Chevrolet Considering Statesman As Premium Sedan
Will the Zeta saga ever end at General Motors? We think not.
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July 19, 2010
By: Nick Saporito
Last week reports surfaced that General Motors is reconsidering selling a civilian version of the upcoming Chevrolet Caprice police vehicle. The report adds to a string of rumors and reports surrounding the fate of Zeta rear-wheel drive vehicles being sold in North America. According to GMI sources, GM North America management is considering the long-wheel base Holden Statesman as a premium Chevrolet sedan for North America. It is a move that would mimic several markets that Chevrolet currently sells the Holden-sourced product in.
As it stands today, Chevrolet will be launching the 2011 Caprice PPV in early 2011 for police-use only. The new Caprice is based on the Holden WM architecture, which is a larger version of the platform that underpinned the Pontiac G8 sedan in North America. To date, no civilian use Caprice has been approved for sale in North America.
According to GMI sources, GM is considering leveraging the long-wheel base WM architecture to house a new premium Chevrolet sedan for North America. Whether or not they would utilize the Caprice nameplate is unclear, but our sources suggested that the car would be very premium in nature.
Allegedly GM management is pondering a premium large sedan for Chevrolet to combat the likes of the upcoming Hyundai Equus. Our sources stated that the car would have amenities similar to that of the WM-based Buick Park Avenue that is currently sold in China.
On numerous occasions GMI sources have stated that GM management has a goal to have Chevrolet compete in every segment Toyota and Hyundai have entries in globally.
Another goal GM management supposedly has is to unify the Chevrolet lineup globally, much like rivals Ford and Toyota are doing. Chevrolet currently sells the Holden Statesman in Middle Eastern markets as the Chevrolet Caprice.
Two Chevrolet Zetas?
Sources both at GMI and other outlets have confirmed that GM is planning to sell the Holden Commodore in North America as a Chevrolet. The short-wheel base sedan will be positioned as a high-performance niche product. At this time GM has not selected a name for the new product, however it has been confirmed that a program code exists internally for the car.
If approved, the Statesman-based long-wheel base sedan will make for two civilian Zeta products for the Chevrolet brand in North America. No timeline of approval or production is known at this time, though Holden will be launching an updated Statesman this fall.