End is nigh for Monaro
Robert Wilson
July 26, 2005
MONARO enthusiasts have been served notice that the born-again sports coupe is again about to be laid to rest.

GM Holden announced yesterday production of the final run of 1200 cars would start next month -- four years after the marque returned to the showroom and seven years after its prototype stunned observers at the 1998 Sydney Motor Show.
The Monaro, a reincarnation of a Holden sports coupe made between 1968 and 1976, is sold in the Middle East as a Chevrolet Lumina, in the US as the Pontiac GTO, and in Britain under General Motors' British Vauxhall badge.
About 40,000 will have been made by the time production ends, six times more than originally planned, said Holden managing director Denny Mooney.
But sales in the US never met the initial target of 18,000 a year, settling at about 12,000 in its best year. A more powerful export-only model has seen US GTO sales jump this year by 75per cent to 5465 in the year to May.
The future of export versions of the Monaro is yet to be decided, Holden spokesman Jason Laird said.
"This announcement is strictly in relation to Australia and New Zealand," Mr Laird said.
Holden is replacing the Commodore sedan on which the Monaro is based next year. But it has said it will be keeping in production station wagon and utility versions of the current Commodore, meaning the Monaro could still be built for export markets.
Mr Laird said the decision to end Australian sales had been taken to maintain the credibility of the Monaro name.
"We wanted to make sure the Monaro program ended on a high and didn't dribble out in a way that would have belittled the car," he said.

Bloody bean counters, who cares if the gto didn't sell, they kept the VB commodore even after it was known it was going to be a flop.

HOLDEN The Great Way to Move

The VL was nothing more than a stop gap measure before the VN, IMHO it is the bastard son, the black sheep & the begining of the rice burner craze here in OZ, but then I dont think a commodore is a real Holden either!!



Im gunna cop it aint I lol

You're entitled to your opinion.

Actually, the VN was supposed to continue with the RB30 and RB30T but the Aussie dollar's nosedive against the Yen at the time made the RB too expensive to keep going with. So we ended up with a very old V6 that was kno

Edited by user Wednesday, 27 July 2005 6:49:12 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

I agree jim, the 2+2 seating was also another draw back on making it a more widely marketable vehical.



HOLDEN The Great Way to Move

It was simply out of reach to a lot of potential owners in the $50K-$60K+ price bracket.

The CV6 was a fair slice cheaper than the CV8 when released, but still a premium price compared to a Commodore.

Make a $40-45K SV8 equivalent as noted, and I re

it was a gr8 idea of holden takin the Monaro off the range but as sad as i am it had to be done. They took it off while it was on a high so wen they do bring thm back they will be sort after & i will be able to afford one lol well thts my part.

Bring back the HQ model 2 door with the modern running gear and I would buy one.

As per Jim's comments above, it's always interesting to see different tastes and opinions. I like HQ's very much, but personally I don't think that they don't even compare in raw-boned looks to a HK GTS, or HT GTS for that matter. To me, comparing a mildl

talking about remakes of old cars ..classic industries in the usa are reproducing the 69 camaro convertible body and then the hardtop...as per original...as for sex on wheels i sold my hq 350 coupe in 98 because i found a genuine 71 455ho transam real che