Tech, power update for Commodore?

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Tech, power update for Commodore?
BARRY PARK
April 9, 2010
Comments 3


A more potent V6 in the US Chevrolet Camaro has raised hopes that the locally produced Commodore could share the same engine.

Holden's humble Commodore could soon be pumping out more than 230kW from its 3.6-litre V6, and feature a head-up display for the first time.

The car maker's US parent, General Motors, today pulled the wraps off a mid-life update of the Australian designed Chevrolet Camaro featuring a version of the Commodore's engine, but worked to pump out significantly more than the 210kW used in performance-oriented renderings of the large family sedan. Torque also gets a boost, rising from 350Nm in the Commodore to 377Nm.

In another hint of what might be just around the corner for a mid-life spritz of the Commodore, GM also announced that the Camaro, which shares much of the same engineering as the Commodore, will get a head-up display — only the second model wearing the Chevrolet bowtie to feature the technology.

The extra performance from the V6 has come as a surprise to GM.

''The 304 horsepower (233kW) in the 2010 Camaro was actually a conservative rating on our end,'' GM V6 engineer Tom Sutter said.

''But we knew already that this award-winning engine produced at least the amount of power we stated, but now we've gone the extra step in certifying the engine for this application and have verified an additional eight horsepower.''

Performance comes at the higher end of the scale, however. Peak power kicks in at 6500rpm, about 100rpm higher than for the Commodore's high-performance V6, while torque peaks at 5100 rpm compared with the Commodore's much lower 2900rpm.

Meanwhile, the head-up display has been designed to give the driver information including speed, tachometer, paddle gear-shift indicator on automatic models, and vehicle messages, among other more mundane things such as turn signal indicators and high-beam warnings.