holden Commodore being driven to victory in 1984 at Bathurst by Peter Brock)

The VC, VH and VK series winners were all designed by Leo Pruneau, who now lives on a farm in Victoria’s Macedon Ranges (pictured is a VK Holden Commodore being driven to victory in 1984 at Bathurst by Peter Brock)

Mr Pruneau, now 88, spent 15 years at Holden from 1969 to 1984 (he is pictured in Melbourne in 2008 with Tony Stolfo, the designer of the last all-new Australian-made Holden Commodore, the VE)

Mr Pruneau, now 88, spent 15 years at Holden from 1969 to 1984 (he is pictured in Melbourne in 2008 with Tony Stolfo, the designer of the last all-new Australian-made Holden Commodore, the VE)

What killed the Holden Commodore?

The Holden Commodore was Australia’s top selling car from 1996 to 2010 – the last year an Australian-made car topped the sales charts.

It was a perennial best-seller as a rear-wheel drive sedan, wagon or ute, available as a six-cylinder or a V8.

In 1978, it replaced both the Kingwood and the Torana as a downsized family car following the OPEC oil crisis that pushed up petrol prices. 

Nonetheless, motorists regarded the Commodore as quintessentially Australian, even though most of the models were a re-engineered Opel Rekord or Omega. 

In 1980s and early 90s, it was outsold occasionally by the Ford Falcon as part of the famous Holden and Ford battle.

The VE and VF models, the last made in Australia between 2006 and 2017, were the only Commodores based on an Australian platform. 

Sales dived last year after the Holden Commodore became a front-wheel drive Opel Insignia imported from Germany, known as the ZB.

Bob Hawke’s Labor government began dismantling the 57 per cent import tariff barriers in the 1980s, which was the beginning of the end for Australian car manufacturing.

For the first time ever, in 2011, a fully-imported car, the Mazda3, topped the sales charts, highlighting the fragmented nature of Australian motorists.

Holden, which once dominated one-third of the Australian car market with one model, no longer features in the top 10.

In 1998, almost 95,000 Commodores were sold but so far this year, just  5,417 sold.

‘They keep saying they’re going to bring the new Corvette out here and that will have a Chevrolet badge on it,’ Mr Pruneau said.

‘That might be the lead-in to changing the name over.

‘General Motors would be very careful how they did that.’

For 69 years, the Holden name was synonymous with Australia but the heritage hardly resonates with millennials. 

‘It’s losing its attraction with the young people,’ Mr Pruneau said.

‘Once the old guys die out, the young people won’t have an affinity with the Holden name.’ 

Some Commodore owners have already swapped removed the Holden badges and replaced them with a Chevrolet logo. 

From the FX in 1948 to the Kingswood and the Commodore, Holden produced Australia’s top-selling car.

It was regarded as being so Australian Holden successfully marketed itself during the late 1970s as: ‘Football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars.’ 

There was even a TV sitcom called Kingswood Country. 

The Ford Falcon occassionally took out the No.1 spot on the sales charts during the 1980s and early 1990s however the Commodore had an unbroken run at the top from 1996 to 2010. 

For 15 years, Mr Pruneau was involved with every major Holden, from the HQ Kingswood, released in 1971, to the VB, VC, VH and VK Commodores, along with the Toranas, Monaros and Statesmen.

His work included the LJ, LH and LX Toranas Brock drove to victory at Bathurst in 1972, 1975, 1978 and 1979.

Then there were the Commodores Brock took line honours with in 1980, 1982, 1983 and 1984.

The VL Commodore victory, his ninth in 1987, was the only Holden not fully designed by Mr Pruneau.  

Australian production of the Commodore finished in October 2017 – seven years after it had last been Australia’s top-selling car and 11 years after Brock died in a car rally accident.

For 69 years, the Holden name was synonymous with Australia but the heritage hardly resonates with millennials (pictured is a VK Commodore at Summernats in Canberra in 2012)

For 69 years, the Holden name was synonymous with Australia but the heritage hardly resonates with millennials (pictured is a VK Commodore at Summernats in Canberra in 2012)

Asked about the impending 2020 demise of the Commodore nameplate, after 41 years, he was sad. 'I'm just absolutely devastated,' he told Daily Mail Australia from his home at Woodend in Victoria (pictured is the German-built ZB Holden Commodore, a rebadged Opel Insignia)

Asked about the impending 2020 demise of the Commodore nameplate, after 41 years, he was sad. ‘I’m just absolutely devastated,’ he told Daily Mail Australia from his home at Woodend in Victoria (pictured is the German-built ZB Holden Commodore, a rebadged Opel Insignia)

The Commodore name continued as a German-built front-wheel drive sedan and wagon that was effectively a rebadged Opel Insignia.

Unlike previous Commodores, this one wasn’t a rear-wheel drive and had no V8 option – a key sore point for loyalists.

‘One of the contributing factors was that it didn’t have a V8,’ Mr Pruneau said. 

‘I don’t think the average person would know the difference between a front-drive and a rear-drive from driving the cars – the enthusiasts do.

‘A V8 had a certain rumble to it and it had a bit of grunt about it and there was just a lot more testosterone in a V8 car than there was in a V6.

‘The Australians, they didn’t want to be a whimp, they liked those big V8s – the halo cars don’t outsell the base Commodores but they’re there for the hero car.’

The arrival of the Chevrolet Corvette (pictured) in Australia, from late 2020 or early 2021, could give GM the excuse to start phasing out the Holden name, which debuted on cars in 1948

The arrival of the Chevrolet Corvette (pictured) in Australia, from late 2020 or early 2021, could give GM the excuse to start phasing out the Holden name, which debuted on cars in 1948

Nonetheless, motoring tastes have changed significantly in recent decades, with SUVs now accounting for 45 per cent of Australia’s car market.

A larger family sedan doesn’t feature anywhere in the top 10, now dominated by utes, SUVs and medium hatchbacks – with not a Holden in sight.

Holden’s market share of just 4.1 per cent is a fraction of Toyota’s 19.3 per cent and it is now barely in the top 10.

Ironically, Holden during the 1970s had even considered developing a four-wheel drive Kingswood wagon and ute, but it wasn’t to be.

‘I can recall back in the HQ time, there was some talk about doing a four-wheel drive for the outback,’ Mr Pruneau said.

For 15 years, Mr Pruneau was involved with every major Holden, from the HQ Kingswood, released in 1971, to the VB, VC, VH and VK Commodores, and Toranas and Monaros in between (pictured is a Holden Premier at Summernats in Canberra)

For 15 years, Mr Pruneau was involved with every major Holden, from the HQ Kingswood, released in 1971, to the VB, VC, VH and VK Commodores, and Toranas and Monaros in between (pictured is a Holden Premier at Summernats in Canberra)

He recalled how Holden's managing director during the 1970s Chuck Chapman wasn't keen on the idea of a Kingswood four-wheel drive

He recalled how Holden’s managing director during the 1970s Chuck Chapman wasn’t keen on the idea of a Kingswood four-wheel drive

‘It wasn’t a definite product program but it was talked about within certain quarters.’ 

Holden’s incoming managing director at the time Chuck Chapman, an American, wasn’t too keen on the idea.

Mr Pruneau spent 27 years with General Motors working with Vauxhall in the UK and at the United States headquarters designing small cars, before retiring in 1988.

Despite growing up in the United States, he was sad Holden in recent years hadn’t stood up to GM’s bosses in Detroit. 

‘We have to blame Detroit more than anybody because they didn’t call the right shots and there wasn’t enough horsepower here in Australia to put up their own fight,’ Mr Pruneau said. 

A reduction in punitive import tariff barriers during the past three decades gradually eroded demand for Australian-made cars (pictured is a VN Holden Calais released in 1988 that has been covered in artificial grass for Canberra's Summernats festival)

A reduction in punitive import tariff barriers during the past three decades gradually eroded demand for Australian-made cars (pictured is a VN Holden Calais released in 1988 that has been covered in artificial grass for Canberra’s Summernats festival)

Australian production of the Commodore finished in October 2017 - seven years after it had last been Australia's top-selling car (pictured is the last VF model made at the Elizabeth plant in Adelaide's north)

Australian production of the Commodore finished in October 2017 – seven years after it had last been Australia’s top-selling car (pictured is the last VF model made at the Elizabeth plant in Adelaide’s north)

A reduction in punitive import tariff barriers during the past three decades gradually eroded demand for Australian-made cars.

In France, the government nationalised Renault in 1945 and continues to own a 15 per cent stake. 

Mr Pruneau wished the Australian government would have done the same thing.

‘Something like that should have happened down here,’ he said.

‘Holden and Australia are synonymous with each other.’ 

Despite growing up in the United States, Mr Pruneau was sad Holden in recent years hasn't stop up to GM's bosses in Detroit (pictured is a 1968 HK Holden Premier outside the Holden plant in Adelaide in October 2017 with fans Mark Turner, Trevor Hales and Terry Glennie)

Despite growing up in the United States, Mr Pruneau was sad Holden in recent years hasn’t stop up to GM’s bosses in Detroit (pictured is a 1968 HK Holden Premier outside the Holden plant in Adelaide in October 2017 with fans Mark Turner, Trevor Hales and Terry Glennie)

From the FX in 1948 (pictured) to the Kingswood and the Commodore, Holden produced Australia's top-selling car

From the FX in 1948 (pictured) to the Kingswood and the Commodore, Holden produced Australia’s top-selling car

In 1856, English migrant James Alexander Holden started an Adelaide saddlery business that later evolved into a carriage manufacturer and vehicle body builder. 

During the era of high import tariffs, it put together Buicks, Pontiacs and Chevrolets – all American GM cars. 

While Holden was considered to be Australian, it has been controlled by General Motors since 1931, when the Depression robbed it of its independence. 

The global financial crisis of a decade ago ended the export of Holden Monaros to the United States, where they were sold as Pontiac GTOs. 

While Holden was considered to be Australian, it has been controlled by General Motors since 1931, when the Depression robbed it of its independence. The global financial crisis of a decade ago ended the export of Holden Monaros to the United States, where they were sold as Pontiac GTOs (pictured is an Australian market HSV Coupe at Summernats)

While Holden was considered to be Australian, it has been controlled by General Motors since 1931, when the Depression robbed it of its independence. The global financial crisis of a decade ago ended the export of Holden Monaros to the United States, where they were sold as Pontiac GTOs (pictured is an Australian market HSV Coupe at Summernats)

While Holden was widely associated with ‘football, meat pies, kangaroos and Holden cars’ that was really just a rip-off GM’s American ‘baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet’ slogan. 

Holden spokesman Daniel Cotterill declined to guarantee General Motors would keep the Holden name.

‘As GM has always said, the company wants a return on its investment,’ he said in a statement.

‘Holden continues to undertake work to optimise its business and drive sales, by earning its way onto the consideration list for people buying SUVs and utes.’

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk